Continuing Medical Education

Continuing Medical Educational events and workshops have proven to be successful in spreading awareness of better practices in COPD diagnosis and management, and in researching new ways to improve the quality of health care received by individuals with COPD for all allied health care professionals. The COPD Foundation has hosted a variety of CME and CEU events, and workshops, of which documents have been published. To find out about future CME workshops, visit the Calendar page frequently for updates.

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COPD and Lung Health 2008: a Four-hour Interdisciplinary Program

November 15th, 2008, New York City—The Lung Health Fair and Symposium (coordinated in collaboration with the 1199SEIU Training and Upgrading Fund—the largest healthcare union in the New York area) was held at the Crowne Plaza in New York City (located at 48th and Broadway). There were two components to the event—an educational symposium and a lung health fair (exhibit area). Both industry and not-for-profit groups had exhibit tables at the event, some of which were “hands on” including spirometry, pulmonary rehabilitation, smoking cessation, nutrition, and an exhibit from the Mt. Sinai 9-11 clinic.

The educational symposium was open to all health care providers and professionals in the following titles who will receive continuing education credits for attendance: nurses, dietitians, respiratory therapists, pharmacists and technicians, physician assistants, clinical lab practitioners, and social workers. The symposium included presentations on COPD, causes of shortness of breath, asthma and co-morbidity conditions. Over 1,000 individuals participated in person and via webcast. The Mobile Spirometry Unit had a booth within the health fair, where 58 individuals were tested for COPD.

The success of this program and demonstrated strong interest in repeating this event next year. Click here to download a PDF of the official event invitation: 1199SEIU Lung Health Fair Invitation.pdf.

Ascertaining Incident COPD Workshop

October 26th, 2008, Philadelphia, PA—Many large National Heart Lung Blood Institute-funded epidemiologic studies have ascertained baseline measures of lung function and routinely obtain and adjudicate medical records from hospital admissions for cardiovascular disease (e.g., MESA, Framingham, Hispanic Community Health Study [HCHS], and Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities [ARIC]). The 16,000 person HCHS is currently funded to obtain and adjudicate hospital admissions for COPD and asthma; however, adjudication cannot be performed without a standardized definition and procedures, and none of the current approaches are adequate for the adjudication of incident COPD in a general population sample.

To address this issue, the COPD Foundation sponsored a one-day workshop to address the following:

  1. Review the literature and currently available criteria for COPD.
  2. Assess likely biases in the application of existing criteria to epidemiologic studies of participants without COPD at baseline.
  3. Modify existing criteria and/or develop new criteria for the purposes of:
    • Adjudication of death records for COPD.
    • Adjudication of emergency room visits/hospitalizations for COPD.
    • Ascertainment by questionnaire of COPD exacerbations of moderate severity not requiring hospitalization.
  • Identify areas of future research and validation of criteria.

    • The workshop was moderated by Dr. Graham Barr of Columbia University, and featured presentations from Dr. Lisa LaVange of the Hispanic Community Health Study, Dr. Robert Wise of Johns Hopkins University, and Dr. Gerard Criner of Temple University. Approximately ten other leading researchers in the field participated in the workshop.

    A final document of the workshop’s proceedings is currently being drafted, but once completed, will be posted here.

    Quantitative Chest Tomography Workshop

    April 3rd & 4th, 2008, Bethesda, MD—The COPD Foundation and the Alpha-1 Foundation co-sponsored the Gordon L. Snider Critical Issues Workshop #10 entitled Quantitative Chest Tomography in COPD Research. The two-day workshop involved both presentations and discussions by experts in the field and the group as a whole. The presentations covered the state-of-the-art practices in the use of the present CT technology in order to elucidate shortcomings and areas of future research.

    The specific goal of this workshop bringing together international leaders in the field was to review the state of the art in quantitative CT relative to COPD in order to arrive at a set of recommendations that will be useful in future research and assessment. A limited number of participants were admitted to facilitate vigorous debates. Topics of discussions were followed after each presentation. Dr. Harvey Coxson of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver gave an overview of CT measurement of airways, and then Dr. Ken leader from the University of Pittsburgh spoke about the accuracy of CT measurement of airways. Dr. Berend Stoel gave a talk about the validation of CT scanners for multi-center and longitudinal studies of COPD, among various other presenters. (Click here to download a PDF of the program book.)

    The need for this workshop was timely since it demonstrated that quantitative computed tomography has the potential to be a very important tool to study the pathogenesis of COPD, but more importantly, in studies of surgical, bronchoscopic and pharmacologic interventions.

    You can read the published articles from this workshop by visiting the American Thoracic Society’s Journal. (Please note that by clicking this link you will be redirected to another website.)

