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STI updates are blog posts from the BCCDC or our community partners about a variety of sexual health topics. These include program updates, clinical practice changes, new research, events, and more. We will not clutter your inbox with frequent emails, and your email address will not be used for any other purposes.
January 24, 2014 by Cheryl Prescott, RN(C), Clinical Prevention Services Education, BCCDC
CRNBC Certified Practices The College of Registered Nurses of British Columbia (CRNBC) implemented CRNBC STI Certified Nursing Practice in 2010. Certified practice supports independent diagnosis and treatment of certain STI within the scope of registered nursing practice. (See Section 8: Nurses (Registered) and Nurse Practitioners Regulation of the Health Professions Act). CRNBC certified practices have…
December 10, 2013 by Fiona Gold, Outreach Nurse, Clinical Prevention Services, BCCDC
No matter how genetically sound a seed may be, factors such as sunlight, soil quality and irrigation must act on it properly if it is to germinate and grow into a healthy adult plant. [1] Gabor Mate The ACE Study: background In the last blog post (September 2013), I introduced the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE)…
September 5, 2013 by Fiona Gold, Outreach Nurse, Clinical Prevention Services, BCCDC
Trauma prevalence is difficult to establish when looking at the common categories of trauma: Simple or single incident trauma Complex or repetitive trauma Developmental trauma Historical trauma Research on the epidemiology of trauma (post traumatic stress disorder – PTSD) has focused on three interrelated concepts: Prevalence of exposure to potentially traumatic events, Total prevalence of…
July 19, 2013 by Chelsea Haines, RN, Immunization Promotion Nurse
The one-time free Cervarix HPV vaccine program for young women has recently been expanded. Females 26 years of age and younger and born before 1994 can now get the HPV vaccine for free. This program will continue until the vaccine expires in August 2015, or until all of the available vaccine is used. The vaccine…
June 7, 2013 by Fiona Gold, Outreach Nurse, Clinical Prevention Services, BCCDC
“Experiencing trauma is an essential part of being human” (van der Kolk and McFarlane 1996) Traumatic events affect people very differently. Elizabeth Vermilyea points out that one of the best documented research findings in the field of trauma is the dose-response relationship. The more trauma a person experiences, the more potentially damaging the effects are….
May 15, 2013 by Terri Buller-Taylor, Research Manager (Hepatitis), Clinical Prevention Services, BCCDC
New hepatitis C resources are available in British Columbia for both health care providers and patients. Designed to improve service delivery and to encourage engagement in care for those affected by hepatitis C, resource topics include basic information about hepatitis C, hepatitis C testing and preparing for treatment. People may not be getting the information,…
April 10, 2013 by Fiona Gold, Outreach Nurse, Clinical Prevention Services, BCCDC
I recently gave an HIV positive diagnosis to a woman in a correctional facility. She looked at me in disbelief and for a long moment she was gone, staring at the ceiling, no longer listening to what I had to say. She did not respond to my questions. Watching her reaction to the diagnosis my…
March 19, 2013 by Chelsea Haines, RN, Immunization Promotion Nurse
If you work with young women, this is important news for you! Earlier this year, BC launched a one-time free HPV vaccine program for all women born in 1991, 1992, and 1993. This is the first time that women born in these years are eligible for a publicly funded HPV vaccine. The HPV vaccine, Cervarix,…
March 13, 2013 by Cheryl Prescott, Nurse Educator, Clinical Prevention Services, BCCDC
Information on submitting lab referrals for diagnostic and screening purposes: The Medical Services Plan (MSP) is British Columbia’s publicly funded health insurance program which provides coverage for medical services by physicians and other health care practitioners for eligible BC residents. A regulatory change approved by government October 1, 2011 authorizes RN(C) to independently refer eligible…
February 14, 2013 by Fiona Gold, Outreach Street Nurse, Clinical Prevention Services, BCCDC
Setting the context In November 2012, the BCCDC Outreach Nursing Program hosted two workshops on Trauma Informed Care. The workshops explored the topics of trauma and its relationship to addiction, HIV and STIs. Thanks to our community partnerships, we were able to bring Elizabeth Vermilyea, from Traumatic Stress Recovery Consulting, to British Columbia. We…