Raising the Index of Suspicion in Primary Care: The Critical Role of the Nurse Practitioner in Improving Referral Rates, Diagnosis and Outcomes in Pulmonary Hypertension

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This CME activity is provided by Integrity Continuing Education.

This AANP activity is jointly provided by Global Education Group and Integrity Continuing Education.

This activity is supported by an educational grant from Actelion Pharmaceuticals US, Inc., a Janssen Pharmaceutical Company of Johnson & Johnson.

Credit Available

• Physicians — maximum of 1.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™
• AANP (Nurse Practitioners) — This activity is approved for 1.0 contact hour (which includes 0.3 hours of pharmacology).

All other health care professionals completing this course will be issued a statement of participation.

Target Audience

This educational initiative has been designed for nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and physicians who practice in primary care and specialty settings.

Program Overview

Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (PAH) poses a challenge for clinical practice due to delayed diagnosis and suboptimal treatment and management. As a result, patients with PAH report a poor quality of life and are associated with a huge healthcare burden. Given the complexities of screening, diagnosis and treatment of PAH, a multidisciplinary approach is critical to improving outcomes for patients, and the role of the nurse practitioner (NP) has become all the more pivotal.

This program will utilize integrated case studies to illustrate the journey of a patient with PAH to facilitate early recognition and diagnosis. The program will provide guidance on updated approaches for diagnosis and distinguishing PAH from other disorders with similar presentations. Experts will clarify the utility of available and emerging therapies for PAH and provide recommendations to design patient-centered treatment plans and ensure patient satisfaction with treatment that will aim to improve quality of life.

Learning Objectives

Upon completion of this activity, participants should be better able to:

• Recognize the role for the NP to improve patient outcomes in PAH
• Differentiate symptoms and signs of PAH from disorders with similar presentations to help improve early referral and recognition of the disease
• Discuss how to develop a patient-centered, guideline-directed, evidence-based management plan for PAH that includes consideration of novel therapies and current clinical trial data
• Describe the patient experience for patients with PAH

Faculty

 

Physician Accreditation Statement

Integrity Continuing Education is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

Physician Credit Designation

Integrity Continuing Education designates this enduring activity for a maximum of 1.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Nurse Practitioner Credit Designation

This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the Accreditation Standards of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP) through the joint providership of Global Education Group and Integrity Continuing Education. Global Education Group is accredited by the American Association of Nurse Practitioners as an approved provider of nurse practitioner continuing education. Provider number: 110121. This activity is approved for 1.0 contact hour (which includes 0.3 hours of pharmacology).

Disclosures of Conflicts of Interest

Integrity Continuing Education and Global Education Group requires instructors, planners, managers, and other individuals who are in a position to control the content of this activity to disclose any real or apparent conflict of interest they may have as related to the content of this activity. All identified conflicts of interest are thoroughly vetted by Integrity Continuing Education for fair balance, scientific objectivity of studies mentioned in the materials or used as the basis for content, and appropriateness of patient care recommendations.

The following faculty/planners reported the financial relationships or relationships to products or devices they or their spouse/life partner have with commercial interests related to the content of these CME activities:

Vallerie V. McLaughlin, MD

• Consulting Fees : Acceleron, Actelion, Altavant, Caremark, CiVi Biopharma, Gossamer Bio, Liquidia, United Therapeutics
• Contracted Research : Acceleron, Actelion, Gilead, National Institutes of Health (NIH), Sonovie, Reata, United Therapeutics

Martha Kingman, DNP FNP-C

• Consulting Fees : Actelion, Bayer, United Therapeutics

The planners and managers, Michelle R. Rizzo, ELS, and Donna Fausak, hereby state that they or their spouse/life partner do not have any financial relationships or relationships to products or devices with any commercial interest related to the content of this activity of any amount during the past 12 months. The Global Education Group planners and managers, Kristin Delisi, NP, Lindsay Borvansky, Andrea Funk, Liddy Knight, and Ashley Cann, also have nothing to disclose.

Instructions for Participation and Credit

There are no fees for participating and receiving CME/CE credit for this activity. During the period of May 26, 2021 through May 26, 2022, participants must:

• Read the learning objectives and faculty disclosures.
• Complete the pretest.
• Study the educational activity.
• Complete the posttest and the evaluation form.

A statement of credit will be issued only upon receipt of a completed activity evaluation form and a completed posttest with a score of 70% or better.

Course Viewing Requirements

Supported Browsers:
Internet Explorer 8.0+ for Windows 2003, Vista, XP, Windows 7, Windows 8.1 and above
Google Chrome 28.0+ for Windows, Mac OS, or Linux
Mozilla Firefox 23.0+ for Windows, Mac OS, or Linux
Safari 6.0+ for Mac OSX 10.7 and above

Supported Phones & Tablets:
Android 4.0.3 and above
iPhone/iPad with iOS 6.1 or above

Disclosure of Unlabeled Use

This educational activity may contain discussion of published and/or investigational uses of agents that are not indicated by the US Food and Drug Administration. Integrity Continuing Education and Global Education Group do not recommend the use of any agent outside of the labeled indications.

The opinions expressed in the educational activity are those of the faculty and do not necessarily represent the views of any organization associated with this activity. Please refer to the official prescribing information for each product for discussion of approved indications, contraindications, and warnings.

Disclaimer

The information provided at this activity is for continuing education purposes only and is not meant to substitute for the independent medical judgment of healthcare professionals relative to diagnostic and treatment options of a specific patient's medical condition.

Contact Information

For information about ACCME accreditation of this activity, please contact Integrity Continuing Education at (855) 835-4004 or cme@integrityce.com.

For information about AANP accreditation of this activity, please contact Global Education Group at (303) 395-1782 or cme@globaleducationgroup.com.