OVERVIEW

Improving the Lives of Southern Patients: Monitoring Blood Pressure and Disease Risks is organized by Southern Medical Association (SMA) and will be held from Jan 04, 2019 - Jan 04, 2020.

Target Audience:
This activity is designed for healthcare professionals including physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and allied healthcare professionals who manage and treat patients with cardiovascular disease.

Credits Available:
Southern Medical Association designates this enduring material for a maximum of 1.25 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

All healthcare professionals who are not MDs or DOs will receive a certificate of participation.

Out-of-Office/Home Blood Pressure Monitoring:
Office blood pressure (BP) measurement, even when performed correctly, provides a limited assessment of a patient's overall BP pattern. Ambulatory BP measurement (ABPM), during which a patient wears a monitor for 24-hours, provides a more accurate and complete BP profile. However, ABPM is not widely available and can be cumbersome for patients. Home BP monitoring is easily accessible and also provides a more complete assessment of BP. Both home BP monitoring and ABPM can be used to evaluate for white-coat hypertension. This lecture will address the clinical uses of these two out-of-office BP measurement techniques and the evidence supporting their use in the diagnosis and management of hypertension. At the conclusion of the session, learners should be better prepared to:

• Describe limitations of office BP as well as basic principles of home & ambulatory BP monitoring;
• Discuss outcomes that have proven benefit using home & ambulatory BP monitoring;
• Describe recent USPSTF hypertension diagnosis recommendations;
• Describe pros & cons of home BP monitoring & ABPM and their use as complementary methods that improve patient care.

Clinical Measurement of Blood Pressure/Arterial Stiffness:
This session will focus on a little-understood aspect of the circulation - that being its ability to stretch and recoil with each heartbeat. Failure to do so in a reasonable pressure-flow relationship leads to changes in blood pressure and disposition to death and CVD/CKD. At the conclusion of the session, learners should be better prepared to:

• Describe the strain on the aorta with each heartbeat;
• Identify patients who likely have stiff aortae by their blood pressure;
• Recognize that arterial stiffness is in the pathway to target organ damage.

Additional details will be posted as soon as they are available.