mRNA COVID-19 vaccine safety among children and adolescents: a Canadian National Vaccine Safety Network cohort study.

Background: The Canadian National Vaccine Safety Network conducted active safety surveillance for COVID-19 vaccines. This study aimed to characterize the short-to-medium term safety of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines across the pediatric age spectrum.

Methods: In this cohort study, vaccinated and unvaccinated children and adolescents aged 6 months to 19 years from eight Canadian provinces and territories were invited to participate.

Enabling pharmacist prescribing: Lessons learned in Nova Scotia using behaviour change theory.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic alongside increased patient demand, enablement of scope, and government funding has accelerated the need and demand for pharmacist prescribing in Nova Scotia.

Methods: A sequential explanatory mixed-methods study was undertaken to understand barriers and facilitators to pharmacist prescribing in Nova Scotia, Canada. This consisted of: 1) a cross-sectional survey and 2) semistructured, qualitative interviews with pharmacists practising in the community.

Participant-reported neurological events following immunization in the Canadian National Vaccine Safety Network-COVID-19 vaccine (CANVAS-COVID) study.

Introduction: The Canadian National Vaccine Safety Network (CANVAS) conducted active participant-based surveillance for adverse events following immunization during the COVID-19 vaccine campaign. This study evaluated the association between COVID-19 vaccination and neurological adverse events.

Methods: Participants were invited to complete online surveys to report health events that prevented daily activities and/or required medical attention within 7 days after COVID-19 vaccination or 7 days prior to the survey (unvaccinated controls); follow-up surveys were sent 7 months later.

A Qualitative Analysis of the Functions of Primary Care Nurses in COVID-19 Vaccination.

Aim: To describe vaccination roles of primary care nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada.

Design: This analysis was part of a larger mixed-methods case study.

Methods: We conducted semi-structured qualitative interviews from May 2022 to January 2023 with primary care nurses across four provinces: British Columbia, Ontario, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Nova Scotia.

Impact of recruitment strategies on individual participation practices in the Canadian National Vaccine Safety Network: prospective cohort study.

Background: The Canadian National Vaccine Safety (CANVAS) network conducted a multi-center, prospective vaccine safety study to collect safety data after dose 1 and 2 of COVID-19 vaccines and follow up safety information 7 months after dose 1.

Objective: This study aimed to describe and evaluate the recruitment methods used by CANVAS and the retention of participants by each modality.

Methods: CANVAS deployed a multi-pronged recruitment approach to reach a larger sample, without in-person recruitment.

Corrigendum to "Uptake of community pharmacist prescribing over a three-year period" [Exploratory Research in Clinical and Social Pharmacy, Volume 9, March 2023, 100221].

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1016/j.rcsop.

Patient perspectives on the vital primary care role of community pharmacists in Nova Scotia, Canada: qualitative findings from the PUPPY Study.

Objectives: Community pharmacists play an important role in primary care access and delivery for all patients, including patients with a family physician or nurse practitioner ("attached") and patients without a family physician or nurse practitioner ("unattached"). During the COVID-19 pandemic, community pharmacists were accessible care providers for unattached patients and patients who had difficulty accessing their usual primary care providers ("semi-attached"). Before and during the pandemic, pharmacist services expanded in several Canadian provinces.

Making it happen: Development of an interprofessional deprescribing education programme.

Deprescribing is the planned and supervised reduction or discontinuation of medications that may be causing harm or are no longer benefiting a patient. The need for deprescribing to be a routine part of patient care is essential with an aging population and the rising prevalence of polypharmacy, which has been associated with increased adverse outcomes such as falls, hospitalizations and mortality. Deprescribing is a complex intervention that requires collaboration between the patient, caregivers and healthcare providers to adequately support all involved, as well as to ensure medications are not restarted in error.

Environmental scan of current strategies to decrease sedative-hypnotic drug use and promote sleep in hospital patients.

Background: Sedative-hypnotic drugs are often initiated in hospital to manage insomnia and anxiety. Guidelines discourage their use, particularly in older adults, due to risks of falls, fractures, and delirium.

Aim: To identify publicly available resources to decrease the use of sedative-hypnotic drugs and promote sleep in hospital.

Pharmacy student contribution to direct patient care during inpatient hospital experiential rotations: a scoping review.

Objectives: The aim of this scoping review was to identify and characterise pharmacy students' contributions to extend pharmacist's direct patient care during inpatient hospital experiential rotations.

Methods: A search of PubMed, Embase and CINAHL databases from 2000 to July 2021 was conducted. Articles were included if they involved pharmacy students during experiential rotations, described student's contribution to direct patient care in the inpatient hospital setting, and reported outcomes.

Target users' acceptance of a pharmacist-led prescribing service for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

Background: Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a highly effective way to reduce virus transmission. There have been increasing calls to improve access to PrEP in Canada. One way to improve access is by having more prescribers available.

