3PCN (primary care nurses)

Primary care nurses (PC-N, i.e., nurse practitioners, registered nurses, and licensed practical nurses) play an important role in pandemic response and recovery. During the COVID-19 pandemic, primary care nurses were also re-deployed from their routine responsibilities to take on pandemic-related roles, particularly for initiatives to care for marginalized populations. However, the roles, perspectives, and contributions of primary care nurses remain largely under-studied.
Building on our existing studies on family physicians and pharmacists during the COVID-19 pandemic, the goal of the project is to inform the development of primary care pandemic plans by examining the roles and experiences of primary care nurses in four Canadian regions: Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario, and British Columbia.
The project consists of two-linked studies examining primary care pandemic responses across each of the four regions, using the following methods:

• Document analysis & qualitative interviews
• Developing logical models for primary care pandemic response plans

By conducting this study, the results will provide high-quality evidence to support primary care providers during future pandemic responses, particularly when caring for marginalized patient populations.

Principal Investigators:  Drs. Maria Mathews (Western University), Lindsay Hedden (Simon Fraser University), Julia Lukewich (Memorial University), Emily Gard Marshall (Dalhousie University)

Co-Investigators: Shabnam Asghari, Jill Bruneau,Lindsey Cassell,Aimee Letto,Lynn Power,Suzanne Braithwaite,Jennifer Donnan,Erin Wilson,Rita McCracken,Judith Belle Brown,Thomas Freeman, Paul Gill, Bridget Ryan, Shannon Sibbald, Amanda Terry, Eric Wong, Annette Elliott Rose, Jennifer Isenor, Ruth Martin-Misener, Monica Bull, Cheryl Cusack, Stan Marchuk, Natasha Prodan-Bhalla, Amber Brown, Janet Dang, Gordon Schacter, Alexander Summers, Stephen Wetmore, Jamie Wickett, Tammy Calabrese