Women’s Health CME

Fast Facts – Updates for Prevention & Screenings

Confused about what you should do and when? This session will bring concise guidelines and top need-to-know points on prevention screenings for cervical cancer, breast cancer, colon cancer, STIs, mental health, sleep, intimate partner violence, osteoporosis, contraception, and more! Plus – we will cover vital screenings for special populations, including gender non-conforming, trans-identified, and queer folx.

All “V” Things: Vulva, Vestibule, & Vagina

Let’s expose the truth about all things “V”! From learning the nuts and bolts of a consensual pelvic exam to performing quick and efficient assessments, participants can apply guiding principles to real-life case examples. In this session, audience members will leave with a “V” manual for diagnosing and treating abnormal discharge, pelvic pain, dryness, itch, and skin changes.

Hot & Heavy Topics

Are you a true patient advocate? During this presentation, we will tackle tough conversations around medical providers’ implicit and explicit bias – fatphobia, transphobia, ageism, racism, sexism, ability, and slut-shaming. These behaviors perpetuate systemic discrimination and lead to patient barriers in healthcare. Apart from awareness, this session will discuss examples of actions that medical providers can take immediately to mitigate the effects of implicit bias.

SEX – Inclusive Encounters

Let’s end the STIGMA! Creating a safe space for inclusive conversations around healthy sexuality is essential for empowering patients to voice their needs and smash societal sexual shame. During this session, we will discuss the essentials of taking a sexual history, PrEP counseling, what is sex, what are the types of sex people are having, and biopsychosocial influences to the sexual response cycle. And we can’t forget discussions around optimizing sexual function for desire, arousal, and orgasm. 

The Menopause Playbook (Rx=0.50)

Ready to arm your patients with play-by-play strategies to take on menopause? With the number of menopausal women reaching 1.1 billion worldwide by 2025, medical providers must be prepared to have conversations supporting individuals in perimenopause and beyond. This metamorphosis leads to more than just hot flashes. So, let’s talk about the real symptoms that deserve real conversations. In this session, we will also explore hormonal supportive therapy, non-hormonal medications, and alternative modalities for taking a holistic approach to reframing the menopausal transition.

Treasure the Bones: Osteoporosis & Fracture Prevention Strategies in Men & Women: Part 1 & 2 (Rx=0.75)

This session will introduce a comprehensive approach to the identification of women and men at risk for fracture based on bone densitometry and their 10-year fracture risk using the FRAX calculation. There will be a discussion on who should be screened and then interpretation of results of the bone density and FRAX calculation. There will be discussion of the approach to patients based on whether they are at high or very high risk for fracture. In session part 1, there will be a discussion of the initial workup of patients, non-pharmacologic therapy, and initial therapy of the osteoporotic patient at high risk for fracture with pharmacologic therapy. Treatment of patients at high risk due to therapy such as aromatase inhibitors and androgen deprivation therapy will be discussed. Case studies will be presented for managing osteoporotic patients at high risk for fracture.

The second part of this session will review the approach to patients who are at very high risk for fracture based on their bone density or FRAX calculation. This will include discussion of sequencing of pharmacologic therapy with bone building anabolic agents followed by maintenance with anti-resorptive agents. Current controversies will be discussed including long-term use of bisphosphonates, adverse events including osteonecrosis of the jaw (ONJ) and atypical subtrocanteric femur fractures and drug holidays. Concerns about discontinuation of rank ligand inhibitors and the risk for a rapid increase in vertebral fractures will be discussed.  Case studies will be presented for managing osteoporotic patients at very high risk for fracture.

Menopause Magic: Learn Tricks for the Management of Women at Midlife & Beyond (Rx=0.50)

This session will provide the attendee with an overview of the menopause transition into the post-menopause with an emphasis on symptom management.  There will be an update on guidelines for hormone therapy including issues of long-term use and use after the age of 65. The concept of a window of opportunity for treating women early in the post menopause with less cardiovascular risk than older women will be discussed There will be discussion of FDA approved hormonal and non-hormonal therapy and dietary supplement options for the treatment of hot flashes.  There will be a discussion of the identification and treatment of the genito-urinary syndrome of menopause (GSM).  Case studies will be utilized to provide clinical management decision-making.

Capture Current Cervical Cancer Prevention Guidelines: New Screening & Risk-Based Management

Cervical cancer prevention has changed significantly in recent years with less frequent screening and the addition of HPV testing as a stand-alone test along with the option for the Pap and HPV test together as cotesting.  This session will review the appropriate use of Pap testing, the rationale for HPV testing along with the Pap (co-testing) in women 30 and older and the use of HPV testing as a primary screen (stand-alone test) in women 25 and older by two of the FDA approved HPV tests.  There will be a discussion of the new American Cancer Society Guidelines for screening and a review of the new 2019 ASCCP Risk-Based Management Consensus Guidelines for management of abnormal screening and subsequent follow-up with case studies.  These guidelines are a shift from results-based to risk-based management relative to the risk of an existing CIN 3 (pre-cancer).  

