Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Upstream Lab, MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions, Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, Unity Health Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
PLoS One. 2024 Jun 6;19(6):e0304780. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0304780. eCollection 2024.
Canada welcomes a large number of newcomers every year including international students and their families. The over 800,000 international students who arrived in Canada in 2022, are twice as likely to face difficulties in accessing healthcare services compared to those who were born in Canada. Lack of access to healthcare services may jeopardize their full participation in Canadian society. Pharmacists are highly accessible healthcare providers due to their regular contact with the public, extended working hours, and wide distribution of pharmacies. Given the expanding role of pharmacists in Canada, pharmacists can be a great resource for international newcomers to address their healthcare needs when transitioning to the Canadian healthcare system and exploring available services. In this study, we will explore how international students and their families, who make up a significant segment of newcomers to Canada each year, transition to Canada's healthcare system and identify their main challenges related to developing coping skills for managing diseases and navigating the complexities of prescription and nonprescription medication use. To do so, we will conduct virtual interviews with newcomer international students who have lived experience with transitioning to the Canadian healthcare system. This study will help understand the international student experience and identify how pharmacists can deliver a tailored package of pharmaceutical services to this population to best address their healthcare needs when transitioning to the Canadian healthcare system with the goal of reducing healthcare gaps and inequities. By exploring the healthcare challenges faced by these students, our findings will help pinpoint precise areas where pharmacists can practice to their full scope including medication management, patient education, and transitional care. Consequently, the study will offer detailed recommendations on how pharmacists can better support this population and thereby help alleviate the overall strain on the primary healthcare system.
加拿大每年都欢迎大量新移民，包括国际学生及其家人。2022 年抵达加拿大的 80 多万名国际学生，在获得医疗保健服务方面遇到困难的可能性是在加拿大出生的人的两倍。无法获得医疗保健服务可能会危及他们全面参与加拿大社会的机会。药剂师由于与公众的定期接触、延长的工作时间和广泛分布的药店，是高度可及的医疗保健提供者。鉴于药剂师在加拿大的作用不断扩大，药剂师可以成为国际新移民在过渡到加拿大医疗保健系统和探索可用服务时解决其医疗保健需求的重要资源。在这项研究中，我们将探讨每年构成加拿大新移民重要组成部分的国际学生及其家人如何过渡到加拿大的医疗保健系统，并确定他们在发展应对疾病和驾驭处方药和非处方药使用复杂性的应对技能方面的主要挑战。为此，我们将对有过过渡到加拿大医疗保健系统经验的新移民国际学生进行虚拟访谈。这项研究将有助于了解国际学生的体验，并确定药剂师如何为这一人群提供量身定制的药物服务套餐，以在过渡到加拿大医疗保健系统时最好地满足他们的医疗保健需求，从而减少医疗保健差距和不平等。通过探讨这些学生面临的医疗保健挑战，我们的研究结果将有助于确定药剂师可以实践的精确领域，包括药物管理、患者教育和过渡护理。因此，该研究将提供有关药剂师如何更好地支持这一人群的详细建议，从而有助于减轻初级医疗保健系统的整体压力。
