Improving Patient Care: New Diagnostic Technology for Rapid Detection of Common Infectious Diarrheal Agents

 

Release Date: January 24, 2014

Last Reviewed: January 8, 2014

Expiration Date: January 24, 2015

 

Professor of Pathology and Medicine

Alpert Brown Medical School

Director of Microbiology and Infectious Disease Molecular Diagnostics

Lifespan Academic Medical Centers

Providence, RI

 

Associate Professor

Mayo Clinic College of Medicine

Chair - Division of Infectious Diseases

Mayo Clinic in Arizona

Phoenix, AZ

 

Professor of Medicine

Texas A&M University Health Science Center at Dallas

Attending Physician

Program Director, Gastroenterology Fellowship

Baylor University Medical Center

Dallas, TX

 

The target audience for this initiative includes primary care clinicians (family practice and internal medicine physicians), gastroenterologists, infectious disease specialists, travel medicine specialists, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and other allied healthcare providers interested in and actively engaged in the diagnosis and management of patients with signs and/or symptoms of gastrointestinal infection.

 

Each year, an estimated 211 to 375 million episodes of diarrheal disease occur in the United States, causing significant morbidity and mortality. Patient symptomatology is often insufficient to distinguish among the long list of potential causative bacterial, viral, and parasitic agents. Conventional methods for pathogen detection and identification require multiple specimens for multiple tests, often sent to different laboratories, with turnaround times ranging from a few hours to a week or more. Two new molecular panels were cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in January 2013. These panels allow same-day, single-specimen testing of common infectious diarrheal pathogens, thereby enabling clinicians to more quickly identify or rule out specific causative pathogens, initiate definitive treatment, and take steps to prevent further spread. This webinar—presented by 3 expert faculty, a gastroenterologist, an infectious disease specialist, and a microbiologist—is designed to increase clinician awareness of these new same-day, single-specimen diagnostic assays. It will also enable clinicians to identify patients who are candidates for testing and interpret test results according to assay performance characteristics and limitations.

 

Upon proper completion of this activity, participants should be better able to:

 

 

In accordance with Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education requirements on disclosure, faculty and contributors are asked to disclose any relationships with commercial interests associated with the area of medicine featured in the activity. These relationships are described below.

 

 

 

The planners and managers reported the following financial relationships or relationships to products or devices they or their spouse/life partner have with commercial interests related to the content of this CME activity:

 

 

 

Paradigm Medical Communications, LLC staff members have no financial conflicts to disclose.

 

Paradigm Medical Communications, LLC is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians. 

 

Paradigm Medical Communications, LLC designates this enduring material for a maximum of 1.75 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

 

AAPA accepts certificates of participation for educational activities certified for AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™ from organizations accredited by ACCME or a recognized state medical society. Physician assistants may receive a maximum of 1.75 hours of Category 1 Credit for completing this program.

 

Global Education Group is approved as a provider of nurse practitioner continuing education by the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP): AANP Provider Number 11021. This program has been approved for 1.75 contact hours of continuing education.

 

This program was planned in accordance with AANP CE Standards and Policies and AANP Commercial Support Standard.

 

This activity is supported by an educational grant from Luminex Corporation.

 

To receive a CME certificate of participation, participants should:

A certificate of participation will be available for download/printing immediately following your successful completion of the posttest and evaluation.

 

There is no fee required for participation in this activity.

 

This certified CME activity is designed as a self-running Flash presentation. In the event that you need this plug-in, a link to download the required Flash Player has been provided below.

 

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For your convenience, a control bar is located at the bottom of the screen to move forward and backwards through the deck. Click the toggle button with the arrows to view the webinar in full screen. Press the Esc button on your keyboard while in full screen view to return to normal view, and to view the list of chapters.

 

Technical Support: Technical Support: If you have any technical problems or playback issues, please send an email to: contactus@paradigmmc.com.

 

Resolution of Conflict of Interest
Paradigm Medical Communications, LLC (Paradigm) and Global Education Group (Global) require instructors, planners, managers, and other individuals and their spouse/life partner who are in a position to control the content of this activity to disclose any real or apparent conflict of interest they may have as related to the content of this activity. All identified conflicts of interest are thoroughly vetted by Paradigm and Global for fair balance, scientific objectivity of studies mentioned in the materials or used as the basis for content, and appropriateness of patient care recommendations.

 

© 2014 Paradigm Medical Communications, LLC, except where noted. This web presentation may not be reproduced in whole or part without the express written permission of Paradigm Medical Communications, LLC.

 

Participants have an implied responsibility to use the newly acquired information to enhance patient outcomes and their own professional development. The information presented in this activity is not meant to serve as a guideline for patient management. Any procedures, medications, or other courses of diagnosis or treatment discussed in this activity should not be used by clinicians without evaluation of patient conditions and possible contraindications on dangers in use, review of any applicable manufacturer’s product information, and comparison with recommendations of other authorities.
 

This educational activity may contain discussion of published and/or investigational uses of agents that are not indicated by the FDA. Paradigm and Global do not recommend the use of any agent outside of the labeled indications. 

 

The opinions expressed in the educational activity are those of the faculty and do not necessarily represent the views of any organization associated with this activity. Please refer to the official prescribing information for each product for discussion of approved indications, contraindications, and warnings.

 

For information about the accreditation of this program, please contact Paradigm at (845) 398-5100 or contactus@paradigmmc.com.