|
Additional
Asthma and COPD Programs Offered during the The largest gathering in history of family physicians from all over the world are expected to come to Orlando in October to attend the joint WONCA and American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) Conference. The Conference will have an extensive scientific agenda addressing a wide range of issues in today's family practice. In addition to the official scientific program, a number of additional educational opportunities will be presented. In particular, WONCA has identified asthma and COPD as highly relevant topics for continuing medical education in family practice. Asthma is one of the most common health problems in primary care. For children in some countries, it is the most common chronic health problem. Despite effective treatment being available, there still is substantial under diagnosis and under treatment of asthma. Physician-related factors as well as patient-related factors play a role in this. COPD is one of the most common health problems in the developed and a growing problem the developing world. Family doctors around the world have to provide care to patients with COPD. The effectiveness of their task has been severely hampered by the fact that COPD is usually diagnosed in a late stage of the illness; patients are reluctant to present their health problem; measurement (severity of) airflow obstruction is not always reliably possible, due to a lack of access to facilities and consequently a lack of expertise; and there has been a lack of evidence-based guidance of clinicians to a more pro-active approach. A major recent innovation in asthma and COPD was the development of International Primary Care Airways Guidelines (IPAG) which will be made public for the first time during the AAFP/WONCA Conference. IPAG was prepared by a working group of family practice physicians to be a practical coherent set of guidance for family practice, based on the existing global workshop reports on asthma by the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA); on COPD by the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD); and on "Allergic Rhinitis and its impact on Asthma" (ARIA). Two satellite educational symposia, one on asthma, and one on COPD, will be offered in Orlando by WONCA in collaboration with a medical communication company, MCR Vision. The educational messages of these evening symposia will be focussed on issues relevant specifically to family practice in asthma and COPD - problems in diagnosis and management in primary care settings, child asthma, differentiating between COPD and asthma, overview of the new IPAG guidelines, interfacing with secondary care, physician-patient cooperation, and newly available diagnostic and treatment strategies. High profile faculty consisting of both US and international experts are working to deliver information of high relevance to AAFP and WONCA attendees. The primary care experts in this symposium will be recruited from the International Primary Care Respiratory Group (IPCRG), the group that may, in the future, become a Wonca Working Party of the clinical domain of (chronic) respiratory health problems. Among faculty members being asked to participate are such internationally recognized experts as Chris van Weel (WONCA), Barbara Yawn (AFFP), and Homer Boushey (ATS). The symposia are supported by unrestricted educational grants from ALTANA Pharma (asthma), Boehringer Ingelheim (COPD) and Pfizer (COPD). The asthma symposium, titled "Reducing the Burden of Asthma Morbidity in Family Practice" will be held on Tuesday October 12, 2004, 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm with the following educational objectives: ·
Review key issues of diagnosis and management of asthma in primary care The COPD symposium, titled "Primary Care and the Silent Epidemic of COPD" will be held on Wednesday October 13, 2004, 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm with the following educational objectives: ·
Update participants on the growing burden of COPD Both symposia will be conducted in the Peabody Orlando Hotel, located near the convention centre, in the Orlando Ballroom. These symposia are not part of the official program as planned by the AAFP or Wonca committees on Scientific Program. The symposia have been submitted for AAFP CME credits. For more information, please call Laura Brockwell at 416-915-7734. To receive confirmed speaker names and a formal invitation, please e-mail lbrockwell@mcrvision.com with your contact details. (Editor's note: Further information may be found through the web on the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) at http://www.ginasthma.com/ ; on the Global Initiative for COPD (GOLD) at http://www.goldcopd.com/ ; and on the WHO's Chronic Respiratory Diseases Programmes at http://www.who.int/ncd/asthma/index.htm ) |