Raising the Index of Suspicion in Primary Care: The Critical Role of the Nurse Practitioner in Improving Referral Rates, Diagnosis and Outcomes in Pulmonary Hypertension

Target Audience
This educational initiative has been designed for nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and physicians who practice in primary care and specialty settings.

Program Overview
Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (PAH) poses a challenge for clinical practice due to delayed diagnosis and suboptimal treatment and management. As a result, patients with PAH report a poor quality of life and are associated with a huge healthcare burden. Given the complexities of screening, diagnosis and treatment of PAH, a multidisciplinary approach is critical to improving outcomes for patients, and the role of the nurse practitioner (NP) has become all the more pivotal.

This program will utilize integrated case studies to illustrate the journey of a patient with PAH to facilitate early recognition and diagnosis. The program will provide guidance on updated approaches for diagnosis and distinguishing PAH from other disorders with similar presentations. Experts will clarify the utility of available and emerging therapies for PAH and provide recommendations to design patient-centered treatment plans and ensure patient satisfaction with treatment that will aim to improve quality of life.

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

Recognize the role for the NP to improve patient outcomes in PAH
Differentiate symptoms and signs of PAH from disorders with similar presentations to help improve early referral and recognition of the disease
Discuss how to develop a patient-centered, guideline-directed, evidence-based management plan for PAH that includes consideration of novel therapies and current clinical trial data
Describe the patient experience for patients with PAH