Background: In 2007, Alberta became the first Canadian jurisdiction to grant pharmacists a wide range of prescribing privileges. Our objective was to understand what factors influence pharmacists’ adoption of prescribing using a model for the Diffusion of Innovations in healthcare services. Methods: Pharmacists participated in semi-structured telephone interviews to discuss their prescribing practices and explore the facilitators and barriers to implementation. Pharmacists working in community, hospital, PCN, or other settings were selected using a mix of random and purposive sampling. Two investigators independently analyzed each transcript using an Interpretive Description approach to identify themes. Analyses were informed by a model explaining the Diffusion of Innovations in health service organizations. Results: Thirty-eight participants were interviewed. Prescribing behaviours varied from non-adoption through to product, disease, and patient focused use of prescribing. Pharmacists’ adoption of prescribing was dependent on the innovation itself, adopter, system readiness, and communication and influence. Adopting pharmacists viewed prescribing as a legitimization of previous practice and advantageous to instrumental daily tasks. The complexity of knowledge required for prescribing increased respectively in product, disease and patient focused prescribing scenarios. Individual adopters had higher levels of self-efficacy toward prescribing skills. At a system level, pharmacists who were in practice settings that were patient focused were more likely to adopt advanced prescribing practices, over those in product-focused settings. All pharmacists stated that physician relationships impacted their prescribing behaviours and individual pharmacists’ decisions to apply for independent prescribing privileges. Conclusions: Diffusion of Innovations theory was helpful in understanding the multifaceted nature of pharmacists’ adoption of prescribing. The characteristics of the prescribing model itself which legitimized prior practices, the model of practice in a pharmacy setting, and relationships with physicians were prominent influences on pharmacists’ prescribing behaviours.

Objectives Pharmacists are increasingly providing patient-focused services in community pharmacies, including in the area of sexual and reproductive health (SRH). Specific SRH areas have been the focus of research, but a broader perspective is needed to position pharmacists as SRH providers. This review explored research that described and evaluated professional pharmacy services across a broad range of SRH areas. Design Scoping review Data sources Medline, EMBASE, CINAHL, Web of Science, Scopus and Cochrane Library (January 2007–July 2020). Study selection Studies reporting on the description and evaluation of professional pharmacy SRH services provided by community pharmacists. Data extraction Two investigators screened studies for eligibility, and one investigator extracted the data. Data were analysed to primarily describe professional pharmacy services and intervention outcomes. Results Forty-one studies were included. The main SRH areas and professional pharmacy services reported were sexually transmitted and bloodborne infections (63%) and screening (39%), respectively. Findings showed that pharmacists’ delivery of SRH services was feasible, able to reach vulnerable and high-risk groups, and interventions were highly accepted and valued by users. However, integration into daily workflow, pharmacist remuneration, cost and reimbursement for patients, and policy regulations were some of the barriers identified to implementing SRH services. Studies were primarily in specific areas such as chlamydia screening or hormonal contraception prescribing, while studies in other areas (ie, medical abortion provision, long-acting reversible contraception prescribing and vaccine delivery in pregnant women) were lacking. Conclusion This scoping review highlights the expansion of pharmacists’ roles beyond traditional product-focused services in a number of SRH areas. Given the potential feasibility, users’ acceptability and reach, pharmacists are ideally situated to enhance SRH care access. Future research describing implementation and evaluation of professional pharmacy services in all SRH areas is needed to promote access to these services through community pharmacies and position pharmacists as SRH providers worldwide.

Women at high inherited risk of ovarian cancer are offered risk‐reducing salpingo‐oophorectomy (RRSO) from age 35 to 45 years. Although potentially life‐saving, RRSO may induce symptoms that negatively affect quality of life and impair long‐term health. Clinical care following RRSO is often suboptimal. This scoping review describes how RRSO affects short‐ and long‐term health and provides evidence‐based international consensus recommendations for care from preoperative counselling to long‐term disease prevention. This includes the efficacy and safety of hormonal and non‐hormonal treatments for vasomotor symptoms, sleep disturbance and sexual dysfunction and effective approaches to prevent bone and cardiovascular disease.

Objective: This study investigated the prevalence and impact of moderate to severe vasomotor symptoms (VMS), related treatment patterns, and experiences in women. Methods: The primary objective was to assess the prevalence of moderate to severe menopause-related VMS among postmenopausal women aged 40 to 65 years in Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and four Nordic European countries (Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden) using an online survey. Secondary objectives assessed impact of VMS among perimenopausal and postmenopausal women with moderate to severe VMS using the Menopause-Specific Quality of Life questionnaire, Work Productivity and Activity Impairment questionnaire, Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System sleep disturbances assessment, and questions regarding treatment patterns and attitudes toward symptoms and available treatments. Results: Among 12,268 postmenopausal women, the prevalence of moderate to severe VMS was about 15.6% and was highest in Brazil (36.2%) and lowest in Nordic Europe (11.6%). Secondary analyses, conducted among 2,176 perimenopausal and postmenopausal women, showed that VMS affected quality of life across all domains measured and impaired work activities by as much as 30%. Greater symptom severity negatively affected sleep. Many women sought medical advice, but most (1,238 [56.9%]) were not receiving treatment for their VMS. The majority (>70%) considered menopause to be a natural part of aging. Those treated with prescription hormone therapy and nonhormone medications reported some safety/efficacy concerns. Conclusions: Among women from seven countries, moderate to severe menopause-related VMS were widespread, varied by region, and largely impaired quality of life, productivity, and/or sleep.

Women with venous thromboembolism (VTE), thrombophilias or mechanical heart valves may require anticoagulation during pregnancy and postpartum. The incidence of postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) in the literature is 2.9–6%, but the rate while on anticoagulation is not well documented. To determine the incidence of haemorrhagic complications associated with the use of peripartum anticoagulation, and the types and risk factors for haemorrhagic complications. A retrospective chart review was conducted on women who delivered at an academic teaching hospital and received peripartum anticoagulation between January 2000 and August 2009. Women with known bleeding disorders were excluded. In total, 195 cases were identified with mean age 31.3 years and gestational age of 37.7 weeks. Of these, 49% had a history of VTE, 21% had active VTE in the index pregnancy, and 63% had vaginal delivery. Types of anticoagulation used antepartum were unfractionated heparin (UFH) (43%) and low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) (36%), with 26% receiving therapeutic doses. The rate of haemorrhagic complications was 12.8%, with majority being PPH (80%). Sixty percent of the PPH occurred before reintroduction of anticoagulation postpartum. Use of therapeutic UFH antepartum was associated with increased risk of haemorrhagic complications compared to LMWH (OR 3.08, 95% CI 0.663 – 15.03, p = 0.183). The rate of haemorrhagic complications is higher in women on peripartum anticoagulation compared with published incidence in unselected obstetric populations; however, this rate is similar to our institution’s reported rates. Our findings inform clinicians about competing risks of thrombotic and haemorrhagic complications in this population.