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The patient is a 74-year-old female who presented with bothersome Stage III pelvic organ prolapse. She desired definitive surgical management for her prolapse and opted for total vaginal hysterectomy, uterosacral ligament suspension and anterior/posterior vaginal repairs. She had urodynamic testing before surgery that showed no stress urinary incontinence, no detrusor overactivity, and normal bladder capacity. The surgery was uncomplicated. She was discharged home the same day as surgery and her postoperative recovery was unremarkable.

Background/Aims In 2014, the Royal College of Surgeons expressed concern that a postcode lottery was determining the commissioning of procedures of limited clinical value. The research was carried out to assess whether there is variation in the clinical commissioning of hallux valgus surgery in England. Methods The commissioning policies for clinical commissioning groups were identified. Data were analysed to assess both adherence to the British Orthopaedic Association guidelines for surgery and the minimum criteria that a patient must fulfil for surgery. Results Variation was recorded in commissioning policies and in the number of criteria a patient must fulfil to be offered surgery. Conclusions There is currently no standardised national commissioning policy for hallux valgus surgery. Referral guidelines have been produced by leading national bodies but their implementation is varied. This can lead to variation in referral patterns in England for patients requiring hallux valgus surgery.

The patient is a 38-year-old female who presented with fecal incontinence, constipation, and stress urinary incontinence. She was found to have stage II posterior vaginal wall prolapse. She desired definitive surgical management of her prolapse and opted for posterior vaginal repair. Although stress urinary incontinence was demonstrated on urodynamic testing, the decision was made not to proceed with concurrent mid-urethral sling given her history of pelvic floor dyssynergia and intermittent urinary retention. The surgery was uncomplicated, and she was discharged on the day of surgery. Her recovery was unremarkable.

Several Legionella species can cause legionellosis, which results in influenza-like illness (Pontiac fever) or pneumonia (Legionnaires’ disease) (1,2). L. pneumophila, which is mainly transmitted from aerosolized water, has been the principal Legionella species reported from Canada (3). Unlike L. pneumophila, L. longbeachae is highly adapted to the soil environment and primarily transmitted from potting soils and compost (2). During summer 2015, a regional public health authority in Quebec, Canada, received reports of 2 cases of pneumonia attributable to L. longbeachae infection. These cases occurred 1 month apart in persons who shared the same workplace. We conducted epidemiologic and environmental investigations to identify the source of infection and propose appropriate control measures.

Health care professionals are increasingly called upon to work collaboratively. This commentary discusses our experience at the Summer Institute on Interdisciplinary Health Research, which aimed to increase the capacity of future Canadian researchers to work with health professionals from other disciplines. We discuss, in particular, our small group experience--the challenges we faced, and how we were able to resolve the internal conflicts that occurred. We also discuss the conditions necessary to engage in interdisciplinary work and offer suggestions to improve future initiatives to build interdisciplinary research capacity.