Working to improve therapeutic
outcomes and reduce adverse events

 

Deadly Errors of Commission: Principles of Clinically Important Drug-Drug Interactions - An Interactive Case-Based Approach CME/CE

Release Date

10/13/2010

 

Expiration Date

10/12/2011

 

Time to complete

1.5 hours

 

Practice Gaps/Description

Hundreds of millions of potential drug-drug interactions (DDIs) occur annually, ultimately affecting millions of patients. A DDI occurs when the effectiveness or safety of one medication is altered by co-administration of another substance. DDIs are almost always preventable yet health care system failures are largely responsible for these potentially life-threatening medical errors. Thus, it is crucial that health care professionals possess the skills necessary to evaluate the potential for DDIs and, when detected, determine appropriate prevention or management strategies to reduce harm and improve overall patient safety.

This evidence-based online CME/CE program provides an overview of clinically relevant drug-drug interactions that health care professionals may encounter in their routine practice. This program uses a case-based approach to familiarize the end user with specific drug pairs that have the potential to interact. Each case presents a specific drug pair, corresponding evidence-based information supporting the interaction, appropriate management strategies, and practice questions (with immediate feedback and rationale for why an answer is correct or incorrect) to assess relevant understanding and skills to prescribe safely.

Purpose
The purpose of this case-based activity is to improve patient safety related to clinically relevant drug-drug interactions.

Target Audience
This activity is designed for health care professionals, in particular, prescribers and pharmacists

Activity Objectives

After completing this online program, the health care professional will able to:

• Identify mechanisms of drug-drug interactions (DDIs)
• Describe the fundamental principles of DDIs
• Identify strategies for preventing and managing DDIs
• Apply recommended management strategies through interactive DDI case studies

Accessing The Module

To access the module, click on the link below to go to the log-in page. You will be prompted to create an 'account', establish a user name and password, and provide some additional information such as your degree and specialty area. The latter information will help us understand more about the healthcare professionals that are interested in learning about DDIs.

By creating an account, this will allow you to access the module as often as you like. In addition, if you are unable to complete the module all at one time, you may log in at a later time and return to where you left off. See the Returning To The Module section below for more details.

The link for the drug-drug interaction module is http://www.azcert.org/medical-pros/cmeInfo.cfm.

Returning To The Module
When you log in the next time, go to the Main Page to see where you left off. A checkmark next to the Case Name/number indicates that you have already completed that particular section. To continue, select the next case that does not have a checkmark.

Accreditation

® The University of Arizona College of Pharmacy is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education as a provider of continuing pharmacy education. Pharmacists completing the program and successfully answering the assessment questions (80% or better) and the program evaluation will receive 1.5 contact hours. The assessment will be scored immediately and a statement of credit will be generated (in Adobe .pdf format)*. Print out a copy of the statement of credit as proof of participation.

ACPE Program Number: 0003-9999-10-056-H05-P
Release date: October 13, 2010
Expiration date: October 12, 2011

* If you do not have the Adobe Reader™ software on your computer, you will need to download a free copy of it from the official website (http://get.adobe.com/reader/) in order to print out the certificate or statement of credit.

The information in this educational activity is provided for general professional education purposes only and is not meant to substitute for the independent medical judgment of a physician or other health care professional relative to diagnostic and treatment options of a specific patient's medical condition. The viewpoints expressed in this CME/CE activity are those of the authors/faculty. They do not represent an endorsement by The Arizona Center for Education and Research on Therapeutics (AzCERT Program). In no event will The AzCERT Program be liable for any decision made or action taken in reliance upon the information provided through this CME/CE activity.

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