JMIR Research Protocols

From July 2024, Australian pharmacists are remunerated through federal funding to practice on-site within aged care homes. This Aged Care On-site Pharmacist (ACOP) program is novel in both Australian and international practice, aiming to improve the quality use of medicines for vulnerable older persons through medicines governance, person-centered medication reviews, and more. In this program, pharmacists are embedded in facilities and health care teams, varying from historical Australian models where they are visiting health care professionals. Distinct from pharmacist practice in hospital and community pharmacy, the role is professionally isolated from other pharmacists, limiting opportunities for peer collaboration and practice-specific professional development. Peer learning, mentorship, and workplace-based learning opportunities are considered integral for health professional development.

Small island developing states (SIDS) are home to approximately 65 million people worldwide. SIDS have some of the highest rates of cancer mortality burden in the developing world. Disparities in cancer mortality could be attributed to reliance on services overseas, which is a common feature across SIDS due to limited resources for comprehensive cancer care on the islands. However, overseas travel for cancer care remains largely understudied in SIDS, and epidemiological data on the implications on cancer survivorship are lacking.

Informal caregivers (ICs) of patients with advanced incurable diseases experience substantial psychosocial burden and unmet needs. However, efficient screening tools to identify ICs at risk of developing clinically relevant psychosocial problems are lacking. Additionally, most existing studies on burden and needs use cross-sectional designs, failing to capture the dynamic and evolving nature of caregiving.

AI demonstrates considerable potential in nursing education. However, its specific effects on knowledge acquisition, practical skills, satisfaction, competence, and confidence remain inadequately characterized.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the Middle East and Africa (MEA), with a rising incidence particularly among women. Regional factors such as limited health care access, cultural barriers, and sex-specific risk factors exacerbate this burden. Despite this, women remain significantly underrepresented in cardiovascular research, and no large-scale, multicenter prospective trials have been conducted to provide national data. To address this gap, we established the Middle East African Registry Women Cardiovascular Disease (MEA-WCVD) to create a comprehensive database on the epidemiological profile and management of heart failure (HF), atrial fibrillation (AF), ischemic heart disease (IHD), and valvular heart disease (VHD) in women.

Culturally responsive nursing involves delivering care that respects and reflects patients’ cultural values, communication patterns, and belief systems. In the Indian context, increasing rural-to-urban migration along with the expansion of medical tourism, estimated to have attracted 2.1 million international patients in 2024, has intensified the need for culturally competent nursing care. Although educational interventions in this area have shown encouraging results, there remains a lack of well-designed randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in India. For the purpose of this study, structured training is understood as a planned, session-based approach to learning that includes activities such as simulation exercises, case-based discussions, and guided reflection.

Young people with HIV experience disproportionately poor outcomes across the HIV care continuum, high levels of stigma, and elevated alcohol and other substance use. Healthy Choices is a 4-session intervention that integrates motivational interviewing with brief cognitive-behavioral strategies and has demonstrated a positive impact on HIV stigma, alcohol use, depression, and viral load in prior trials among young people with HIV. Interventions such as Healthy Choices have the potential to improve the HIV care continuum in Caribbean settings. However, no interventions have been adapted in Spanish and pilot-tested to concurrently address stigma, mental health, alcohol use, and viral burden among young people with HIV in the Dominican Republic.

Leprosy is a chronic, granulomatous, and infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae and Mycobacterium lepromatosis. The diagnosis of the disease is primarily clinical based on the observation of the characteristic signs and symptoms. Laboratory tests such as bacilloscopy and skin biopsy can also be used to aid in diagnosis. Due to the lack of complementary tests with 100% sensitivity, diagnosis is often made based on the combination of clinical, laboratory, and molecular criteria. Although M leprae has a tropism for nerves, no validated minimally invasive procedure exists to sample nerves for this disease. The investigation of the genetic material of the etiological agents that cause leprosy through perineural collection guided by ultrasound is a promising method for improving diagnostic accuracy.

Continuing medical education (CME) is a legal and ethical obligation for physicians in Germany. The rapid rise of large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and Grok raises concerns about the integrity of CME assessments, as LLMs can already pass German CME tests.

Pharmacotherapy for common mental disorders is frequently limited by adverse events and suboptimal adherence. While music therapy offers a promising nonpharmacological alternative, its clinical utility is currently constrained by limited accessibility, inconsistent efficacy, and a lack of mechanistic clarity.

Substance use disorder (SUD) represents a significant public health concern in the United States. SUD recovery is complex and individualized, and support provided by peer recovery coaches (PRCs) can improve outcomes. The PRC-client relationship requires bidirectional mediated communication that is often informal but should be trackable, efficient, and aligned with health care privacy and security regulations. Current workflows and available apps do not meet these needs, illustrating the opportunity for client-centered technology tools. We have developed Peer PLUS (People Leveraging Urgent Support; Parkview Health System, Inc), a HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act)-compliant mobile app and client management system, to address this need; however, the platform has not yet been tested in a clinical setting.

Comorbid anxiety and depression in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) are common, conferring a greater risk of poorer outcomes and increased health care costs. Few MS services include scalable treatment pathways for psychological distress.