In the thirteenth episode of Pri-Med’s weekly web series on COVID-19, faculty will discuss recent trends in COVID-19 infection numbers and will review new findings on immune response after COVID-19 infection and the use of corticosteroids in hospitalized patients requiring mechanical ventilation or oxygen.

Join an interactive session that simulates a consult with a rheumatologist and addresses the most commonly posed questions from primary care practitioners.

Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease are the two most common neurodegenerative disorders, affecting over 6 million people in the U.S. Like nearly all of this class of disorders, these two conditions are due to the misfolding and accumulation of proteins in the central nervous system. This new way of viewing these conditions, as protein misfolding disorders, will be presented. We will review amyloid, tau and alpha-synuclein, the proteins that build up respectively in plaques, tangles and lewy bodies. We’ll review currently available therapies and the therapies that are being developed to more directly attack these disorders and hopefully modify the course of the disease.

Primary care providers frequently encounter various types of chronic non-cancer pain in their practice, including chronic low back pain, chronic headache, fibromyalgia, neuropathic pain, osteoarthritis, and others. Best practices for the management of chronic non-cancer pain consist of a multimodal approach, with the optimal incorporation of non-opioid treatment approaches. This session will describe multiple approaches to non-opioid pain management for the primary care. Strategies include both pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic approaches as well as interventional approaches. Recognizing that some of these may require referral to a specialist, the primary care provider, with heightened awareness of multiple non-opioid pain management treatments, will be able to more comprehensively evaluate and treat their patients with chronic pain.

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is the most common disorder seen and treated by gastroenterologists. Despite this, many physicians have difficulty making a definitive diagnosis and approximately 75% of the general population with IBS symptoms remains undiagnosed. Part of this stems from the fact that there are currently no diagnostic studies which conclusively confirm IBS. As such, it has been and continues to be considered a diagnosis of exclusion when in reality newer diagnostic criteria and minimal diagnostic testing can lead to a diagnosis with 98-99% accuracy. A better understanding of the underlying pathophysiology of this disorder has also let to more accurate treatment strategies. In this discussion we will dispel many of the myths and misconceptions surrounding this syndrome.

This series of interactive cases will provide an opportunity for the learner to increase their knowledge in the management of people with type 2 diabetes on insulin therapy. The cases will illustrate expert guidelines and general strategies around use of insulin and combinations of injectables for type 2 diabetes, including a practical approach to the initiation and intensification of basal insulin. You will learn the advantages and disadvantages of combination injectable medications as well as how to use them safely and appropriately.