Medical Education Resources Internal Medicine for Primary Care Cardiology Neurology Pain Management Vascular Medicine 2025

This program is targeted to office-based primary care providers and other health professionals with updates in primary care medicine

Learning Objectives

Upon completion of this program, participants should be better able to:

– Describe the spectrum of maladies included in peripheral vascular disease

– Discuss presentation and interventional treatment of stroke patients

– List current pharmacologic options for the management of aneurysms

– Describe the evaluation and treatment of venous thrombosis

– Identify strategies to overcome the challenges of treating chronic pain

– Discuss techniques for conducting an efficient physical exam of the low back

– Compare the benefits and side effect profiles of pharmacologic treatment options for fibromyalgia

– Design opioid pain management strategies

– Perform a neurological exam

– Utilize history and physical examination to distinguish weakness from non-specific symptoms

– Discuss evidence-based management options for Alzheimer’s disease

– Evaluate weakness and recognize cardinal features of Parkinson’s disease as well as other movement disorders

– Describe current diagnostic approaches and the role of drug therapy to the patient with acute chest pain

– Implement lifestyle changes as well as lipid and cholesterol guidelines for the prevention of CAD

– Implement treatment strategies reflective of recent guidelines and current evidence based medicine for heart failure

– Explain current concepts in the diagnosis and treatment of hypertension

+ Topics:

Thursday, April 10, 2025

7:00 am

Registration and Breakfast

7:30 am – 8:30 am – Vascular Medicine

Peripheral Vascular Disease and Medical Therapy

Defining the spectrum of maladies under the umbrella of Peripheral Vascular Disease including the pathophysiology of atherosclerosis and treatments highlighting lipid lowering agents and antiplatelet therapy

8:30 am – 9:30 am – Vascular Medicine

Stroke: Initial Presentation to Medical and Surgical Treatment

An overview of embolic stroke including diagnosis and medical, surgical, and interventional therapy

9:30 am – 9:40 am

Coffee Break

9:40 am – 10:40 am – Vascular Medicine

Aortic and Peripheral Aneurysms

A guide for primary care outlining diagnosis, management, and therapeutic options

10:40 am – 11:40 am – Pain

Chronic Pain Types and Osteoarthritis

Chronic pain is much more complex than just acute pain that lasts a long time; The physiology and categorization of chronic pain will be explored; Osteoarthritis has characteristics of more than one category of chronic pain; Characteristics that affect treatment planning

11:40 am – 12:40 pm – Pain

Back Pain

Back pain is a common cause of long term disability; Non-pharmacologic and pharmacologic interventions will be discussed for a variety of causes of back pain including failed back surgery syndrome

12:40 pm

Session Adjourns

Friday, April 11, 2025

7:00 am

Registration and Breakfast

7:30 am – 8:30 am – Pain

Fibromyalgia and Cannabinoids for Chronic Pain

Fibromyalgia is a classic example of the nociplastic chronic pain category; A variety of treatment modalities will be discussed; In addition, the evidence regarding the use of cannabinoids for chronic pain will be presented

8:30 am – 9:30 am – Pain

Safe Opioid Prescribing

The role of opioids in the management of chronic pain will be addressed in the contexts of the updated CDC guidelines and the increasing prevalence of opioid use disorder

9:30 am – 9:40 am

Coffee Break

9:40 am – 10:40 am – Vascular Medicine

Management of Venous Thrombosis

A discussion focusing on the variety of venous thrombotic diagnoses and the multiple available treatment options

10:40 am – 11:40 am – Neurology

Performing and Interpreting the Neurological Exam

Characteristics and objectives of the examination; exam phases; assessing general mental status; long-term predications; examination of infants; demonstration on conducting an exam

11:40 am – 12:40 pm – Neurology

A Clinical Approach to Weakness

Using the history and physical examination to distinguish weakness from non-specific symptoms; characteristics of neurological diseases that produce weakness; presentations of representative diseases of the nervous system

12:40 pm

Session Adjourns

Saturday, April 12, 2025

7:00 am

Registration and Breakfast

7:30 am – 8:30 am – Neurology

Alzheimer’s & Other Dementias

Definition; statistics; neurological changes of normal aging; pathology; etiological theories; vascular dementias; investigations; social issues; symptomatic treatment; research therapies

8:30 am – 9:30 am – Neurology

Parkinson’s Disease & Other Movement Disorders

Epidemiology; cardinal features; secondary features; pathology; neurochemistry; differential diagnosis; treatment; complication; other movement disorders; neuroleptic- induced movement disorders; chorea

9:30 am – 9:40 am

Coffee Break

9:40 am – 10:40 am – Cardiology

Acute Coronary Syndromes: The Patient with Acute Chest Pain

Diagnosis and initial evaluation in the primary care setting, urgent care clinic and emergency department; Initial workup, treatment, and follow-up; Diagnosing and treating ST segment elevation and non-ST segment elevation MIs; The role of drug therapy–primary vs adjunctive to PCI; Follow up after acute coronary syndromome

10:40 am – 11:40 am – Cardiology

Primary & Secondary Prevention of CAD

Definitions; AHA/ACC and other lipid guidelines updates; HDL Cholesterol: The good cholesterol?; Metabolic syndrome and/or obesity; Who needs treatment and how much; The role of lifestyle changes, exercise and cardiac rehabilitation; Drug therapy updates; Risk calculation

11:40 am

Session Adjourns

Sunday, April 13, 2025

7:00 am

Registration and Breakfast

7:30 am – 8:30 am – Cardiology

Heart Failure

Etiologies and stages of heart failure; ACC/AHA Heart Failure Guidelines; Heart failure with reduced EF (HFrEF) and heart failure with preserved EF (HFpEF); Determining patients for referral using biomarkers, eg NT Pro BNP; Treatment options: ACE inhibitors, ARBs, ARNI, beta blockers, mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists, SGLT2i; The role of devices in treatment and antiplatelet drugs; Issues related to the hospitalized patient with acute decompensated heart failure and readmissions

8:30 am – 9:30 am – Cardiology

Hypertension

The 2017 AHA/ACC Hypertension Guidelines; The 2024 ESC Guidelines for hypertension; Approaches to treatment thresholds and goals; Choices for initial and combination therapy; Resistant hypertension; Treating special populations: diabetics, the elderly, patients with renal failure