Jacques Hurtubise

Interspersing her text with quotes form an interview with the artist, Farrell-Ward surveys Hurtubise's activity as a painter, noting his balance between geometric forms and the controlled disorder of a gestural expressionism. Biographical notes

Selected View : The Longstaffe Collection 1959 - 1984

Catalogue of a selective survey exhibition of the collection of Vancouver lawyer J. Ron Longstaffe, held on the occasion of the gallery's move to new premises into the renovated Courthouse building. About a quarter of the nearly 1,000 pieces donated to the gallery by the collector were selected by Farrell-Ward to represent a spectrum of contemporary art with a primary focus on Canadian painting. Curator's essay traces the history and evolution of the collection; Longstaffe's outlines the motivations underlying his "addiction". Biographical notes

Liz Magor : Production/Reproduction

Farrell-Ward describes Magor's installations, referring to the body, production, reproduction, time, ritual, and natural processes. According to Magor, her work objectifies personal history by alluding to the processes of change upon the body. Biographical notes

Neil Wedman : Death Ray

This exhibition's large-scale charcoal and pastel drawings address issues of social allegory, myth, irony and death. The brief essay draws an analogy between Wedman's investigation of belief structures and the larger search on the part of West coast artists to identify an authentic experience in an isolated environment where historic elements are alien and displaced. Reflecting the exhibition, the catalogue culminates in Wedman's large, 18-panel drawing, "Death Ray" (1987)

Joey Morgan : Almost Dreaming

The catalogue as a whole provides a careful description of Morgan's "Almost Dreaming" which incorporates sound, video, sculptural installation and opera. Curator Farrell-Ward more specifically links this work with the artist's earlier production while Snider ponders on the phenomena of critical discourse and audience reception. Biographical notes. Bibl. 2 p

Jiri Kolar : Poetry of Vision, Poetry of Silence

The authors discuss Kolar's career as a Czechoslovakian artist and writer, with reference to surrealism, automatic writing and European history. Includes glossary of the types of collage developed by Kolar, an artist's statement, and examples of his poetry. Biographical notes. Circa 300 bibl. ref

Mise en scène : Kim Adams, Mowry Baden, Roland Brener, Al McWilliams, Liz Magor, Jerry Pethick

Referring to regionalism, the body, theatricality, and language, the authors analyze the influence of time and place upon six British Columbian sculptors. Includes interviews with or texts by each artist. Biographical notes. Circa 30 bibl. ref

Vancouver : Art and Artists, 1931-1983

Ranging from the personal to the historical and analytic, 23 articles on art, photography, film, video, performance, architecture, and design outline the history of artistic activity and art institutions in Vancouver from 1931 to 1983. Includes a chronology of artistic and political events. Biographical notes. Circa 155 bibl. ref

Prospective observational cohort study on grading the severity of postoperative complications in global surgery research

Background The Clavien–Dindo classification is perhaps the most widely used approach for reporting postoperative complications in clinical trials. This system classifies complication severity by the treatment provided. However, it is unclear whether the Clavien–Dindo system can be used internationally in studies across differing healthcare systems in high- (HICs) and low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Methods This was a secondary analysis of the International Surgical Outcomes Study (ISOS), a prospective observational cohort study of elective surgery in adults. Data collection occurred over a 7-day period. Severity of complications was graded using Clavien–Dindo and the simpler ISOS grading (mild, moderate or severe, based on guided investigator judgement). Severity grading was compared using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). Data are presented as frequencies and ICC values (with 95 per cent c.i.). The analysis was stratified by income status of the country, comparing HICs with LMICs. Results A total of 44 814 patients were recruited from 474 hospitals in 27 countries (19 HICs and 8 LMICs). Some 7508 patients (16·8 per cent) experienced at least one postoperative complication, equivalent to 11 664 complications in total. Using the ISOS classification, 5504 of 11 664 complications (47·2 per cent) were graded as mild, 4244 (36·4 per cent) as moderate and 1916 (16·4 per cent) as severe. Using Clavien–Dindo, 6781 of 11 664 complications (58·1 per cent) were graded as I or II, 1740 (14·9 per cent) as III, 2408 (20·6 per cent) as IV and 735 (6·3 per cent) as V. Agreement between classification systems was poor overall (ICC 0·41, 95 per cent c.i. 0·20 to 0·55), and in LMICs (ICC 0·23, 0·05 to 0·38) and HICs (ICC 0·46, 0·25 to 0·59). Conclusion Caution is recommended when using a treatment approach to grade complications in global surgery studies, as this may introduce bias unintentionally

The surgical safety checklist and patient outcomes after surgery: a prospective observational cohort study, systematic review and meta-analysis

© 2017 British Journal of Anaesthesia Background: The surgical safety checklist is widely used to improve the quality of perioperative care. However, clinicians continue to debate the clinical effectiveness of this tool. Methods: Prospective analysis of data from the International Surgical Outcomes Study (ISOS), an international observational study of elective in-patient surgery, accompanied by a systematic review and meta-analysis of published literature. The exposure was surgical safety checklist use. The primary outcome was in-hospital mortality and the secondary outcome was postoperative complications. In the ISOS cohort, a multivariable multi-level generalized linear model was used to test associations. To further contextualise these findings, we included the results from the ISOS cohort in a meta-analysis. Results are reported as odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals. Results: We included 44 814 patients from 497 hospitals in 27 countries in the ISOS analysis. There were 40 245 (89.8%) patients exposed to the checklist, whilst 7508 (16.8%) sustained ≥1 postoperative complications and 207 (0.5%) died before hospital discharge. Checklist exposure was associated with reduced mortality [odds ratio (OR) 0.49 (0.32–0.77); P\u3c0.01], but no difference in complication rates [OR 1.02 (0.88–1.19); P=0.75]. In a systematic review, we screened 3732 records and identified 11 eligible studies of 453 292 patients including the ISOS cohort. Checklist exposure was associated with both reduced postoperative mortality [OR 0.75 (0.62–0.92); P\u3c0.01; I2=87%] and reduced complication rates [OR 0.73 (0.61–0.88); P\u3c0.01; I2=89%). Conclusions: Patients exposed to a surgical safety checklist experience better postoperative outcomes, but this could simply reflect wider quality of care in hospitals where checklist use is routine