Author of the Annual APRN Legislative Update, Dr. Susanne Phillips, takes you on a journey through years of professional practice advancement. This session will provide a look back into our practice history, bringing you up to speed on the latest practice authority accomplishments across our nation.

Learning Outcomes/Objectives

• Appraise NP practice authority accomplishments over the last two decades.
• Evaluate current scope of NP practice differences among states.
• Assess new practice authority accomplishments over the last two years.

Credits: CE: 1.5

This lecture focuses on empowering healthcare providers with strategies to address the challenge of caring for patients whose symptoms persist despite normal lab results. The session covers the utilization of a functional medicine lens to identify and manage elusive health conditions within a primary care framework.

Learning Outcomes/Objectives

• Learn to recognize and validate patient symptoms that are incongruent with lab findings.
• Acquire skills to conduct thorough assessments that surpass conventional testing, integrating environmental and lifestyle factors.
• Master the formulation of comprehensive treatment plans that leverage nutrition, stress management, and other nonpharmacologic interventions.
• Gain insight into a patient-centered approach that honors the complexity of patient presentations and enhances the toolkit for managing cases that defy clearcut diagnoses.

Credits: CE: 1.5

In this session, we'll discuss the differential diagnoses for cough including but not limited to GERD, COPD, cancer, pneumonia, fungus, and infection.

Learning Outcomes/Objectives

• Explain the pathophysiology of cough.
• Compare and contrast clinical manifestations of differential diagnoses for cough including but not limited to GERD, COPD, cancer, pneumonia, fungus, and infection.
• Apply pharmacologic treatment options based on the diagnosis for cough based on most current available evidence.

Credits: CE 1.5; Rx 0.5

This program provides clinicians with information relevant to the evaluation and management of common fluid and electrolyte disorders encountered in the adult and geriatric population in a primary or acute care setting. Topics discussed include recognition of common electrolyte disorders, calculation of fluid deficits, and selection of the correct IV fluids for replacement.

Learning Outcomes/Objectives:

• Gain an understanding of the basic physiologic principles governing the management of IV fluid administration and the management of electrolyte disorders.
• Review the various fluid compartments within the body.
• Review the composition of the ICF and ECF fluid compartments.
• Review fluid and solute movement between the ICF and ECF compartments.
• Discuss the goal of fluid therapy.
• Discuss the various fluid types used in fluid replacement and the reasons for their use.
• Summarize the function of electrolytes, review signs and symptoms of electrolyte disorders, and discuss treatment of such disorders.
• Discuss maintenance fluids, fluid deficit replacement, third space, and blood loss replacement.

Credits: CE credit: 1.5; Rx credit: 1

Formally classified as a disease more than a decade ago, obesity continues to in prevalence and incidence throughout the nation. Conventional thinking-such as "eat less and move more"-has been woefully ineffective in staunching the flow. Part of the problem lies in the fact that "eat less" and "move more" are poorly defined. In this session, the participant will gain an understanding of how many calories, how much protein, and how many carbohydrates constitute the correct amount for a given patient. These principles can then be applied to any diet one chooses. Basic exercise recommendations are examined, and the utility, as well as the pitfalls, of anti-obesity medications are also discussed.

Learning Outcomes/Objectives

• Describe appropriate calorie and macronutrient concentrations for a weight reduction/maintenance eating plan.
• Discuss basic exercise recommendations to assist with weight loss.
• Discuss the utility, as well as the limitations, of anti-obesity medications.

Credits: CE: 1.5; Rx: 0.5

Through his session, NPs will be able to correctly identify features specific to diagnosing and treating patients with Parkinson disease (PD) and manage them according to the stages of the PD continuum through an interdisciplinary approach.

Learning Outcomes/Objectives

• Identify clinical features of PD.
• Examine medications utilized in PD.
• Evaluate considerations in all stages of PD.

Credits: CE: 1.5; Rx: 0.5

The purpose of this session is to review the latest sepsis research and recommendations from the guidelines.

Learning Outcomes/Objectives:

• Review the latest research pertinent to sepsis care.
• Identify evidence-based treatment options for sepsis.

Credits: CE credit: 1.5; Rx credit: 1

Do you know how to prescribe physical activity in practice? The benefits of regular physical activity are well studied and documented, but many healthcare providers report receiving little to no education on the subject during their education. This presentation explores the underlying physiology of exercise and its beneficial effects on health; it also reviews the guidelines/recommendations for regular physical activity and describes personalized exercise prescriptions.

Learning Outcomes/Objectives

• Recognize the benefits of physical activity.
• Understand the fundamentals of physical activity in healthcare.
• Identify the latest physical activity guidelines and describe the components of an exercise prescription.

Credits: CE: 1.5

Cervical cancer prevention has changed significantly in recent years, with less frequent screening requirements and the advent of HPV testing as a standalone test in addition to the previous option of co-testing with both a Pap and HPV test. This session reviews the appropriate use of Pap testing, the rationale for HPV plus Pap testing (co-testing) in women ages 30 years and older, and the use of HPV testing as a primary screen (standalone test) in women ages 25 years and older. This session includes a review of two FDA-approved HPV tests , the new American Cancer Society guidelines for screening, and a the 2019 ASCCP Risk-Based Management Consensus Guidelines. These guidelines are a shift from results-based to risk-based management relative to the risk of an existing CIN 3 (pre-cancer), Insight into management of abnormal screening and subsequent follow-up is provided through case studies.

Learning Outcomes/Objectives

• Describe the role of persistent oncogenic HPV in the development of pre-cancer and cancer of the cervix.
• List two different uses of HPV testing in cervical cancer screening including co-testing and HPV testing as primary standalone screening.
• Understand how HPV epidemiology drives risk-based cancer prevention.
• Learn fundamentals of risk-based guidelines for managing patients.

Credits: CE: 1.5; Rx: 0.5

This lecture covers safe and appropriate opioid prescribing as well as some commonly used (and not so commonly used) analgesics for pain management. Attendees will gain a new understanding of prescribing analgesics according to pain and medication mechanism, not simply according to mild/moderate/severe pain ratings.

Learning Outcomes/Objectives

• Discuss the most commonly used pain analgesics.
• Review how pharmaceuticals work within the pain pathway.
• Identify clinical situations in which caution is needed as it relates to chronic opioid prescribing.

Credits: CE: 1.5; Rx: 1.5