What Every Hospital and Critical Care Pharmacist Needs to Know About Managing Hypertensive Emergencies: Case Studies to Challenge the Experts

What Every Hospital and Critical Care Pharmacist Needs to Know About Managing Hypertensive Emergencies: Case Studies to Challenge the Experts is organized by AcademicCME.

Program Dates: December 17th, 2021 - December 16th, 2022

Program Overview:
This CE activity is derived from content presented at the 2021 ASHP Midyear Clinical Meeting & Exhibition. In this education, the expert faculty, led by Dr. John Fanikos, will analyze pertinent information for hospital and critical care pharmacists related to managing hypertensive emergencies. Hypertensive emergencies lead to acute or progressive end-organ dysfunction. In these cases, blood pressure must be aggressively managed over minutes to hours. Emergency department visits for hypertensive emergency have increased more than two-fold and are associated with a high mortality. This case-based symposium presents specific hypertensive emergencies with a focus on the pharmacists’ role in optimizing antihypertensive drug therapy selection, effectively targeting blood pressure reduction goals, and preserving the specific organ at risk.

Learning Objectives:
• Review the physiological mechanisms involved in development of acute severe hypertension, the lexicon of “hypertensive crisis,” and the pathophysiology of end-organ damage from acute severe hypertension
• Review the current standard of care for the management of acute severe hypertension in adults, across various underlying end-organ damage states, including stroke, heart failure, aortic dissection, and myocardial infarction
• Improve competence and confidence in the hospital and ED/ICU pharmacist’s role in helping advise/guide the interprofessional healthcare team on optimal care of patients with acute severe hypertension