January 12, 2009

January 12, 2010

1.25 Hours

Twenty million Americans, including 9 million children, have asthma.  It is responsible for 40,000 people missing work or school each day.  The economic costs associated with asthma exceed $10 billion per year.  Although thought of as a chronic disease, asthma can be dangerous.  Asthma exacerbations are responsible for 11 deaths each day in the United States.  Proper management of asthma is essential to maintaining good health.  The National Asthma Education and Prevention Program first released guidelines to help clinicians manage asthma in their patients in 1991, with updates in 1997 and most recently in 2007.  The 2007 guidelines differ from previous versions in that they classify disease severity to initiate therapy but do not base disease management on severity.  Instead, they assess control to monitor and adjust therapy.  Also new to this version, asthma severity and control are defined in terms of impairment and risk.  These guidelines also provide revised medication recommendations using a stepwise approach from intermittent through severely uncontrolled asthma based on the best-available evidence categories.  This educational activity will describe the new guidelines with particular emphasis on the revised approach to assessing asthma severity and control in determining the best treatment for each patient.

This activity has been designed to meet the educational needs of primary care physicians and allied healthcare professionals.

Upon completion of this activity, participants should be able to:
 
•    Name the two domains used to assess asthma severity and control.
•    Explain the role of these domains in evaluating patients with asthma.
•    Describe how to use the updated NAEPP Guidelines to assess asthma severity and control.
•    Identify the appropriate stepwise treatment approach, including preferred and alternative therapies, according to patient age.
 

Stuart W. Stoloff, MD
Clinical Professor
Department of Family and Community Medicine 
University of Nevada School of Medicine
Reno, Nevada

This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the Essential Areas and Policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint sponsorship of the Postgraduate Institute for Medicine and Med Learning Group. The Postgraduate Institute for Medicine is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

The Postgraduate Institute for Medicine designates this educational activity for a maximum of 1.25 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Physicians should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

For questions regarding the content of this activity, contact the accredited provider for this CME/CE activity: info@pimed.com.

To contact Postgraduate Institute for Medicine, please visit www.pimed.com

There are no fees for participating and receiving CME credit for this activity. During the period of January 12, 2009 through January 12, 2010, participants must:

1. Read the learning objectives and faculty disclosures
2. Study the educational activity
3. Complete the posttest by recording the best answer to each question
4. Complete the evaluation
5. Submit your posttest and evaluation
6. Print your certificate

To participate in this activity, please view the presentation and take the posttest. Fill in the answer sheet and evaluation form and submit online via iQueue.  CME credit will be awarded if a score of 70% or better is achieved. You will receive your certificate instantly.

Online Format

Stuart W. Stoloff, MD:

Consultant: AstraZeneca, Alcon Laboratories, Inc., Dey, L.P., GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis, Schering-Plough Corporation
Speaker’s Bureau: AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline.

The planners and managers reported the following financial relationships or relationships to products or devices they or their spouse/life partner have with commercial interests related to the content of this CME activity:

Jan Hixon, RN, MSN, Postgraduate Institute for Medicine: no real or apparent conflict of interest to report. 

Tara Hun-Dorris, MMC, ELS, Medical Writer, Med Learning Group: Consulting Fees: Salix Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Christopher J. Cahill, Program Manager, Med Learning Group: no real or apparent conflict of interest to report.

This educational activity may contain discussion of published and/or investigational uses of agents that are not indicated by the FDA. Postgraduate Institute for Medicine (PIM), Med Learning Group, and Merck & Co., Inc., 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 PIM, Med Learning Group, or Merck & Co., Inc.  Please refer to the official prescribing information for each product for discussion of approved indications, contraindications, and warnings.

Participants have an implied responsibility to use the newly acquired information to enhance patient outcomes and their own professional development.  The information presented in this activity is not meant to serve as a guideline for patient management.  Any procedures, medications, or other courses of diagnosis or treatment discussed or suggested in this activity should not be used by clinicians without evaluation of their patient’s conditions and possible contraindications or dangers in use, review of any applicable manufacturer’s product information, and comparison with recommendations of other authorities.