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CME: Aiming for the mark: achieving target pressures in open-angle glaucoma (POAG)

Activity Description / Statement of Need:

In this online, self-learning activity:

Glaucoma is a disease characterized by progressive damage to the optic nerve and retinal nerve fiber, leading to loss of peripheral and sometimes central vision. Three to six million people in the US may be affected by glaucoma—a figure that is anticipated to rise to 6.3 million by the year 2050. It is the second leading cause of irreversible blindness in the US overall and the most prevalent cause of blindness in Black people (6.1% vs. 2.8% in those who are White). Approximately half of all individuals with glaucoma are unaware of their condition due to the asymptomatic nature of the disease. And while there are several forms of glaucoma, but the most prevalent one in North America is primary open-angle (POAG), which is caused by increased resistance to the drainage of aqueous humor at the trabecular meshwork (other forms include closed-angle, exfoliative, pigmentary, traumatic, uveitic, and neovascular).

Target Audience:

HCPs including: comprehensive ophthalmologists and retinal specialists; physician assistants and nurse practitioners who practice in ophthalmology; pharmacists; and any other HCPs with an interest in or who clinically encounter patients with POAG.


Commercial Support Disclosure: This program is supported by an educational grant from Sun Pharmaceuticals. 

This activity is free of charge.


Release Date: August 17, 2024 -- Expiration Date: August 17, 2026

Faculty: David S. Friedman, MD, PhD, MPH

Agenda

Faculty introduction, disclosures

Monitoring intraocular pressure (IOP) and setting targets for POAG patients

  • Brief review of glaucoma and glaucoma epidemiology
  • How to think about target IOP
  • Considerations for IOP targets
    • Patient and disease characteristics
    • Signs of possible worsening
    • When are aggressive targets appropriate?

Current and emerging treatment options for POAG 

  • Goals of therapy
  • Treatment decision-making and present pharmacotherapeutic options: guidelines and clinical evidence
     
    • When to initiate therapy?
    • First-line vs later-line
        • Prostaglandin analogues
        • Beta receptor antagonists
        • Alpha receptor agonists
        • Carbonic anhydrase inhibition
        • Rho kinase inhibition
  • Laser trabeculoplasty and Surgical Options
  • Monitoring patients
  • Barriers to care, including adherence 
  • Patient case(s)

Summary, best practice recap, conclusion

Learning Objectives

By the end of the session the participant will be able to:

  • Individualize intraocular pressure targets in patients with POAG based on known risk factors and patient-specific characteristics.
  • Identify present and emerging pharmacotherapies currently in clinical development and their mechanisms of action, and apply those therapies to patient cases.
  • Describe barriers to care in the treatment of patients with POAG and what clinicians may do to aide patients in circumventing them.

Accreditation

ACCME Activity #202812600

ScientiaCME is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

Credit Designation: ScientiaCME designates this educational activity for a maximum of 1.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™ toward the AMA Physician's Recognition Award. Physicians should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Physicians: For maintenance of certification (MOC) points, you must enter your board certification ID # and birth date correctly.  It is the learner's responsibility to provide this information completely and accurately at the completion of the activity. Without providing it, the learner will NOT receive MOC points for this activity. By providing this data, you acknowledge that it will be shared with ACCME and the applicable certifying board. Please note: Not all activities on this site provide MOC points. If this activity does not specify that it provides MOC points in this section, then it does NOT provide MOC points. 

Pharmacists

ScientiaCME is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) as a provider of continuing pharmacy education. This activity is approved for 1.0 contact hours  of continuing pharmacy education credit. Proof of participation will be posted to your NABP CPE profile within 4 to 6 weeks to participants who have successfully completed the post-test. Participants must participate in the entire presentation and complete the course evaluation to receive continuing pharmacy education credit. ACPE #0574-0000-24-023-H01-P. This is an Application (A)-type activity.

PharmacistsYou must enter your NABP # and birth date correctly so that proof of participation can be posted to your NABP CPE profile. It is the learner's responsibility to provide this information completely and accurately at the completion of the activity. Without providing it, the learner will NOT receive CPE credit for this activity.

Nurses: The American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) accepts AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™ from organizations accredited by the ACCME. This activity is designated for up to 1.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™.

Physician Assistants: The American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA) accepts AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™ assigned by organizations accredited by the ACCME as satisfying Category 1 CME for National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA) national certification maintenance. This activity is designated for up to 1.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™.

Nurse Practitioners: The American Academy of Nurse Practitioners Certification Board (AANPCB) states that continuing education providers accredited by the ACCME may provide acceptable, accredited Advanced Practice Provider content. This activity is designated for up to 1.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™.


Faculty Disclosure and Resolution of COI

As a provider of continuing medical education, it is the policy of ScientiaCME to ensure balance, independence, objectivity, and scientific rigor in all of its educational activities. In accordance with this policy, faculty and educational planners must disclose any significant relationships with commercial interests whose products or devices may be mentioned in faculty presentations, and any relationships with the commercial supporter of the activity. The intent of this disclosure is to provide the intended audience with information on which they can make their own judgments. Additionally, in the event a conflict of interest (COI) does exist, it is the policy of ScientiaCME to ensure that the COI is resolved in order to ensure the integrity of the CME activity. For this CME activity, any COI has been resolved thru content review by ScientiaCME.

Disclosures of Faculty: David S. Friedman, MD, PhD, MPH, Director, Glaucoma Service and Professor of Ophthalmology, Harvard Medical School, has received financial compensation from Thea Pharma, Life Biosciences, HealthAdvances, and Abbvie for consulting work. 

Disclosures of Educational Planners: Charles Turck, PharmD, BCPS, BCCCP, President of ScientiaCME, has no relevant financial disclosures.  

Faculty WILL NOT discuss off-label uses of a commercial product. 

All relevant financial relationships have been mitigated. 

ScientiaCME adheres to the ACCME’s Standards for Integrity and Independence in Accredited Continuing Education. Any individuals in a position to control the content of a CE activity, including faculty, planners, reviewers or others are required to disclose all relevant financial relationships with ineligible entities (commercial interests). All relevant conflicts of interest have been mitigated prior to the commencement of the activity.

Commercial Support Disclosure: This program is supported by an educational grant from Sun Pharmaceuticals. 

Instructions

  • Read the learning objectives above
  • Take the Pre-Test (optional). Completion of the pre-test will help us evaluate the knowledge gained by participating in this CME activity.
  • View the online activity. You may view this is in more than one session, and may pause or repeat any portion of the presentation if you need to.
  • Minimum participation threshold: Take the post-test. A score of 70% or higher is required to pass and proceed to the activity evaluation.
  • Complete the activity evaluation and CME registration. A CE certificate will be emailed to you immediately.

Cultural/Linguistic Competence & Health Disparities

System Requirements

PC
Windows 7 or above
Internet Explorer 8
*Adobe Acrobat Reader
MAC
Mac OS 10.2.8
Safari or Chrome or Firefox
*Adobe Acrobat Reader
Internet Explorer is not supported on the Macintosh

*Required to view Printable PDF Version


Perform Pre-Test (optional)

Please take a few minutes to participate in the optional pre-test. It will help us measure the knowledge gained by participating in this activity.


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