The declining availability of abortion care has been the topic of many studies, commentaries, conferences and advocacy initiatives over the last 20 years. Among the ideas suggested to ameliorate this problem is increasing the number of physician assistants (PAs), nurse practitioners (NPs), and certified nurse midwives (CNMs) who perform first-trimester abortion [1–6]. While addressing access th...

INTRODUCTION Pennsylvania, among other states, includes surgical airway management, or cricothyrotomy, within the paramedic scope of practice. However, there is scant literature that evaluates paramedic perception of clinical competency in cricothyrotomy. The goal of this project is to assess clinical exposure, education and self-perceived competency of ground paramedics in cricothyrotomy. ME...

AIM The Breast Care Nurse (BCN) supports people with breast cancer, co-ordinating services, and providing information and psychosocial support, yet there is ambiguity surrounding the scope of the role, with implications for both BCNs and service provision. The current studies investigated the scope of practice of BCNs from the perspective of both BCNs and other health professionals. METHOD In...

Introduction Syndromic surveillance is an alternative type of public health surveillance which utilises pre-diagnostic data sources to detect outbreaks earlier than conventional (laboratory) surveillance and monitor the progression of illnesses in populations. These systems are often noted for their ability to detect a wider range of cases in underreported illnesses, utilise existing data sourc...