    Multi-stakeholder CME Programs Workshop

    December 7th, 2007, Crystal City, VA—Individuals representing over 15 organizations came together to discuss the educational gaps in continuing medical education programs that need to be addressed in order to improve the quality and access to resources on managing COPD. The first session began with four presentations: first, Dr. Byron Thomashow of Columbia University talked about the findings of the COPD Foundation’s Needs Assessment Survey and how it demonstrates that the power of improving the quality of care (which much address patient co-morbidities) lies within the quality education provided by CME programs. (To read more about the COPD Foundation’s PCP Needs Assessment Survey, click here.) In her presentation, Dr. Barbara Yawn of the University of Minnesota explained how important it is for primary care physicians to follow COPD guidelines in their diagnosis and management; her study found that despite the availability of up-to-date guidelines on COPD care many PCPs were unfamiliar with these guidelines. Interestingly, more than 10% of PCPs were inappropriately using asthma guidelines to guide COPD care. Although most PCPs indicated that they used spirometry to diagnose COPD, few obtain pre-and post-bronchodilator measurements, a problem that could contribute to misdiagnosis. Next, Dr. Jill Foster of Outcomes, Inc. reported that a majority of primary care physicians surveyed reported insufficient exposure to CME focused on COPD patient care, with family physicians expressing a greater need for education than internists.

    The last presentation was given by Dr. Nancy Bennett who moderated the discussion topics of the working groups. Attendees were divided into three groups in order to discuss the targeting practice gaps, knowledge gaps, and performance gaps in COPD care. After discussion, the working groups returned and presented their findings.The action plan is outlined as follows:

    1. Each participant will share the ideas generated by the group within their respective professional organization and utilize them in needs assessment.
    2. The COPD Foundation will create an online educational resource and serve as a repository for all physician and patient education materials related to COPD.
    3. The COPD Foundation will create a series of brief documents to assist patients and primary care physicians in diagnosis, treatment and management of COPD.
    4. Realistic and practical resources about COPD management for primary care physicians should either be created or existing materials could be disseminated more widely.
    5. Public and patient awareness of COPD and of its diagnosis and treatment should be enhanced.
    6. CME activities with a focus on COPD should be increased and strategies to increase availability of such CME activities for primary care physicians are imperative.

    The following organizations participated in this workshop:

    • American Academy of Family Physicians
    • American Academy of Physician Assistants
    • American Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation
    • American College of Chest Physicians
    • American College of Physicians
    • American Lung Association
    • American Thoracic Society
    • Boston University
    • COPD Foundation
    • Columbia University
    • Outcomes, Inc.
    • Division of Lung Diseases at NHLBI
    • The Joint Commission
    • University of Minnesota

    To read the full workshop summary, you can download the PDF here: CME Directors Workshop Summary.pdf.

    COPD 2007: Inspiration through Education CME Event

    October 27th, 2007, New York City—Being the first tri-state COPD health educational event, this two-part event featured sessions for both health care providers and individuals living with COPD. The medical professional education component was designed by leading faculty in the field, including Dr. James Kiley, Director of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, Dr. Fernando Martinez of the University of Michigan, Dr. Byron Thomashow of Columbia University and New York Presbyterian Hospital, Dr. Gerard Turino for St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital, Dr. James Crapo of National Jewish Health, and several others.

    At the event, talks were given on topics including (but not limited to) an overview of the research being conducted correlating genetics and COPD (including the national study on the genetic epidemiology of COPD), exacerbations, co-morbidities, pulmonary rehabilitation, and health care utilization. Patients were also encouraged to attend some of these sessions alongside the patient component to the symposium, which included information on what they could do to keeping their mind and body healthy and active.

    Download a copy of the CME agenda here: Inspiration through Education: CME Agenda.pdf

    Accredited by the Columbia University College of Chest Physicians and Surgeons, this event awarded 7.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s). The American College of Nurse Practitioners and the American Academy of Physician Assistants accepted AMA/PRA category 1 credit from organizations accredited by the ACCME. The American Nurses Credentialing Center accepted AMA/PRA category 1 credit toward re-certification requirements. The American Association for Respiratory Care approved 5 hours of Continuing Respiratory Care Education.

    “COPD and Primary Care: Treating the Whole Patient” Workshop

    November 4th, 2006, Bethesda, MD—The central focus of this meeting was to address the treatment of COPD in relation to co-morbidities, its treatment in outpatient and hospital settings, current modalities in disease management, and the future of COPD management and treatment. The learning objectives were:

    • Improve the accuracy of a COPD diagnosis.
    • Understanding the disease progression of COPD.
    • Expose workshop attendees to current treatment options for COPD and co-morbidities.
    • Expand the patient education opportunities, awareness and empowerment, in order to truly address the needs of the whole person.

    This workshop was attended by physicians, clinical researchers, and scientists involved in the study and treatment of COPD. Esteemed medical organizations were represented, including the American College of Chest Physicians, American Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation, American Association for Respiratory Care, American Thoracic Society, and various patient organizations. The conference was co-chaired by Dr. Byron Thomashow of Columbia University, John W. Walsh, President of the COPD Foundation, and Dr. Barbara Yawn of Olmsted Medical Center. The American Academy of Family Physicians approved this course for 8 hours of prescribed credit.

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