Publications by authors named "Regina Renner"

Background: In 2017, nurse practitioners (NPs) became the first non-physician healthcare providers authorised to independently provide medication abortion (MA) in Canada. We aimed to report on demographic and clinical characteristics of NPs providing mifepristone/misoprostol MA in Canada and to identify context-specific barriers and enablers to NP provision of mifepristone/misoprostol MA in Canada among MA providers and non-providers.

Methods: From August 2020 to February 2021, we invited Canadian NPs to complete a national, web-based, bilingual (English/French) survey.

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Background: Abortions are common and associated with procedural pain. We aimed to evaluate benefits and harms of local anaesthesia given for pain control during surgical abortion at less than 14 weeks' gestation.

Methods: We searched a systematic review on local anaesthesia for pain control for surgical abortion at less than 14 weeks' gestation using uterine aspiration.

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Introduction: Prenatal education is associated with positive health behaviours, including optimal weight gain, attendance at prenatal care, acceptance of routine screening tests, smoking cessation, decreased alcohol consumption and breast feeding. Adoption of these behaviours has been associated with reduced rates of caesarean birth, preterm birth and low birth weight. Barriers to prenatal class attendance faced by parents in Canada include geography, socioeconomic status, age, education, and, among Indigenous peoples and other equity-deserving groups, stigma.

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Background: In Canada, 1 in 3 women and people of gestational age undergo an abortion in their lifetime. Despite the liberal legal context, barriers continue to exist for women and people who can become pregnant to access this service.

Objective: This study aims to (1) conduct a pilot study to demonstrate the feasibility and acceptability of myPostCare to support follow-up care after a procedural abortion; (2) use the findings to understand whether myPostCare has the potential to improve contraceptive behavior and knowledge, emotional well-being, and sexual health knowledge; and (3) develop a better understanding of how innovative mobile solutions can support integrative health programs in British Columbia with the goal of expanding to other sites across Canada.

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Calciphylaxis (CP) is a serious, potentially life-threatening disease that presents with medial calcification of small-sized vessels and painful ischemic ulcerations. Although calciphylaxis is frequently seen in patients with end-stage kidney disease on dialysis (calcific uremic arteriolopathy, CUA), there are reported cases of nonuremic calciphylaxis (NUC), which often remain undiagnosed. We conducted a retrospective chart review at our dermatological hospital and evaluated data concerning the epidemiology, comorbidities, medication, laboratory abnormalities, and therapeutic approaches of 60 patients diagnosed with calciphylaxis between 01/2012 and 12/2022.

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Objective: Our objective was to explore the workforce and clinical care of first and second-trimester surgical abortion (FTSA, STSA) providers following the publication of the updated Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada (SOGC) surgical abortion guidelines.

Methods: We conducted a national, cross-sectional, online, self-administered survey of physicians who provided abortion care in 2019. This anonymized survey collected participant demographics, types of abortion services, and characteristics of FTSA and STSA clinical care.

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Objective: We conducted a national survey to assess the experiences of stigma and harassment among physicians and nurse practitioners providing abortions and abortion service administrators in Canada.

Study Design: We conducted an exploratory, cross-sectional, national, anonymized, online survey between July and December 2020. Subsections of the survey explored stigma and harassment experienced by respondents, including the 35-item Revised Abortion Providers Stigma Scale and open-ended responses.

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This study aimed to compare mobility range, level of pain and sleep quality in patients with venous leg ulcers to age- and gender-matched controls without ulcers. Twenty patients with venous leg ulceration and 20 matched controls each answered a questionnaire, completed the short-physical performance battery, filled in a subject diary and wore a smartwatch for 1 week. The median daily step counts of the ulcer group (3622 steps/day) and the control group (5133 steps/day) were significantly different (P = .

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Background: Substantial changes in abortion care regulations, available medications and national clinical practice guidelines have occurred since a 2012 national Canadian Abortion Provider Survey (CAPS). We developed and piloted the CAPS 2019 survey instrument to explore changes of the abortion provider workforce, their clinical care as well as experiences with stigma and harassment.

Methods: We undertook development and piloting in three phases: (1) development of the preliminary survey sections and questions based on the 2012 survey instrument, (2) content validation and feasibility of including certain content aspects via a modified Delphi Method with panels of clinical and research experts, and (3) pilot testing of the draft survey for face validity and clarity of language; assessing usability of the web-based Research Electronic Data Capture platform including the feasibility of complex skip pattern functionality.

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Background: Since 2016, abortion care has undergone several important changes, particularly related to the provision of medical abortion using mifepristone. We aimed to document characteristics of the abortion care workforce in Canada after the update of clinical practice guidelines of mifepristone use for medical abortion.

