Online CME

The Impact of Adherence and Persistence in the Pharmacological Management of Osteoporosis is the summary of a Roche sponsored Roundtable on compliance with a osteoporosis medication regimen held in October 1006 that featured Drs Stuart L. Silverman, Paul Miller, Steven T. Harris, and Jeffrey P. Levine, all of whom have special expertise in the area of osteoporosis, and Joyce Cramer, BA, who is known for her research in patient compliance.

The skew toward osteoporosis-specific experts in the faculty notwithstanding, the presentation and CME goals and testing are targeted on compliance and persistence. In fact, except for questions dealing with specific studies, one could safely respond to the test queries based on general compliance principles and trends. This is hardy a criticism. General principles should apply in most cases.

Open communication between clinician and patient is much lauded as is the use of monthly rather than weekly medication intervals.¹

The presentation does cover studies showing the link between noncompliance with treatment and increased risk of osteoporosis, a consideration of possible causes of nonadherence, some practical suggestions for scripting a discussion of compliance with patients, and an especially insightful discussion of the methodology of compliance and persistence studies.

CME Information
The Postgraduate Institute for Medicine designates this educational activity for a maximum of 1.75 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Obtaining credits requires registration (no cost) and online completion of the usual pre-test, post-test, and course evaluation. The presentation offers data in these formats:

• 90-Minute Roundtable Discussion From October 9, 2006 (Flash Presentation)
• 60-Minute Archived Webinar With Q&A From October 19, 2006 (Flash Presentation)
• 60-Minute Archived Webinar With Q&A from October 25, 2006 (Flash Presentation)
• Roundtable Slide Deck (PDF Format)
• Roundtable Discussion Summary (PDF Format)

Footnotes

1. It should be noted that the Roundtable sponsor, Roche, produces oral Boniva (ibandronate sodium), a once-a-month medicine for the treatment of postmenopausal osteoporosis. That does not, of course, negate the efficaciousness of a medication administered once-monthly instead of once weekly, but those who read these materials should be aware of the potential tie-in. [back]

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