Residency Connect website will update clinicians, residents, fellows on latest strategies to diagnose and manage migraine headaches.

In an effort to improve the diagnosis and management of migraine, Rockpointe is launching the new Residency Connect website designed to enhance educational experiences for residents and fellows. In addition to online course offerings and opportunities to earn CME credit, the site is a place to make connections with colleagues and explore links to clinical tools and patient resources.

Features of Residency Connect include online courses, medical minutes, clinical questions and answers and easy to use diagnostic tools available on the Apple App Store.  The first module will focus on Migraine headaches and other areas of clinical importance will be added in the future.

Fellows and residents will be eligible to earn an Aretaeus Award, named for the celebrated Greek physician who wrote some of the earliest and most accurate descriptions of diseases and their symptoms. They can download a diagnostic app associated with the site; those who complete the online course and use the app to help diagnose ten patients on the status of their headaches patients will receive an Aretaeus Award.

Based solely on clinical evaluation, the diagnosis of migraine can be challenging. Its treatment typically requires lifestyle and trigger management along with acute, preventive, or combination therapies. Recent migraine research has focused on the role of calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), which is released in significant amounts during an acute attack and is persistently elevated in patients with chronic migraine. The development of novel medications targeting the CGRP pathway could offer an effective option for patients with acute and chronic migraine. Residents and fellows will play an increasingly important role in identifying patients with migraine headache and ensuring they are properly diagnosed and appropriately treated.

In addition to the Residency Connect website, a series of live CME-certified in-hospital presentations are being held across the country in 2018 and 2019. The series, “Updates for Migraine Management in Primary Care,” will provide clinicians with the latest evidence-based strategies and emerging therapies for migraine management.

These activities are intended for clinicians, primary care residents, fellows, primary care clinicians, and allied healthcare providers who treat patients at risk for or who have migraine. After the education, participants should be able to:

• Examine the epidemiology, differential diagnosis, and impact of migraine within the primary-care patient population.
• Describe the pathophysiology of migraine, including the role of CGRP.
• Delineate current standards of pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic management for the preventive and acute management of migraine.
• Assess clinical safety and efficacy data for emerging therapeutic agents for the prevention and treatment of migraines.

All activities are supported by an educational grant from Lilly, and have been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME).

Through effective continuing medical education, Rockpointe strives to improve and advance the quality of patient care. Its educational programs have been at the forefront of new issues in healthcare, including implementing MACRA, combatting the nation’s opioid crisis, and utilizing technical advances that improve care. As part of its commitment to quality, Rockpointe works to inform the continuing-education community of significant quality-improvement issues through news and analysis on Policy and Medicine.

In addition, its popular Medical Education Exchange (MEDX) CME regional meetings include sessions on the basics of quality improvement and alternative payment models, as well as relevant and scientifically accurate sessions on numerous disease states. All sessions include links back to associated National Quality Priorities to reinforce the bigger picture and the triple aim of: 1) improving health and 2) lowering cost to 3) better the patient experience. At Rockpointe, education equals quality.

To explore the Residency Connect website, go to http://residencyconnect.rockpointe.com or click here.