Description

Release Date: 6/1/2010
Expiration Date: 6/1/2011

This program focuses on administering urgent treatment with intravenous tissue-type plasminogen activator (IV tPA), which has been shown to improve outcomes in patients with ischemic stroke if administered within three hours from the onset of symptoms.

Despite its efficacy, 69% of hospitals in the United States do not use thrombolytic therapy and only about one percent of stroke patients receive it, mostly at hospitals with a high volume of stroke patients.  Concerns by clinicians regarding the risk of intracerebral hemorrhage and liability exposure are among the contributing factors to the under use of tPA, underscoring the need for continuing education to assist clinicians in developing sound stroke-related diagnostic skills.

Select, manage and assess your learning activities.  Follow the suggested path of activities below (all offer CME credit) from webcast to simulation or you may prefer to jump right to simulation and go backwards if you find you need more knowledge in a particular area. The choice is yours.   When you have completed your desired activates, be sure to complete your evaluation to claim credit.

Learning Objectives

After completing this program, when presented with clinical case vignettes, participants should be able to:

• Recognize the clinical signs and symptoms of hemorrhagic versus ischemic CNS stroke and the conditions that mimic them
• Express the basic competencies of stroke evaluation by using the NIH Stroke Scale and appropriately initiating intravenous tissue plasminogen activator (IV tPA)

Faculty

Director, Massachusetts General Hospital, Acute Stroke Services

Director, Partners TeleStroke Center, Massachusetts General Hospital

Professor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School

Assistant Neurologist, Massachusetts General Hospital Stroke Research Center and Neurology Clinical Trials Unit

Associate Director, Massachusetts General Hospital Telestroke Services

Assistant Professor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School

Accreditation

Release Date: 12/29/2009
Expiration Date: 12/29/2010

Target Audience
Emergency medicine; Family medicine; Internal medicine; critical care nurses, staff nurses, and other professionals who work to prevent and treat stroke

Accreditation
This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the Essential Areas and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint sponsorship of McLean Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital Academy and Reed Medical Education. McLean Hospital is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education (CME) for physicians.

Credit Designation
McLean Hospital designates this continuing medical educational activity for a maximum of 1 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits(TM). Physicians should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Policy on Faculty and Provider Disclosure
It is the policy of McLean Hospital that faculty and providers disclose real or apparent conflicts of interest relating to the topics of this educational activity, and also disclose discussions of unlabeled/unapproved uses of drugs or devices during their presentation(s). McLean Hospital has established policies in place that identify and resolve all conflicts of interest prior to this educational activity.

Supporters

Our evidence-based curriculum is supported by an educational grant from Genentech.