February Director Notes

Grateful for Grant Funded Education
By: Terri Schmitt PhD, APRN, FNP-BC, FAANP
Executive Director, NPACE

Grant-funded education is something I am incredibly grateful for at NPACE.

I firmly believe grant funded education makes a difference. Clinical practice brings exposure to commonly seen clinical puzzles, patient struggles, and system barriers. Two common struggles I experience are patient questions about whether to vaccinate or not and struggles in managing obesity.

I realize every clinician education outlet is talking about obesity, but the plague seems to be not only growing but unstoppable. The continued increase begs a host of causation questions, but also a reflection on how healthcare addresses this as a disease and if as clinicians we are missing a bigger picture. Obesity is a late sign of a larger neuroendocrine disruption, multifactorial in nature, with contributors yet to be fully supported in earlier screening and intervention.

In one of the best and most honest workshops I had the privilege of attending in 2023, Dr. Angie Golden and Christine Kessler spent 3 hours working with participants to teach critical points of and ways to reimagine treating obesity. For example, Dr. Golden covered a list of obesogenic medications that we use daily in practice. NPACE is incredibly grateful to have been the recipient of grant funding by Lilly to provide this education. Due to this generous funding NPACE is now able to offer this education to all nurse practitioners at no cost. We also were able to podcast on this topic with continuing education as well. To access this education or the podcast use these links – obesity education or podcast. If you have already taken this education and would like to give us quick feedback and a chance to win an amazon gift card you provide feedback here.

Vaccine hesitancy and barriers to vaccination were growing in primary care long before the 2020 pandemic. Most clinicians understand the monumental impact that modern vaccinations have provided to patients and public health. With little risk and low cost, vaccination is a mainstay of health promotion and disease prevention. But how do providers balance the barrage of mixed messaging on the science of vaccinations in disease prevention? How do we help approach conversations with patients in primary care? Thanks to the expertise of Dr. Wendy Wright and a generous educational grant from Merck, NPACE provides “Addressing Barriers In Vaccination Uptake and Integration”. This 1 hour CE credit with 1 hour of pharmacology, provides insight and strategies all NPs can use in their primary care. Like with obesity, we need to know if our education is lasting. If you have already taken this education and would like to give us quick feedback and a chance to win an amazon gift card you provide feedback here.

NPACE will continue our work in writing and monitoring grant funded education in key areas that affect patient outcomes and NP practice. If you have ideas on education you would like to see or need for your practice, please direct message us on any of our social media channels Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube. Keep up the amazing work in the field! We are grateful for each of you

Terri Schmitt PhD, APRN, FNP-BC, FAANP,
Executive Director, NPACE
https://www.npace.org/