Alphabet Soup: AUB & PALM COEIN for Systematic Diagnosis & Management of Abnormal Uterine Bleeding

Abnormal uterine bleeding (AUB) presents due to both structural and non-structural reasons and AUB is a symptom and not a diagnosis.  This session will review a systematic approach to the identification and classification of AUB, leading to a diagnosis using the Palm-Coein classification system.  This system allows the clinician to assess structural diagnoses including polyps, adenomyosis, leiomyoma, and malignancy.  Non-structural diagnoses include coagulopathy, ovulatory dysfunction, endometrial, iatrogenic, and not yet classified. There will be a review of the appropriate workup and the subsequent options for management of AUB, including both medical and surgical interventions.  This will include symptom management and use of newer GnRh antagonists for heavy menstrual bleeding due to fibroids.  These agents expand the options for management by the NP and PA in practice before referral to gynecology for possible surgical options including myomectomy, endometrial ablation, and hysterectomy.

Taking a Sexual History (Rx=0.25)

Afraid to ask? Not sure what to say if your patient wants to talk about their sexual health? As a healthcare provider, you’re not alone. Few of us have had any education or training in sexuality, which leads to patients who are hesitant to ask and providers understandably hesitant to tell. In this lively and practical course, you’ll learn the evidence-based, tried, and true ways to efficiently elicit pertinent information and then provide reassurance, validation, and the information your patients need for better sexual health.

LGBTQ+: Navigating the Alphabet

When it comes to providing respectful healthcare for individuals, we want to meet people where they are and treat the whole person. Everyone has their own unique personal and medical history, as well as gender identity and sexual orientation, which can impact the type of primary care, preventive screenings, and recommendations we make. This course gives you the tools you need to understand the evolving terms and definitions and provide respectful care for your patients.

Dispelling Sexual Myths (Rx=0.50)

In the age of social media and rampant misinformation, there have never been more people perpetuating sexual myths that can impact a person’s self-esteem, relationships, risks of pregnancy and STIs, as well as their enjoyment. In this course, you’ll learn the myths, the context, and how to dispel and educate your clients while normalizing their desire to understand their bodies and sexuality. And who knows? You might even learn a few things yourself along the way.

Menopause 101: A Comprehensive Guide for Busy Clinicians (Rx=0.50)

Menopause is having a moment, with more information and disinformation that challenges patients and clinicians. More than 20 years after the WHI, your patients are now more interested in hormones and new non-hormonal treatment options that are research backed, and evidence based. This mini course will help every clinician recognize the laundry list of symptoms beyond hot flashes and night sweats and understand how to treat. Virtually every aspect of life is impacted by this hormonal transition, from sleep and cognition to mood and bone health. This speaker presents the latest research on the impact of hormonal changes on the brain, sleep, memory, and mood. You’ll also learn pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic strategies that help improve your patients quality of life.

Current Contraceptive Options and Approaches

Ready to arm your patients with the options and data around risks and benefits and help them break down the myths surrounding hormonal contraception? We’ll discuss different types of pills and the hormones in them, then move on to long acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs) – IUDs and Etonogestrel Implant. We’ll review insertion techniques and pain control options for a trauma informed approach to IUD insertion. We’ll also discuss difficult insertions and removals, as well as who can use LARCs and at what points, including appropriate use of contraceptives in gender diverse folx.

Let’s Talk PCOS and Endometriosis!

PCOS is one of the most common endocrine/metabolic disorders in females. Approximately 10% of reproductive aged females have PCOS, and approximately 10% of reproductive aged females have endometriosis. Yet both disorders are widely misunderstood, under-diagnosed, and under-treated. We’ll examine the impact of these disorders on your patients, and dive into the different phenotypes and why both are often a missed diagnosis. Then we’ll move on to options for treatment, including hormonal, non-hormonal, and holistic measures for improvement in symptoms.

Low Libido – Yeah, You Can Treat That! (Rx=0.25)

Time for sex ed for grown-ups! Let’s examine the role and function of the female sexual response cycle, how it’s different from, but not the defunct version of, male sexuality, and how to appropriately counsel patients when they ask us how to improve their low libido or their pain with sex. We’ll discuss how to create a safe and empowering space for your patients to ask their burning questions and for you to feel confident in your answers. And the best part, we’ll do this with science! No more shame in sexuality. This is general medicine, and we can create comfort and confidence in this facet of medicine. We’ll review mechanisms of arousal and orgasm and the pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic interventions you can utilize.

Menopause Madness: Breaking It Down!

One hormone at a time. How many patients have asked you to check their hormones, because “something just isn’t right” or “I keep gaining weight”? We’re going to break it all down – hormones, perimenopause, menopause, The Women’s Health Initiative (WHI), the up-to-date data on hormone risks and benefits so you can answer those seemingly unanswerable questions. The WHI still plagues both prescribers and patients with its longstanding effects on perceptions of hormones, so let’s clarify what the data showed and what it means for your patients.

Say It With Me – “V” Is for Vulva, Vestibule, Vagina

BV accounts for 40-50% of all cases of vaginitis, with yeast following closely behind. Yet little is known or understood about these infections when they become recurrent. How does our vaginal microbiome play into this? Do probiotics help? What can we as providers do to help our patients who suffer from these recurrences? This session provides an increased understanding of diagnosis and treatment guidelines.