Methods: We conducted a national, web-based, anonymized, bilingual (English/French) survey.

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Telemedicine has the potential to improve abortion access disparities in Canada. We aimed to explore the provision of telemedicine for first-trimester medical abortion and related barriers in 2019. We conducted a national, cross-sectional, anonymized, web-based survey of clinicians who provided abortion care in 2019 in Canada.

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Objective: We explored patients' attitudes toward donating products of conception for research at the time of their aspiration abortion.

Study Design: We surveyed patients presenting for first or second trimester aspiration abortion to the abortion service at British Columbia Women's Hospital over a 6-month period in 2018. Questions explored demographics, attitudes toward tissue donation, willingness to donate products of conception for research, and how the option of donating tissue influenced patients' perception of their abortion.

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Objective: To explore the Canadian first-trimester medication abortion (MA) workforce and their clinical care following the introduction of mifepristone in 2017, updated national clinical practice guidelines and government approval of nurse practitioners (NPs) as first-trimester MA providers.

Study Design: We conducted a national, self-administered, cross-sectional survey of abortion providers in 2019. Our bilingual (French/English) survey collected information on demographics, abortion number, and clinical care characteristics.

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Background: Evidence suggests an increase in fertility and unintended pregnancy after bariatric surgery; contraceptive counselling, traditionally defined as a discussion of contraception options, is therefore an important facet of surgical planning. Our aim was to investigate patient experiences of contraceptive counselling, the attitudes of health care providers (HCPs) toward contraceptive counselling, and their perceptions of the facilitators and barriers to contraceptive counselling in bariatric surgery clinics.

Methods: We conducted a qualitative study using semistructured interviews with patients and HCPs at publicly funded Canadian bariatric surgery clinics from May 2018 to February 2019.

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Objectives: Mifepristone became available in Canada in 2017. Updated national guidelines recommend its off-label use for second/third-trimester medical abortion (STMA/TTMA) by labour induction. The objective of this study was to explore STMA/TTMA provision in Canada and the role of mifepristone.

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Background: Genital human papillomavirus (HPV)-infections are common in the general population and are responsible for relevant numbers of epithelial malignancies. Much data on the HPV-prevalence is available for secondary immunodeficiencies, especially for patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infection. Little is known about the genital HPV-prevalence in patients with primary immunodeficiencies (PIDs).

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Background: Ulipristal acetate 30 mg became available as prescription-only emergency contraception in British Columbia, Canada, in September 2015, as an addition to over-the-counter levonorgestrel emergency contraception. In this study, we determined dispensing and practice use patterns for ulipristal acetate, as well as facilitators of and barriers to emergency contraception for physicians, pharmacists and patients in BC.

Methods: In the quantitative component of this mixed-methods study, we examined ulipristal acetate use from September 2015 to December 2018 using a database that captures all outpatient prescription dispensations in BC (PharmaNet) and another capturing market sales numbers for all oral emergency contraception in BC (IQVIA).

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Background: The COVID-19 pandemic and pandemic response created novel challenges for abortion services. Canada was uniquely positioned to transition to telemedicine because internationally common restrictions on abortion medication were removed before the pandemic.

Objective: We sought to characterize the experiences of abortion health care professionals in Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact of the pandemic response on abortion services.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates the prevalence of clonal T-large granular lymphocyte (T-LGL) cells in patients with spondyloarthritis (SpA) and psoriatic arthritis (PsA), involving 115 SpA patients, 48 PsA patients, and 51 controls.
  • Using flow cytometry and molecular analysis, researchers found that 6% of participants had clonal T-LGL expansions, more frequently associated with those on TNF inhibitors.
  • The findings suggest that exposure to TNFα-blocking agents may increase the risk of developing clonal T-LGL cells in patients with SpA, PsA, and even among healthy controls.
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Background: Necrobiosis lipoidica (NL) is a rare granulomatous disorder of unknown aetiology. Randomized controlled studies are not available due to it being an orphan disease.

Objectives: We evaluated patients in 2 dermatological centres to cluster data about epidemiology, the therapeutic approaches for NL, and their efficacy.

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Background And Objectives: Health care for patients with chronic wounds is often protracted. This can result in decreased quality of care or delayed diagnosis of the actual cause of disease. Concurrently, there are already certified facilities for these patients.

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Objective: Mathematical models have the potential to provide valuable insights into complex, biochemical and biomechanical processes. Previously, we developed a mathematical model with a non-linear growth function but could only confirm the feasibility of this model in clinical trials with a small number of patients. This limited the validity of our model.

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Chronic recalcitrant dermatophytoses, due to (.) Type VIII are on the rise in India and are noteworthy for their predominance. It would not be wrong to assume that travel and migration would be responsible for the spread of .

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