Faculty
Randall M. Zusman, MD
Associate Professor of Medicine
Harvard Medical School
Director
Division of Hypertension and Vascular Medicine
Massachusetts General Hospital
Boston, Massachusetts
Target audience
Nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician assistants (PAs) in primary care practice
Activity Goal
To familiarize NPs and PAs with national guidelines on the posthospitalization care of patients who have experienced a primary acute coronary syndrome (ACS) event and increase awareness of their personal practice gaps in the secondary prevention of unstable angina (UA), non–ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI), or ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) in relation to national guidelines.
Learning Objectives
After completing this activity, participants should be better able to:
- Define barriers to implementation of national guidelines on ACS management in clinical practice.
- Use evidence-based guidelines on UA/NSTEMI and STEMI to formulate preventive care plans for patients who survived an initial ACS event.
- Develop strategies to increase adherence to ACS guidelines based on identified gaps within clinician practice patterns.
Accreditation Information
 The University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Nursing Continuing Nursing Education is accredited as a provider of continuing nursing education by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.
This activity is provided for 1.0 contact hour under ANCC criteria.
Provided for 1.2 contact hours under Iowa Provider #78. Provider approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing, Provider #13699 for 1.2 contact hours.
 This program has been reviewed and is approved for a maximum of 1.0 hour of AAPA Category I CME credit by the Physician Assistant Review Panel. Approval is valid for one year from the issue date of December 22, 2010. Participants may submit the self-assessment at any time during that period.
This program was planned in accordance with AAPA’s CME Standards for Enduring Material Programs and for Commercial Support of Enduring Material Programs.
This activity was supported by an unrestricted educational grant from Bristol-Myers Squibb/Sanofi Pharmaceuticals Partnership.
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INTRODUCTION
All patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) require long-term medical management to prevent recurrence of myocardial ischemic events. The American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association (ACC/AHA) guidelines emphasize the need for antiplatelet therapy and aggressive modification of risk factors initiated in-hospital and continued long-term for secondary prevention of ACS events.1-4 Evidence indicates that despite guideline recommendations, suboptimal management of patients with ACS for secondary prevention is prevalent.5,6 Successful secondary prevention of cardiovascular (CV) events requires implementation of evidence-based guidelines by all members of the healthcare team and adherence to prescribed pharmacotherapy and lifestyle modifications by the patients.
To improve clinician adherence to guidelines, several quality improvement initiatives have been implemented with varying degrees of success.7-10 In general, these programs have resulted in improved clinician practice patterns after program participation, underscoring the value of such quality initiatives. However, these programs also have shown there are still gaps in care.
Because secondary prevention of ACS often is in the hands of primary care clinicians, including nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician assistants (PAs), it is imperative that these clinicians are aware of current practice guidelines and adhere to them. To assess current practice among NPs and PAs in primary care, identify gaps in care, and promote adherence to national practice guidelines for secondary prevention of ACS, Practicing Clinicians Exchange (PCE) developed the ACS Management Practice Improvement (PI) Program. |
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How to Receive Credit
Participants wishing to earn CME/CE credit must:
1. Read the newsletter.
2. Relate the content material to the learning objectives.
3. Complete the self-assessment questions and evaluation form online at www.practicingclinicians.com/acspitest
After login, please enter the code: SAPCE73410
Successful completion of the self-assessment is required to earn CME/CE credit. Successful completion is defined as a cumulative score of at least 70%.
The estimated time to complete this activity is 1 hour.
Release date: December 22, 2010
Expiration date: December 22, 2011
Disclaimer
The opinions or views expressed in this continuing education activity are those of the faculty and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or recommendations of Practicing Clinicians Exchange, the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Nursing Continuing Nursing Education, or Bristol-Myers Squibb/Sanofi Pharmaceuticals Partnership.
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Disclosures
All faculty and planners participating in continuing education activities sponsored by the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Nursing Continuing Nursing Education are expected to disclose to the audience any significant support or substantial relationship(s) with providers of commercial products and/or devices discussed in this activity and/or with any commercial supporters of the activity. In addition, all faculty are expected to openly disclose any off-label, experimental, or investigational use of drugs or devices discussed in this activity. The faculty and planning committee have been advised that this activity must be free from commercial bias, and based upon all the available scientifically rigorous data from research that conforms to accepted standards of experimental design, data collection, and analysis.
Dr Zusman: advisory board/consultant/research support: Bristol-Myers Squibb, Daiichi Sankyo Company, Limited, Eli Lilly and Company, Forest Laboratories, Inc., NicOx, Novartis, Pfizer Inc.
The Planning Committee for this activity included Catherine A. Bevil, RN, EdD, of the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Nursing Continuing Nursing Education; Mark P. Christiansen, PA-C, PhD, of the University of Nebraska Medical Center; and Chris Olsen, PhD, and Ruth Cohen of Continuing Education Alliance. The members of the Planning Committee have no significant relationships to disclose.
Please contact Practicing Clinicians Exchange at pce@practicingclinicians.com for questions regarding this activity.
©2010 Practicing Clinicians Exchange SAPCE73410
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