Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension: Empowering Pharmacists in Treatment Decisions Towards Improved Patient Care

Release Date: Monday, February 17, 2014

Expiration Date: Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Educational Overview
Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a rare disease with significant consequences, including serious functional impairment and premature death. If left untreated, PAH is rapidly fatal. Fortunately, over the past decade, the knowledge and understanding of this disease has greatly expanded. Furthermore, the availability of effective and more convenient medications has allowed clinicians to better individualize therapy to meet patient treatment goals. Though there is no cure for PAH, effective treatment can significantly slow disease progression and clinical worsening. Given the serious nature of this disease and its rapid progression, optimal treatment selection is essential.

The Role of the Pharmacist
Optimal management of patients with PAH requires early detection and diagnosis followed by an aggressive treatment plan. By increasing their competency, pharmacists can play an important role within the multidisciplinary team when encountering patients with this rapidly progressing disease.

Given the complex and individualized nature of PAH therapy, pharmacists must have a full understanding of treatment algorithms, disease-specific therapies, and long-term monitoring recommendations based on evidence-based guidelines. As the armamentarium to treat PAH continues to expand, pharmacists must make efforts to stay informed of the latest finding in order to contribute to the optimal management of these patients.

Target Audience
This continuing pharmacy education activity is planned to meet
the needs of pharmacists in a variety of practice settings, including large and small health systems, outpatient clinics, managed-care organizations, long-term care facilities, and academia. This program targets health-system pharmacists who are responsible for the safe and effective use of medications utilized for the treatment of patients with PAH.

Learning Objectives
Upon completing this program, participants will be able to:

Differentiate the safety and efficacy among the various classes of medications used in the treatment of PAH
Utilize evidence-based guidelines to select appropriate therapy to meet individualized patient treatment goals
Recognize management approaches to care based on pathophysiology of PAH
Discuss the role of clinical pharmacists in the management of patients with PAH

Educational Format
This online activity is based on the CPE series held throughout 2013. Please note if you have received credit for attending the live programs by the same name, you are not eligible to apply for credit for this online version.

Faculty

Rebekah L. Hanson, PharmD, BCPS, BCACP
Clinical Liaison Pharmacist
Specialty Pharmacy Services
Clinical Assistant Professor
College of Pharmacy
University of Illinois Hospital and
Health Sciences System
Department of Pharmacy Practice
Chicago, IL

Accreditation
Center for Independent Healthcare Education is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education as a provider of 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: 0473-9999-14-003-H01-P
Activity type: Knowledge-based

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

Method of Participation and Instruction for Credit

Review the entire CE information including target audience, learning objectives, and disclosures.
Review the online activity
Complete the Post Test, Evaluation, and Credit Application Form. (Link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Y56TGV8)
Please note that to receive credit you must achieve a score of at least 80%.
The information that you participated will be uploaded to CPEMonitor and you will be able to access your credits from the profile you set up with NABP. For more information, please visit http://www.nabp.net/.

Disclosure of Conflicts of Interest Policy
In accordance with policies set forth by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) and the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), Center for Independent Healthcare Education requires all faculty members and planning committee with an opportunity to affect the content of a continuing education activity to disclose any relevent 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.

Planning Committee Members
Rebekah L. Hanson, PharmD
Paul DeLisle
Marco Cicero, PhD

Maja Drenovac, PharmD

Disclosure of Financial Interest Summary
Rebekah L. Hanson, PharmD (faculty/planner) has relevant financial relationships with the following commercial interests:
Speaker Bureau: United Therapeutics

Advisory Board: United Therapeutics
Dr. Hanson does not discuss the off-label use of a product.

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.

Cosponsorship
This activity is cosponsored by Center for Independent Healthcare Education and Vemco MedEd.

Commercial Support
This activity is supported by educational grants from Actelion Pharmaceuticals US, Inc. and Bayer Healthcare, Inc.

Fee
There is no fee to participate in this activity.

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