Primary Care Alberta Clinical Updates - June 2, 2026

Hand and wrist osteoarthritis pathway now live

Primary Care Alberta’s Provincial Pathways Unit is pleased to announce that a clinical pathway for hand and wrist osteoarthritis is now available for primary care providers: Provincial Hand and Wrist Osteoarthritis Primary Care Clinical Pathway.
 
This is the fifth pathway in the hand and wrist clinical pathway suite. An accompanying patient pathway will be published on MyHealth Alberta in the coming weeks.
 
Tobacco & nicotine patient pathway
 
The Provincial Pathways Unit (PPU), in partnership with Health Link 811’s Alberta Quits Helpline and the Tobacco, Vaping & Cannabis Program at Primary Care Alberta, is pleased to announce the patient-focused pathway Your Journey with Quitting Tobacco or Nicotine is now available on MyHealth.Alberta.ca. Patients can use this pathway to support their quitting journey with tobacco or nicotine.

A clinical pathway for tobacco and nicotine is also now available for providers: Provincial Tobacco and Nicotine Dependence Primary Care Clinical Pathway.

Feedback Opportunity:
The PPU is seeking support from primary care providers and families to review the tobacco pathways and share feedback at albertapathways@primarycarealberta.ca.
 
Hantavirus (Andes virus) cruise ship outbreak
 
The risk of the hantavirus (Andes virus) in our province remains very low. Public health officials in Alberta, together with federal partners, are actively monitoring the situation closely.

As of May 14, only two Albertans are considered at higher-risk and potentially exposed due to contact with someone who was on board.

It’s important to remember that not everyone exposed to the virus actually acquires it. Person-to-person transmission of this type of hantavirus is uncommon and has only been documented following prolonged close contact. There is no evidence that asymptomatic individuals can spread the hantavirus to others.

Alberta’s public health system regularly manages rare infectious diseases. Experienced teams and established protocols are in place to monitor, test and respond if needed to prevent spread.

The province’s public health system will continue to monitor the situation, work closely with federal counterparts, and take whatever steps are needed to protect public health.

For additional information:

Rapid risk assessment: Hantavirus (Andes virus) outbreak on international cruise ship - Canada.ca
Alberta Precision Laboratories bulletin on testing for hantavirus.

Lab bulletins:
 

Lab bulletin (Edmonton suburban hospitals): Changes to sample transport for ammonia testing

Effective Feb. 19, if ammonia is ordered at an acute care site that does not perform testing onsite, samples will be frozen and sent on scheduled couriers. This is a change from being automatically sent by stat transportation, and applies to Edmonton area suburban hospitals. A list of impacted sites is available in the lab bulletin. If results for ammonia are required stat at the impacted sites, please contact the laboratory to request stat transportation.

Lab bulletin (Edmonton suburban hospitals): Changes to sample transport for ammonia testing

Effective Feb. 19, if ammonia is ordered at an acute care site that does not perform testing onsite, samples will be frozen and sent on scheduled couriers. This is a change from being automatically sent by stat transportation, and applies to Edmonton area suburban hospitals. A list of impacted sites is available in the lab bulletin. If results for ammonia are required stat at the impacted sites, please contact the laboratory to request stat transportation.

Lab bulletin (Edmonton suburban hospitals): Changes to sample transport for ammonia testing

Effective Feb. 19, if ammonia is ordered at an acute care site that does not perform testing onsite, samples will be frozen and sent on scheduled couriers. This is a change from being automatically sent by stat transportation, and applies to Edmonton area suburban hospitals. A list of impacted sites is available in the lab bulletin. If results for ammonia are required stat at the impacted sites, please contact the laboratory to request stat transportation.

Lab bulletin (Edmonton suburban hospitals): Changes to sample transport for ammonia testing

Effective Feb. 19, if ammonia is ordered at an acute care site that does not perform testing onsite, samples will be frozen and sent on scheduled couriers. This is a change from being automatically sent by stat transportation, and applies to Edmonton area suburban hospitals. A list of impacted sites is available in the lab bulletin. If results for ammonia are required stat at the impacted sites, please contact the laboratory to request stat transportation.
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