What Pharmacists Need to Know About Treating COVID-19

Program Description  

Pharmacists play many roles in the management of COVID-19, thus it is essential they remain up to date with the COVID-19 pandemic’s many changes, including evolving variants and subvariants, changes to Emergency Use Authorizations and therapeutic regimens, and the expanding role of pharmacists in combating the pandemic. This activity discusses the need for timely testing; the National Institutes of Health guidelines on patient identification and risk stratification for treatment; current clinical data on therapeutic regimens; administration guidelines, including Test to Treat approaches; and strategies to reduce health care disparities.

Target Audience 

This activity is intended for US-based and ex–US-based hospital and community-based pharmacists.

Educational Objectives                                                     

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

• Incorporate patient-education strategies to support timely testing and early diagnosis of COVID-19 
• Describe risk factors for progression to severe COVID-19 among nonhospitalized patients with mild to moderate COVID-19  
• Utilize currently available treatment options for nonhospitalized patients with COVID-19 based on recommendations from national guidelines and regulatory agencies

Faculty

Maggie Zhao, PharmD, BCCCP
Medication Knowledge Management
Department of Pharmacy
Mayo Clinic
Rochester, Minnesota

Faculty and Disclosure of Conflicts of Interest 

PACE requires instructors, planners, managers, and other individuals who are in a position to control the content of this activity to disclose all financial relationships they may have with ineligible companies. All relevant financial relationships are thoroughly vetted and mitigated according to PACE policy. PACE is committed to providing learners with high-quality accredited CE activities and related materials that promote improvements or quality in healthcare and not a specific proprietary business interest of an ineligible company. 

The faculty reported the following relevant financial relationships or relationships to products or devices they have with ineligible companies related to the content of this educational activity: 

Maggie Zhao, PharmD, BCCCP: Nothing to disclose.

The PACE planners and others have no relevant financial relationship(s) to disclose with ineligible companies. The Integritas Communication planners and others have no relevant financial relationship(s) to disclose with ineligible companies. 

Joint Accreditation Statement  

In support of improving patient care, this activity has been planned and implemented by Partners for Advancing Clinical Education (PACE) and Integritas Communications.  PACE is jointly accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), to provide continuing education for the healthcare team.

Pharmacist Accreditation Statement

Partners for Advancing Clinical Education (PACE)is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education as a provider of continuing pharmacy education with Commendation.

Credit Designation

PACE designates this continuing education activity for 1.0 contact hour(s) (0.10 CEUs) of the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education. (Universal Activity Number JA4008073-9999-23-071-H01-P) 

This is a knowledge-based activity.

Disclosure of Unlabeled Use

This educational activity may contain discussion of published and/or investigational uses of agents that are not indicated by the FDA. The planners of this activity do not recommend the use of any agent outside of the labeled indications. 

The opinions expressed in the educational activity are those of the faculty and do not necessarily represent the views of the planners. Please refer to the official prescribing information for each product for discussion of approved indications, contraindications, and warnings. 

Disclaimer

Participants have an implied responsibility to use the newly acquired information to enhance patient outcomes and their own professional development. The information presented in this activity is not meant to serve as a guideline for patient management. Any procedures, medications, or other courses of diagnosis or treatment discussed or suggested in this activity should not be used by clinicians without evaluation of their patients’ conditions and possible contraindications and/or dangers in use, review of any applicable manufacturer’s product information, and comparison with recommendations of other authorities. 

Instructions for Credit

In order to obtain your CE credit, please follow the steps below at the conclusion of the activity:  

1. Read the educational objectives, accreditation information, and faculty disclosures at the beginning of this activity. 
2. Complete the Preactivity Questions. 
3. Review the activity content. 
4. Achieve a grade of at least 70% on the Postactivity Test Questions and complete the Evaluation. 

PACE Contact Information 

For additional information about the accreditation of this activity, please visit https://partnersed.com