Emergency department utilization and hospital admissions for ambulatory care sensitive conditions among people seeking a primary care provider during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: Primary care attachment improves health care access and health outcomes, but many Canadians are unattached, seeking a provider via provincial wait-lists. This Nova Scotia-wide cohort study compares emergency department utilization and hospital admission associated with insufficient primary care management among patients on and off a provincial primary care wait-list, before and during the first waves of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: We linked wait-list and Nova Scotian administrative health data to describe people on and off wait-list, by quarter, between Jan.

A Proposed Curricular Framework for an Interprofessional Approach to Deprescribing.

Unlabelled: Deprescribing involves reducing or stopping medications that are causing more harm than good or are no longer needed. It is an important approach to managing polypharmacy, yet healthcare professionals identify many barriers. We present a proposed pre-licensure competency framework that describes essential knowledge, teaching strategies, and assessment protocols to promote interprofessional deprescribing skills.

Community pharmacists' acceptance of prescribing pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

Background: Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention is highly effective. Pharmacists can increase PrEP accessibility through pharmacist prescribing. This study aimed to determine pharmacists' acceptance of a pharmacist PrEP prescribing service in Nova Scotia.

Categorization of deprescribing communication tools: A scoping review.

Background: Deprescribing can be beneficial to a wide variety of patients but is often not done due to barriers including lack of time and challenges starting conversations.

Objectives: This study aimed to identify and broadly categorize existing deprescribing communication tools for clinicians and patients.

Methods: Our scoping review protocol was based on the Arksey and O'Malley methods and incorporated the Levac and Joanna Briggs Institute recommendations.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on primary care physicians and nurses in Nova Scotia: a qualitative exploratory study.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has brought immense disruption worldwide, dramatically altering the ways we live, work and learn on a day-to-day basis; however, few studies have investigated this from the perspective of primary care providers. In this study, we sought to explore the experiences of primary care providers in the province of Nova Scotia, with the intention of understanding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on primary care providers' ability to provide care, their information pathways, and the personal and professional impact of the pandemic.

Methods: We conducted an exploratory qualitative research study involving semistructured interviews conducted via Zoom videoconferencing or telephone with primary care providers (physicians, nurse practitioners and family practice nurses) who self-identified as working in primary health care in Nova Scotia from June 2020 to April 2021.

Uptake of community pharmacist prescribing over a three-year period.

Objectives: Pharmacists in Nova Scotia have had legislated authority to prescribe since 2011. This study aimed to describe the prescribing activities of pharmacists and the characteristics of patients who used pharmacist prescribing services.

Methods: Using provincial health administrative databases we identified all community pharmacists who prescribed during the study period (October 2016 to March 2020) and correspondingly patients who had medications prescribed by a pharmacist during this period.

Supporting Interprofessional Collaboration in Deprescribing: Needs Assessment for an Education Program.

Introduction: : Deprescribing is a complex process involving patients and healthcare providers. The aim of the project was to examine the learning needs and preferences of healthcare providers and students to inform the development of an interprofessional deprescribing education program.

Methods: : An online survey of pharmacists, nurses, nurse practitioners, family physicians, and associated students practicing or studying in Nova Scotia was conducted.

Healthcare provider awareness, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors regarding the role of pharmacists as immunizers.

We explored perceptions of healthcare providers in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick about pharmacists as immunizers. Pharmacists' scopes of practice are increasingly broadening to include immunization, and providers and policymakers may find meaning in the lessons we learned. Invitations to participate in our online survey were circulated by professional associations, health authorities, and in social media posts.

Adverse Events Following Immunization With mRNA and Viral Vector Vaccines in Individuals With Previous Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Infection From the Canadian National Vaccine Safety Network.

Background: Adults previously infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) develop short-term immunity and may have increased reactogenicity to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines. This prospective, multicenter, active-surveillance cohort study examined the short-term safety of COVID-19 vaccines in adults with a prior history of SARS-CoV-2.

Methods: Canadian adults vaccinated between 22 December 2020 and 27 November 2021 were sent an electronic questionnaire 7 days post-dose 1, dose 2, and dose 3 vaccination.

Community pharmacists' expanding roles in supporting patients before and during COVID-19: An exploratory qualitative study.

Background: Timely access and attachment to a primary healthcare provider is associated with better population health outcomes. In Canada, community pharmacists are highly accessible and patients struggling to access a family physician or nurse practitioner (i.e.

Increased self-reported pharmacist prescribing during the COVID-19 pandemic: Using the Theoretical Domains Framework to identify barriers and facilitators to prescribing.

Background: Community pharmacists are positioned to improve access to medications through their ever-expanding role as prescribers, with this role becoming more pronounced during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Objectives: Our research aimed to determine the extent of self-reported pharmacist prescribing pre-COVID-19 and during the COVID-19 pandemic, to identify barriers and facilitators to pharmacist prescribing, and to explore the relationship between these factors and self-reported prescribing activity.

Methods: A questionnaire based on the Theoretical Domains Framework (TDFv2) assessing self-reported prescribing was electronically distributed to all direct patient care pharmacists in NS (N = 1338) in July 2020.