An intensive, day-long precourse on infectious diseases will return to the SHM annual meeting program for the first time in several years.
“Bugs, Drugs, and You: Infectious Diseases ‘Boot Camp’ for Hospitalists” will focus on a range of important clinical issues, including infectious diseases that appear with frequency and the high-stakes nature of which require correct diagnosis and treatment.
Dr. James Pile
“We have designed the precourse with a strong emphasis on practicality, recognizing that hospitalists, NPs, and PAs spend a high percentage of time caring for patients with infectious diseases,” said session cochair James Pile, MD, FACP, SFHM, of MetroHealth Medical Center and Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.
Cochair Jennifer Hanrahan, DO, also of MetroHealth Medical Center, agreed, noting that hospitalists must be able to recognize infectious disease emergencies and have some familiarity with HIV as it presents in hospitalized patients.
“We want [attendees] to think about which tests to order and when to stop antibiotic therapy,” she said.
The faculty includes infectious diseases specialists with extensive teaching backgrounds. Several are practicing hospitalists. John Sanders, MD, MPH, of Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, N.C., and Glenn Wortmann, MD, of MedStar Washington Hospital Center will join Dr. Hanrahan and Dr. Pile as faculty members.
Dr. Jennifer Hanrahan
“We trust that the precourse will give hospitalists who are early in their careers a general overview and more confidence in dealing with infections,” Dr. Hanrahan said. “For more experienced hospitalists, the session will serve as a good refresher, as well as point out some important changes in testing and treatment of infections.”
The precourse has five objectives:
- Describe best practices in skin and soft tissue infection treatment based on current guidelines and recently approved antimicrobial agents.
- Outline optimal strategies for prevention and treatment of Clostridium difficile, including disease recurrences.
- Identify key strategies for prevention of selected infections and discuss resistance issues impacting antimicrobial use.
- Focus on prompt recognition and treatment of certain infectious disease emergencies.
- Cover significant trends in endocarditis and other endovascular infections and their impact on treatment approaches.
When the infectious disease precourse was last presented, it received highly positive evaluations. “We believe that this new, improved iteration will be better than ever,” Dr. Pile said. “It will be well worth attendees’ time and money, providing them with renewed confidence in their ability to manage common and less common infectious diseases. They will be able to return to their practices armed with new strategies that they can immediately put to use.”
Bugs, Drugs, and You: Infectious Diseases “Boot Camp” for Hospitalists
Monday, May 1, 8:15 a.m.–4:30 p.m.