At ATS 2015, experts in pulmonary, critical care, and sleep medicine will learn the latest research and best clinical practices. The comprehensive and interactive clinically based programming will give attendees the ability to return home confident that they possess the knowledge that they need to stay abreast of changes in the field and to immediately apply that knowledge to their patient care practices. When developing your ATS 2015 itinerary, keep these clinically focused educational offerings in mind.
Photo: Steve Schneider
Adult and Pediatric Core Curricula
Busy clinicians have a systematic way of keeping abreast of changes in their fields through the Adult Core Curriculum and Pediatric Core Curriculum. ATS 2015 will provide opportunities to earn up to 35 American Board of Internal Medicine Maintenance of Certification Medical Knowledge Points through the Adult Clinical Core Curriculum modules. The Pediatric Core has been approved for 10 American Board of Pediatrics MOC Part 2 Self-Assessment credits. All core curriculum modules are free for attendees for up to two months post-meeting. Find the latest MOC offerings, but check back for instructions and links to take the pre-test.
The adult core will focus on pulmonary, critical care, and sleep medicine topics. Pulmonary Clinical Core Curricula includes ILD, rare and congenital lung diseases, obstructive lung diseases (non-cystic fibrosis), lung transplantation, cell/molecular biology and genetics, pulmonary physiology, asthma, and pulmonary hypertension. Critical Care Core Curricula includes soft tissue infections, gastrointestinal infections, pneumonia in the immunocompromised patient, brain death, stroke, drug metabolism in the critically ill, and use of quality metrics in the ICU. Sleep Medicine Core Curricula includes the definition and subtypes, epidemiology and risk factors, assessment and pharmacology of insomnia, disorders of sleep-wake, central sleep apneas, sleep-related hypoventilation disorders, and normal sleep and variants.
The pediatric core will feature cystic fibrosis, radiology for the pediatric pulmonologist, and non-imaging diagnositic testing in pediatric pulmonary disease.
Pulmonary Clinical Core Curriculum II (CC6) is supported by educational grants from AstraZeneca LP and Pfizer Inc.
Pediatric Clinical Core Curriculum I: Cystic Fibrosis (PCC1) is supported by an educational grant from Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Photo: Steve Schneider
Skills-Based Education
ATS 2015 organizers again have placed an emphasis on skills-based learning activities in the postgraduate courses with six skills-based courses available to attendees. The new two-day “Critical Care Ultrasound and Echocardiography: Part I and Part II” postgraduate courses Friday and Saturday, May 15 and 16, are expected to attract a large crowd of providers of critical care, emergency, and pulmonary medicine. The courses will comprise didactic lectures and skills-based stations focused on bedside transthoracic echocardiograph and an introduction to transesophageal echocardiography.
Each day of the echocardiography courses will feature four 90-minute sessions. Within each session will be 12 stations that cover three topics, and participants will rotate to a new station every 30 minutes.
Additional skills-based postgraduate courses include Friday’s Bronchoscopy Course and Workshop, ECMO: Comprehensive Approach for Pediatric and Adult Critical Care and Pulmonary Practitioners, and New Approaches to Evaluating Function and Exercise in Patients with Pulmonary Disease, and Saturday’s Interventional Approaches to Pleural Diseases: New Concepts and Future Directions.
Postgraduate courses require an additional fee separate from general registration.
Bronchoscopy Course and Workshop (PG1) is supported by an educational grant from Pfizer Inc.
Adult Clinical, Pediatric, Nursing Years in Review
Experts will discuss the most important and influential recently published papers in their respective areas of adult clinical, pediatric and nursing care during the ATS 2015 Year in Review sessions.
Sunday, May 17
- Asthma, by Fernando Holguin, MD, MPH
- COPD, by R. Graham Barr, MD, DrPH
- ILD, by Toby M. Maher, MD, PhD
- Rare Lung Diseases, by Francis X McCormack Jr, MD
Clinical Year in Review 1 (A1) is supported by an educational grant from AstraZeneca LP.
- Dyspnea, by Virginia Carrieri-Kohlman, DNSc, RN
- Sleep Disordered Breathing, by Terri E. Weaver, PhD, RN,
- Pulmonary Rehabilitation, by Janet L. Larson, PhD, RN
- Critical Care, by Hoffman, PhD, RN
Monday, May 18
- ARDS, by Catherine L. Hough, MD, MSc
- Mechanical Ventilation, by Colin R. Cooke, MD, MSc, MS
- Critical Care Medicine, by Nuala J. Meyer, MD, MS
- Sleep Medicine, by David R. Hillman, MD
- Asthma, by Fernando D. Martinez, MD
- Cystic Fibrosis, by Jane Davies, PhD
- Respiratory Infections in Low Resource Populations, by Heather Zar, MD, PhD
- Sleep and Chronic Respiratory Failure, by Raouf S. Amin, MD
Pediatric Year in Review (B81) is supported by an educational grant from AstraZeneca LP.
Tuesday, May 19
- Pulmonary Hypertension, by Corey E. Ventetuolo, MD, MS
- Occupational and Environmental Lung Disease, by Christopher Carlsten, MD, MPH
- Thoracic Oncology, by Robert L. Keith, MD
- Communication with Patients and Families, by Erin K. Kross, MD
Clinical Year in Review 3 (C1) is supported by an educational grant from Pfizer Inc.
Wednesday, May 20
- TB/NTM, by R. Andres Floto
- Thoracic Imaging
- Lung Transplant, by Tereza Martinu, MD
- Smoking Cessation/eCigarettes, by Russell P. Bowler, MD, PhD
Clinicians Center
Clinicians can meet, relax, learn, and gather information and resources in the Clinicians Center, which will be open Sunday-Tuesday, May 17-19. Learning opportunities include the mid-day educational demonstrations “Ultrasound in Pulmonary and Critical Care Emergencies,” “EBUS Transbronchial Needle Aspiration—Improving Your Yield,” and “Mechanical Ventilation: Case Studies.” The center will offer a light complimentary breakfast from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. each day.
Also scheduled are a meet and greet reception for nurses from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Sunday, May 17, and an award reception for the Outstanding Clinician Award recipient from 4 to 5 p.m. on Monday, May 18. Attendees participating in the adult and pediatric core curriculum sessions are invited to take their respective exams in the Clinicians Center, where dedicated computers will be available Sunday through Tuesday.
Clinical Topics in Pulmonary Medicine and Critical Care Tracks
Throughout ATS 2015, attendees can immerse themselves in comprehensive education. Take part in programming dedicated to clinical topics in pulmonary medicine and daily sessions covering all aspects of critical care. Track highlights include the New England Journal of Medicine and Journal of the American Medical Association sessions that presents newly published research; the “Fellows Case Conference” as well as the “Great Cases: Clinical, Radiologic, and Pathologic Correlations by Master Clinicians”; a Sarcoidosis state-of-the-art session; “ICU Follow-up Clinics: A New Paradigm in ICU Care”; and much more.
CME Accreditation Statement
The American Thoracic Society is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
The designation of AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™ per session will be available online in February and in the final program. Physicians should only claim the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
This live activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the essential areas and policies of the ACCME and are free from the control of commercial interests. The ATS is unable to offer AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™ for sessions that include presentations made by industry-employed speakers if the topic of their presentation relates to a product or business line of their employer.
Most of the major symposia, postgraduate courses, workshops and seminars are eligible for AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™.
Continuing Nursing Education
The American Thoracic Society will again partner with National Jewish Health to provide Nursing Contact Hours for selected sessions. National Jewish Health is approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing, Provider Number CEP 12724.
