Release Date: Thursday, December 3, 2020     Expiration Date: Friday, December 3, 2021                   
 
Educational Need

Updated data from CDC estimate at least 2.8 million people acquire antimicrobial-resistant bacterial infections each year that result in at least 35,000 deaths. This is a dramatic increase from the CDC’s 2013 report and emphasizes the need for continued efforts and education to combat resistance. Clinicians must utilize antimicrobial stewardship strategies that aim to reduce the development of resistance as well as be aware of new tools that can greatly enhance their ability to effectively treat these infections. These tools include rapid diagnostics that quickly and reliably identify resistant pathogens as well as newer, more potent antimicrobial agents that can overcome resistance mechanisms and allow for pathogen-specific therapy. The rising prevalence of multidrug-resistant (MDR) Gram-negative pathogens has seriously challenged clinicians and results in a substantial burden to patients and healthcare systems. This is particularly evident when managing vulnerable patient populations, such as those with ventilator-associated bacterial pneumonia (VABP) and hospital-acquired bacterial pneumonia (HABP) who are at greater risk of treatment failure and mortality. Clinical pharmacists, as an integral part of interprofessional teams and Antimicrobial Stewardship Program committees, must continue to spread awareness and implement strategies to minimize the burden of these infections.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Upon completing this activity, participants will be able to:

  • Describe current trends in antimicrobial resistance and mechanisms of resistance utilized by Gram-negative pathogens that commonly cause hospital-acquired bacterial pneumonia (HABP) and ventilator-associated bacterial pneumonia (VABP)
  • Differentiate among newer antimicrobial agents that target multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria
  • Evaluate evidence-based strategies to optimally utilize the current selection of antimicrobial agents in a pathogen-specific manner when managing HABP/VABP


 
Target Audience

This activity meets the needs of pharmacists in a variety of practice settings, including large and small healthcare systems, outpatient clinics, managed care organizations, long-term care facilities, and academia. This program targets pharmacists who are at the forefront of caring for patients with serious bacterial infections.

Educational Format

This program is designed to build competence, confidence, and skills in the management of HABP/VABP while increasing the understanding of how to utilize the latest tools as part of antimicrobial stewardship efforts and interprofessional healthcare team. It discusses the following topics:

  • The burden of resistance in HABP/VABP
  • Trends in resistance prevalence among problematic Gram-negative bacteria
  • Understanding and optimizing the use of current antimicrobials in HABP/VABP
  • Antibiogram utilization
  • Strategies for pathogen-specific therapy
  • Antimicrobial Stewardship

FACULTY

James S. Lewis II, PharmD, FIDSA
ID Clinical Pharmacy Coordinator
Adjunct Associate Professor
Oregon Health and Science University
Departments of Pharmacy and Infectious Diseases
Portland, OR


 

 


Pharmacists

Center for Independent Healthcare Education is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education as a provider for continuing pharmacy education. Center has assigned 1.0 contact hour (0.1 CEU) of continuing pharmacy education credits for participating in this activity.
ACPE UAN: 0473-9999-20-009-H01-P
Activity type: Application-based

 

For questions regarding the accreditation of this activity, please contact us at info@jointsponsor.com

 

Method of Participation and Instruction for Credit

  1. Review the entire CPE information including target audience, learning objectives, and disclosures.
  2. Review the activity in its entirety.
  3. Complete the Online Post Test, Evaluation, and Credit Application form
  4. Please note that to receive credit you must achieve a score of at least 75%.
  5. Credits will be uploaded to CPE Monitor within 4 weeks of activity completion and you will be able to access your credits from the profile you set up with NABP.

Disclosure of Conflicts of Interest

In accordance with policies set forth by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), Center for Independent Healthcare Education requires all faculty members and spouses/significant others with an opportunity to affect the content of a continuing education activity to disclose any relevant financial relationships during the past 12 months with commercial interests. A commercial interest is any entity producing, marketing, reselling or distributing health care goods or services consumed by or used on patients. Relationships with commercial interests and conflicts of interest resulting from those relationships must be revealed to the audience and resolved prior to the activity.

Relevant relationships include roles such as speaker, author, consultant, independent contractor (including research), employee, investor, advisory committee member, board member, review panelist, and investigator. If a potential speaker or author indicates a possible conflict of interest, the conflict will be resolved by choosing another speaker or author for that topical area, or the slides, handouts, and/or monograph will be reviewed and approved by a qualified commercially-disinterested peer.
 


Disclosures

James S. Lewis, PharmD has relevant financial relationships with commercial interests:
Consultant: Merck & Co., Inc., Entasis, SeLux Diagnostics
Dr. Lewis discusses off-label uses of the following: Non-FDA cleared antibiotics for nosocomial pneumonia/VAP.

No (other) speakers, authors, planners or content reviewers have any relevant financial relationships to disclose.

Content review confirmed that the content was developed in a fair, balanced manner free from commercial bias. Disclosure of a relationship is not intended to suggest or condone commercial bias in any presentation, but it is made to provide participants with information that might be of potential importance to their evaluation of a presentation.

Fee
There is no fee to participate in this activity.

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Software/Hardware
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Cable, DSL, or better of at least 300 kbps

System Check
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Copyright Statement
Copyright © 2020 Vemco MedEd. All Rights Reserved. Permission for accreditation use granted to Center for Independent Healthcare Education.

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Joint Providership
This activity is jointly provided by Center for Independent Healthcare Education and Vemco MedEd.

Commercial Support

This activity is supported by an educational grant from Merck & Co., Inc.
 

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