CME: Therapeutic Updates, Best Practices, and Barriers to Care in the Management of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

ACCREDITATION EXPIRED: December 12, 2014

Activity Description / Statement of Need:

In this online CME self-learning program:

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), the sixth leading cause of death in the U.S., is directly responsible for more then 73,000 deaths annually and is a contributing factor in more than 220,000 deaths.  More than 20 million Americans have diabetes of which 6 million are undiagnosed.  It is the leading cause of kidney failure and blindness in adults.  Evidence-based guidelines for the management of T2DM focus on three areas: lifestyle changes (that include diet, exercise and weight loss); management of cardiovascular disease risk factors (including hypertension, dyslipidemia and microalbuminuria with the use of aspirin, statins and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors or angiotensin receptor blockers); and management of blood glucose levels with pharmacotherapy. 

The Consensus Statement of the American Diabetes Association (ADA) and the European Association for the Study of Diabetes have identified a number of agents as either first- or later-line.  Partially in response to this Consensus Statement, the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) and the American College of Endocrinology (ACE) convened a consensus panel and issued their statement on glycemic control in T2DM.  In developing their treatment algorithm, they set as priorities minimizing the risk and severity of hypoglycemia and minimizing the risk and magnitude of weight gain.   Consequently, the AACE/ACE Diabetes algorithm for glycemic control features a more prominent role for certain agents given their impact on weight and their relative risk of hypoglycemia.  The relatively recent nature of these guidelines’ updates implicitly suggests a practice gap that may be remedied by raising awareness through continuing education learning activities.

One other practical aspect highlighting a gap in care is one of demographic gaps in care.  The literature suggests that: there are or may be emerging or existing patterns of racial-, ethnic-, gender-, age-, and geographic-based disparities in healthcare and treatment of patients with T2DM; race- and ethnicity-based discrimination within the healthcare environment are associated with disparities in care; and that such discrimination is associated with both worse chronic health condition control and a higher incidence catastrophic health events.  Therefore, in addition to a therapeutic review, this program also attempts to examine the role of demographic-based barriers to care of patients with T2DM and strategies to minimize or alleviate those disparities.

Agenda

• Introduction, Disclosures
• Definition, epidemiology, and risk factors for T2DM
• Clinical and Diagnostic Features in T2DM
• Treatment of T2DM
• Summary, conclusions, and best practice recap

Target Audience:

Healthcare professionals who include certified diabetes educators, diabetes nurse educators, diabetologists, endocrinologists, family medicine practitioners, and those who otherwise commonly care for patients with diabetes or who frequently encounter them or their caregivers in practice.

This program is supported by  educational grants from Novo Nordisk.

Release Date: December 12, 2012 -- Expiration Date: December 12, 2014

Faculty: Ann Lynch, PharmD

Agenda

Learning Objectives

Accreditation

Faculty Disclosure and Resolution of COI

Instructions

System Requirements