National Jewish Health Honored for Continuing Medical Education

The National Jewish Health Office of Professional Education recently received an award for Outstanding Continuing Medical Education from the Colorado Alliance for Continuing Medical Education (CACME). Making the Right Diagnosis: The Need for Spirometry teaches primary care physicians and other health professionals how to recognize, diagnose and treat chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

The program was recognized for its detailed planning and implementation, and because it succeeded in “achieving its objectives and changing physician practice.”

“The Outstanding CME Activity award is an acknowledgement of the hard work and dedication of the National Jewish Health COPD faculty and the entire professional education staff to organize quality programs for the medical community which change provider behavior and improve patient outcomes,” said Sheila S. Jordan, MMGT, CCMEP, Director of Professional Education at National Jewish Health.

National Jewish Health pulmonologists Barry Make, MD, and Adam Friedlander, MD, conducted the programs in six cities: Atlanta, Berkeley, Chicago, Denver, Miami and Washington, D.C. to promote the understanding of COPD and to educate primary care providers on the use and interpretation of spirometry testing to help in the diagnosis and management of their patients with respiratory problems.  The institution collaborated with the COPD Foundation to provide hands-on spirometry training for registered nurses and allied health professionals. 

COPD is underdiagnosed and often misdiagnosed in patients with minimal symptoms. Symptoms are often confused with asthma, and many physicians are unaware of new guidelines using spirometry to detect and diagnose COPD.

The program was considered highly successful in meeting its goals as 83 percent of the provider participants reported after the course that they were likely to change their practices based on information presented.  Outcomes results from the program were published in the Innovations section of the Winter 2010 issue of the Journal of Continuing Education in the Health Professions.

“COPD is an emerging epidemic with a significant societal burden for which the healthcare system is ill-equipped,” said Dr. Make.  “Programs like these are very helpful for raising awareness in the medical community.”

National Jewish Health is known worldwide for treatment of patients with respiratory, cardiac, immune and related disorders, and for groundbreaking medical research. Founded in 1899 as a nonprofit hospital, National Jewish remains the only facility in the world dedicated exclusively to these disorders. Since 1998, U.S. News & World Report has ranked National Jewish the #1 respiratory hospital in the nation.

National Jewish Health is accredited by the Accreditation Council of Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians.