Ask the Expert: Improving the Diagnosis and Management of Fibromyalgia for Physician Assistants

Program Description:

Fibromyalgia is frequently diagnosed and managed by primary care clinicians; however, research has shown that fibromyalgia is often not diagnosed or is diagnosed incorrectly. Studies further show that patients who are correctly diagnosed are frequently placed on therapeutic regimens of limited benefit. In this activity, two fibromyalgia experts answer questions compiled from a survey sent to members of the Association of Family Practice Physician Assistants and the Georgia Association of Physician Assistants.

INTENDED AUDIENCE:

This activity has been designed to meet the educational needs of physician assistants and other health care providers involved in the diagnosis and management of fibromyalgia.

Activity Objectives:

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

• Differentiate between fibromyalgia and other conditions that share similar symptomology


• Explain the clinical utility of the updated ACR guideline criteria for the diagnosis of fibromyalgia


• Differentiate between fibromyalgia therapies that are efficacious and those that are not

Faculty:

Lindsey Gillispie, MHS, PA-C
Department of Rheumatology
McBride Orthopedic Hospital Physicians
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Joan McTigue, MS, PA-C
Division of Rheumatology
University of Florida College of Medicine
Gainesville, Florida

Steering Committee
Richard S. Pope, MPAS, PA-C, DFAAPA—Chair
Physician Assistant
Danbury Orthopedic Associates
Adjunct Clinical Professor
Quinnipiac University
Danbury, Connecticut

Lindsey Gillispie, MHS, PA-C

Joan McTigue, MS, PA-C

Disclosures:

In accordance with the ACCME Standards for Commercial Support, all CME providers are required to disclose to the activity audience the relevant financial relationships of everyone in a position to control content of an educational activity. A relevant financial relationship is a relationship in any amount occurring in the last 12 months with a commercial interest whose products or services are discussed in the CME activity content over which the individual has control. Relationship information appears below:

Faculty
Lindsey Gillispie, MHS, PA-C, has disclosed the following relevant financial relationships:
Speaker: Abbott, Amgen, UCB
Consultant: UCB

Ms. Gillispie discusses the unlabeled or investigational use of a commercial product.

Joan McTigue, MS, PA-C, has disclosed the following relevant financial relationships:
Speaker: Novartis, Takeda, URL Pharma

Richard S. Pope, MPAS, PA-C, DFAAPA, has disclosed the following relevant financial relationships:
Advisor: Takeda, URL Pharma
Speaker: Amgen, Takeda, UCB, URL Pharma

Curatio CME Institute
Thomas Finnegan, PhD, Associate Medical Director, has disclosed no relevant financial relationships.
Jonathan S. Simmons, ELS, Senior Managing Editor, has disclosed no relevant financial relationships.

Penn State College of Medicine
Penn State staff involved in the development and review of this activity have disclosed no relevant financial relationships.

Disclosure of Unlabeled Use
This educational activity may contain discussion of published and/or investigational uses of agents that are not indicated by the US Food and Drug Administration. Curatio CME Institute, Penn State College of Medicine, and Pfizer do not recommend the use of any agent outside the labeled indications.

The opinions expressed in this educational activity are those of the faculty and do not necessarily represent the views of Curatio CME Institute, Penn State College of Medicine, or Pfizer. Please refer to the official prescribing information for each product for discussion of approved indications, contraindications, and warnings.

Disclaimer
The information presented at this activity is for continuing medical education purposes only and is not meant to substitute for the independent medical judgment of a physician regarding diagnosis and treatment of a specific patient’s medical condition.

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Accredited Provider:

Jointly sponsored by

          

Commercial Supporter:

Support for this activity has been provided through an educational grant from Pfizer, Inc.

Instructions:

Method of Participation
To obtain credit, a score of 70% or better is required. This CME is offered at no cost to participants. Please proceed with the activity until you have successfully completed this program, answered all pre-survey questions, post-test questions, completed the evaluation survey, and have received your digital copy of your credit certificate. Your online certificate will be saved on myCME.com within your Profile/Exam History, which you can then access at any time.

If you have any questions relating to the accreditation or your certificate for this activity, please contact Penn State at ContinuingEd@hmc.psu.edu or or (717) 531-6483. Reference course #G5121-12-T.

If you have any other questions relating to this activity, please contact myCME.Support@haymarketmedical.com.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:

WINDOWS PC SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:
266-MHz Pentium II; Windows 98 or higher; 64 MB RAM; 800 x 600 screen resolution set for “High Color (16-Bit)”; Macromedia Flash Player 6 or higher.

MACINTOSH^® SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:
Power Mac g3 at 300 MHz; System 8.5 or higher (excluding Mac OSX); 96 MB RAM; 20 MB minimum hard disk space available; 800 x 600 screen resolution set to “Thousands of Colors”; Macromedia Flash Player 6 or higher.