The role and function of nurse immunisers in delivering the national immunisation program in Australia: A scoping review

Nurse immunisers are a critical component of Australia's immunisation workforce; however, their scope of practice, models of service delivery, regulatory frameworks and contributions to immunisation vary across jurisdictions and practice settings. A comprehensive synthesis of evidence is lacking. The purpose of this review is to identify, examine and review the breadth of literature relating to how nurse immunisers contribute to the planning, coordination and administration of vaccines within the Australian National Immunisation Program (NIP) and associated immunisation initiatives. This review will explore how nurse-led immunisation services operate across diverse context including primary care, public health care, community health services, schools, outreach programs and aged care settings. It will also examine reported enablers, barriers, workforce capabilities, education and credentialling requirements, policy influences and service delivery outcomes (e.g. vaccine coverage by states/territories). This review will follow the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses Scoping Review (PRISMA-ScR) guidelines including searching for peer-reviewed and grey literature, transparent study selection and structured data charting to map key concepts, types of evidence and characteristics of nurse immuniser roles and functions. Findings will be reported descriptively and thematically using Braun and Clarke's (2022) reflexive thematic analysis approach for qualitative data.