Background: Undervaccination is a public health issue that disproportionately affects underserved populations. Pharmacists are accessible health care professionals who have the potential to better reach communities. The aim of this study is to understand how organizational obstacles influence the pharmacist's ability to meet underserved clients' vaccination needs in community pharmacy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFContext: Social determinants of health are drivers of vaccine inequity and lead to higher risks of complications from infectious diseases in under vaccinated communities. In many countries, pharmacists have gained the rights to prescribe and administer vaccines, which contributes to improving vaccination rates. However, little is known on how they define and target vulnerable communities.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn Quebec, Bill 31, adopted on March 18, 2020, extended vaccination to pharmacists. Despite many advantages, this new practice comes with public health issues reinforced in the context of COVID-19. Therefore, it is essential to understand the opportunities and challenges of the participation of community pharmacists in influenza vaccination, from a public health perspective by (i) describing the year of 2020-2021 influenza vaccination offer, (ii) its opportunities and challenges, and (iii) its impact on the accessibility of this service newly offered by pharmacists to the most vulnerable people.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: This study aimed to identify factors contributing to pharmacists' engagement in vaccination services during the first influenza vaccination campaign in 2019-2020 for the Canadian province of Quebec, led by community pharmacists.
Methods: A mixed-methods study was conducted using a sequential exploratory design. Semi-structured interviews were administered to pharmacists and key informants (n = 23) and data were analysed according to the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research in community pharmacy.
We describe the case of a 16-year-old boy with a 1-year history of severe benzodiazepine misuse. After being denied access to several treatment programs and hospital centers that felt unprepared to manage benzodiazepine use disorder and withdrawal in an adolescent, the patient was admitted to a tertiary pediatric unit for rapid inpatient tapering and detoxification. The patient was hospitalized for 13 days and received decreasing doses of diazepam under close monitoring of withdrawal symptoms.
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