ATSU 2024 Las Vegas Primary Care Update

Health care professionals are confronting the challenge of maintaining and improving competence over the course of lengthy careers in diverse practice specialties. This course was designed to provide attendees with current and relevant updates to your daily management of commonly seen patient health concerns in primary care.  This course will present a comprehensive review of new developments in medicine and the day-to-day controversies of office practice. Providers will be able to apply the most current treatment strategies provided in recent clinical guideline updates, recognize effective interventions, and employ relevant research in their daily patient encounters.

After attending this course Participants will be able to:

Summarize recent updates, clinical studies, and new guidelines that impact practice in primary care.

Assess and provide patients with an accurate diagnosis and optimal care for a broad range of diseases and conditions seen in primary care.

Use Osteopathic Patient care Competencies to develop and implement strategies that overcome patient and clinician barriers and improve patient health outcomes.

CME activities must address one or more of the AOA seven core competencies. The core competencies addressed by this activity are highlighted below:

Osteopathic Principles and Practice

Medical Knowledge and Its Application into Osteopathic Medical Practice

Osteopathic Patient Care

Interpersonal and Communication Skills in Osteopathic Medical Practice

Professionalism in Osteopathic Medical Practice

Osteopathic Medical Practice-Based Learning and Improvement

The target audience includes general practitioners, family medicine physicians, and other primary healthcare providers that are interested in refreshing their knowledge and improving their competence on commonly seen conditions.

A significant gap exists between research recommendations, scientific evidence, and clinical practice guidelines, on the one hand and actual clinical practice, on the other. With only 55% adherence to evidence-based care, the significance of disparity disconcerts health care stakeholders. This gap, the difference between what health professionals know and what they do, challenges effective and efficient health care by undermining the benefits realized from advances in the science of medicine and the dedication of professionals delivering care. It is well-documented that interventions designed to change practice must be based on an accurate assessment of the needs and causal variables that support and impede targeted health outcomes. Lack of knowledge, awareness, professional skill or appraisal skills are well known barriers to optimal care. We base our activities on the standards of care in order to reflect the most current evidence-based knowledge and guidelines to improve physician competence when treating commonly seen patient conditions.

Identifying the need for more information, knowledge and competence is evident in the busy practicing physician. ATSU CME Department uses various methods to obtain and identify the problems that exist in physician’s knowledge, we develop learning objectives to address the problem(s) and assess our educational activity.  (Needs Assessment tools, activity evaluation, expert opinion, and evidence-based research). Often training is out of date and a lack of time is challenging to stay current with advances in the busy physician’s practice. 45% of the total U.S. population live with a chronic condition and improving the quality of their care is a major policy priority. Many patients see a primary care physician for all of their care. Up to date review of clinical guidelines is necessary to present practicing physicians with the level of knowledge and understanding they need to improve patient care. Multi-morbidity is particularly important in generalist settings, such as primary care, where family practitioners act as the first point of contact for people with a wide range of conditions and frequently manage patients with multiple coexisting conditions. Most patients consulting in family practice have multi-morbidity, and the number of coexisting conditions increases with age.

This conference is designed to provide primary care practitioners with up-to-date, evidence-based information on commonly encountered clinician and patient wellness issues, while suggesting pragmatic approaches to clinical management. After attending the sessions our goal is to enhance the knowledge-base and core competence of attendees. The successful completion of this interactive program should improve attendees’ confidence in diagnosing, treating, and prescribing the most effective courses of treatment, with the ultimate goal of improving clinician and patient outcomes.

A.T. Still University (ATSU) is accredited by the American Osteopathic Association to provide osteopathic continuing medical education for physicians.

ATSU designates this activity for a maximum of 19 AOA Category 1-A credits and will report CME and specialty credits commensurate with the extent of the physician’s participation in this activity.