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ObjectivesIn 2000, the United States' Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved mifepristone for medication abortion. In this article, we explore how the Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) criteria for mifepristone specifically impede family physicians' ability to provide medication abortion in primary care settings.Study designWe conducted 56 qualitative interviews with a national sample of family physicians across the US who were not opposed to abortion. We examined how the REMS criteria for mifepristone impact family physicians' ability to provide medication abortion.ResultsOf the 56 interviews conducted, 23 participants (41%) raised the REMS criteria as a barrier to providing medication abortion in primary care. These participants reported the REMS added a layer of bureaucratic complexity that made it difficult for family physicians to navigate, even when trained, to provide abortion care. These family physicians described 2 predominant ways the REMS impede their ability to provide medication abortion: (1) The REMS require substantial involvement of clinic administration, who can be unsupportive; (2) The complexity of navigating the REMS results in physicians and clinic administration in primary care viewing medication abortion as not worth the effort, since it is only a small component of services offered in primary care.ConclusionRemoving the REMS could simplify integration of medication abortion into primary care, which could meet patient preferences, improve access, and reduce abortion stigma. The FDA's revised REMS criteria may ease administrative burden but will likely maintain key barriers to integrating medication abortion into family physicians' practice.ImplicationsOur study highlights that the REMS criteria are barriers to family physicians' ability to integrate medication abortion into their primary care practices. The FDA's removal of in person dispensing criteria may provide some impetus for trained family physicians to integrate medication abortion into their scope of practice but the revised REMS criteria maintain key barriers to broader adoption.

Embedded librarians working in online classrooms present a new avenue of learner support direct to students in the space where they learn. The development of embedded librarian practice has evolved since 2004 and is becoming commonplace in online tertiary classrooms, but what is not yet so common is theory underlying this new practice. A multiple case study of embedded librarians in online tertiary classrooms in New Zealand was conducted to identify what makes this practice effective in providing support. Six factors were identified as contributing to effectiveness: relationality, immediacy, relevancy, interactivity, parity and faculty--librarian collaboration. The Embedded Librarian Support model was derived from, and is presented as the culmination of, the findings of this research.

Collaboration between faculty and learner support can create seamless services for e-learners. Providing access to learning materials and activities with co-located tailored learner support creates an environment in which e-learners can easily access everything they need for an enhanced, supported, and more focused learning experience. The emerging practice of embedding live librarians in online tertiary classrooms provides a new avenue for such learner support, and forms a natural extension of the library links and resources which are routinely found on online campuses, library websites, and some online course pages. Embedded librarians can actively direct students to tailored library resources and tutorials and assist students directly, often in a library discussion forum, with their specific information and referencing questions. This paper reports on research into the nature and effectiveness of using embedded librarians in online classrooms in New Zealand, and takes a multi-faceted view of this emerging practice. Findings illustrate the benefits of this new form of e-learner support and identify potential pitfalls through increasing engagement with relevant and pertinent information resources to support their learning.

Open and distance learning (ODL) provides unique challenges for student retention and course completion. In an increasingly competitive educational environment, measures such as retention and completion form the basis for the evaluation of institutional and student performance. Information and Library Studies (ILS) faculty at the Open Polytechnic achieve and maintain consistently high retention and completion rates across their faculty-taught ODL courses. This research documents the development and application of strategies that contribute to these high success rates. Information and Library Studies faculty, through a framework of action research, undertook an analysis of implementation strategies designed to support student retention and completion. This framework provided a methodological foundation for focus-group discussion. The faculty evaluated and disseminated the strategies derived from these focus-group discussions across other ILS courses in an iterative process of application and analysis. Strategies for retention and completion in this research are discussed in the context of course selection, orientation, layered support, communication between students and faculty, support between student and faculty, social interaction, and community building in an ODL environment.

An online community of learning within a distance doctoral programme was explored to determine if and how the community evolved and transformed over time. This part-time doctoral programme gathers students into cohorts and runs a structured community with students and faculty for 18 months before students confirm candidatures and begin individual work with their own supervisors for the remaining 4-5 years of study. In particular, this study sought to determine if and how the community of learning continued and developed after the 18 months of shared structured learning had been completed. This research was initiated and conducted by the students, giving insights into the community from the students' perspective. Findings are that the community has survived and will continue in the short-term at least, but with fewer members and operating in a different manner. There has been an ongoing transformation of the community, largely driven by choice and necessity.