Program Overview

Activity Description Objectives

Target Audience Method of Participation

Term of Approval Acknowledgement of Support

Activity Description

Approximately 81 million American adults (one third of all adults) will have at least one form of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in their lifetime. The standard of care for this disease remains primarily pharmaceuticals coupled with certain lifestyle and dietary recommendations. The past few decades have seen a rise in the general use of complementary and alternative medicines (CAM) where approximately two-thirds of people suffering from CVD use dietary supplementation. These patients are then at risk for potential adverse events that can arise from interactions with prescribed medications. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) devised a systematic review to synthesize and grade the strength of evidence of the advantages and disadvantages of adding dietary supplements to prescribed cardiovascular therapy.

This e-print activity summarizes the AHRQ findings for clinicians who treat patients with CVD and provides information on the efficacy, patient harms and effectiveness of utilizing CAMs in cardiovascular drug regimens.

Learning Objectives

At the conclusion of this activity, the participant should be able to:

• Determine the benefits and harms of the concomitant use of complementary and alternative medicines in combination with cardiovascular drugs on the cardiovascular disease population
• Assess the use of specific dietary supplements on clinical cardiovascular effectiveness or efficacy outcomes
• Apply the AHRQ results to guide effective management of cardiovascular disease for shared decision making

Target Audience

This CME activity is designed to meet the educational needs of physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, nurses, and case managers.

Method of Participation

To receive a certificate for this activity, you should:

• Complete the learner assessment pretest
• View the entire activity online
• Complete an online evaluation & post-test
• Print your certificate online

The estimated time to complete this activity, including review of the materials, is 1.0 hour.

Term of Approval

May 31, 2012 through May 30, 2014. Original release date: May 31, 2012

Acknowledgement of Support

There is no fee for this CME/CE activity. This activity is sponsored by PRIME Education, Inc (PRIME^®) and funded under contract HHSA290201000006G from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Faculty Biographies and Disclosures

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Accreditation/Credit Designation

Physician Credit Designation Statement

PRIME Education, Inc. (PRIME^®) is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

PRIME^® designates this enduring material for a maximum of .5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit^™. Physicians should claim only credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Physician Assistant Accreditation Statement

AAPA accepts certificates of participation for educational activities certified for AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™ from organizations accredited by ACCME. Physician assistants may receive a maximum of .5 hours of Category I credit for completing this program.

Nurse Practitioner Accreditation Statement

PRIME Education, Inc (PRIME^®) is approved as a provider of Nurse Practitioner Continuing Education by the American Association of Nurse Practitioners. Provider number: 060815. This program is accredited for .5 contact hour, which includes .5 hour of pharmacology. Program ID# CER37.

This program was planned in accordance with AANP CE Standards and Policies and AANP Commercial Support Standards.

Pharmacist Accreditation Statement

This curriculum has been approved for .5 contact hour (0.05 CEUs) by PRIME^®. PRIME^® is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education as a provider of continuing pharmacy education. The Universal Activity Number for this program is 0255-0000-12-019-H01-P. This learning activity is Knowledge-Based.

Nurse Accreditation Statement

PRIME Education, Inc. (PRIME^®) is accredited as a provider of continuing nursing education by the American Nurses Credentialing Center's Commission on Accreditation.

PRIME^® designates this activity for .5 contact hour.

Case Manager Accreditation Statement

The Commission for Case Manager Certification designates this educational activity for 1.0 contact hour for certified case managers.

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Faculty Disclosures

Disclosure Policy

PRIME Education Inc (PRIME^®) endorses the standards of the ACCME, as well as those of the AANP, ANCC and ACPE, that require everyone in a position to control the content of a CME/CE activity to disclose all financial relationships with commercial interests that are related to the content of the CME/CE activity. CME/CE activities must be balanced, independent of commercial bias and promote improvements or quality in healthcare. All recommendations involving clinical medicine must be based on evidence accepted within the medical profession.

A conflict of interest is created when individuals in a position to control the content of CME/CE have a relevant financial relationship with a commercial interest which therefore may bias his/her opinion and teaching. This may include receiving a salary, royalty, intellectual property rights, consulting fee, honoraria, stocks or other financial benefits.

PRIME^® willidentify, review and resolve all conflicts of interest that speakers, authors, course directors, planners, peer reviewers, or relevant staff disclose prior to an educational activity being delivered to learners. Disclosure of a relationship is not intended to suggest or condone bias in any presentation but is made to provide participants with information that might be of potential importance to their evaluation of a presentation. Disclosure information for speakers, authors, course directors, planners, peer reviewers, and/or relevant staff are provided with this activity.

Presentations that provide information in whole or in part related to non FDA approved uses of drugs and/or devices will disclose the unlabeled indications or the investigational nature of their proposed uses to the audience. Participants should refer to the official prescribing information for each product for discussion of approved indications, contraindications and warnings. Participants should verify all information and data before treating patients or employing any therapies prescribed in this educational activity. The opinions expressed in the educational activity are those of the presenting faculty and do not necessarily represent the views of PRIME^®, the ACCME, AANP, ACPE, ANCC and other relevant accreditation bodies.

Content validation methods are consistently utilized by PRIME^® to ensure that all program content is evidence-based, fair-balanced, and developed with scientific rigor and integrity. All clinical recommendations are based on evidence accepted within the medical profession. All scientific research referred to, reported or used to support a clinical recommendation conforms to accepted standards of experimental design, data collection and analysis. In addition to review of content by course directors and expert faculty, content is also validated through independent peer reviewers selected for their expertise in the content area, as well as their experience in the intended audience. All peer reviewers, planners, course directors, faculty and relevant staff utilized by PRIME^® complete disclosures which are related to their role in the educational activity.

Accessibility

PRIME^®is committed to providing access to our CME programs for individuals with disabilities as identified in Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act for all web-based programs. This website is 508 compliant.

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Post-Test & Evaluation

You must access the activity before receiving credit!

Clinician & Consumer Summaries on Dietary Supplements

Download these free summaries for your reference and/or patient handouts. You may also order bulk copies free of charge from the AHRQ Publication Clearinghouse below.