Pre-Meeting Focused Topic Courses

Wednesday, 8:00 a.m.-noon

This half-day course will focus on pearls to help the practicing internal medicine physician maximize the utility of drug therapies. Newer medications and new uses for older medications will be covered. Current recommendations for “best therapy” for different diseases will also be covered. Common adverse effects of medications will be emphasized. Faculty will provide practical information on medications used for common medical problems and highlight useful newer medications and important side effects of medications.

Learning Objectives:

1. Prescribe appropriate drug therapies for diseases commonly seen in the office and hospital.
2. Gain an understanding of the role and benefit of newer drug therapies.
3. Gain better understanding and recognition of drug side effects.

Course Director

Douglas Paauw, MD, MACP
Professor of Medicine, Rathmann Family Foundation Endowed Chair for Patient-Centered Clinical Education, Department of Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA

Wednesday, 8:00 a.m.-noon

In the United States and around the world, the number of people with diabetes continues to increase, with youth being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and people with type 1 diabetes living to older ages. As obesity also increases and the duration of diabetes is longer, more adults develop microvascular complications, cardiovascular disease, and stroke. Although therapeutic options for diabetes management continue to advance rapidly, this offers greater opportunities to improve patient outcomes. However, the complexity of diabetes care has increased correspondingly.

This half-day course is designed to provide internal medicine physicians with a focused, high-yield update across the spectrum of diabetes care, including the diagnosis, classification, and management of diabetes. Using a revised format of case-based approaches and concise short lectures, faculty will review appropriate indications and practical use of newer medications, the role of technology in type 2 diabetes, and the identification and treatment of diabetes-related complications. The course will also address strategies for cardiometabolic risk reduction, including weight management, lipid-lowering therapy, blood pressure control, and the evaluation and treatment of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD).

Learning Objectives:

1. Provide guidance on the evaluation, classification, and treatment of diabetes, including less common atypical forms of diabetes.
2. Review diabetes technology (including CGM and new pens, pumps, and sensors) available for patients with diabetes.
3. Review the expanded role of noninsulin therapeutics in the management of type 2 diabetes.
4. Discuss how to mitigate cardiovascular risk in patients with diabetes, including dyslipidemia, blood pressure, weight, and MASLD.
5. In a panel discussion format, review questions and challenges that commonly arise in practice.

Course Director

Savitha Subramanian, MD
Professor of Medicine, Division of Metabolism, Endocrinology and Nutrition, Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA

Wednesday, 8:00 a.m.-noon

Today's hospitalists must do far more than manage complex patients. They must navigate rapidly evolving electronic records, balance expectations of patients and their families, teach the next generation of physicians, and meet the demands of administrators and payers, all while delivering exceptionally good clinical care.

Designed for physicians at every career stage, this engaging half-day course will provide participants with practical strategies to thrive in modern hospital medicine. Through expert-led discussions, reviews of the latest evidence, demonstrations of innovative AI-powered tools, and interactive case-based challenges, attendees will gain insights that they will be able to apply immediately upon returning from ACP. Join the physicians behind ACP Hospitalist and leave inspired, informed, and ready to elevate your practice.

Learning Objectives:

1. Provide updates on the latest hospital medicine literature.
2. Participate in complex triage decision making.
3. Explore practical inpatient uses of AI.
4. Review practical alternatives to invasive ventilation.

Course Director

James Newman, MD, MHA, MACP
Associate Professor, Internal Medicine, Medical History and Health Care Administration, Department of Hospital Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN

Wednesday, 1:30–5:30 p.m.

This half-day course will provide a focused update of the diagnostic, preventive, and therapeutic approaches to the patient at risk for, or with known, cardiovascular disease. Expert clinician-educators will focus on the cardiovascular disease issues that internal medicine physicians most frequently encounter and will provide key points to update the audience and foster patient care using an interactive case-based platform. Topics to be addressed include preventive cardiology, acute and chronic coronary artery disease, heart failure management, hypertension, valvular heart disease, arrhythmias, and aortic aneurysms. Each topic will integrate imaging and perioperative cardiovascular risk assessment and optimization.

Learning Objectives:

1. Update the internal medicine physician on the diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to the patient with known cardiovascular disease.
2. Become familiar with the guidelines and recent studies regarding hypertension, preventive cardiology, and perioperative optimization of cardiac comorbidities.
3. Become familiar with pharmacologic treatments and optimal surgical/invasive options for the care of patients with coronary artery disease, heart failure, valvular heart disease, aortic aneurysm, and atrial fibrillation.
4. Become familiar with the transition of care between inpatient and outpatient medicine for a variety of cardiac issues.
5. Understand the basic role and limitations of technologic advances in cardiac care that the internal medicine specialist may use in patient care: electrocardiography, echocardiography, cardiac CT imaging, cardiac MRI, cardiac PET scan, wearable cardiac rhythm monitoring devices, and laboratory testing.

Course Director

Tanuka D. Piech, MD
Clinical Assistant Professor, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI

Wednesday, 1:30–5:30 p.m.

With a growing older population and a persistent shortage of geriatrics and palliative medicine clinicians, internal medicine physicians provide most of the care that older, seriously ill adults receive. This half-day course focuses on practical, evidence-based strategies that practicing internal medicine physicians can apply immediately in the office and on the wards. Expert faculty will use the Geriatrics 5Ms and Age-Friendly Health System framework as an organizing approach to cognitive impairment; function, frailty, and fall risk; and deprescribing when guideline-directed care no longer fits. A dedicated primary palliative care session will address prognostication in the setting of advanced age with serious illness, communication, and elicitation of the patient's own health priorities, including management of complex symptoms.

Learning Objectives:

1. Organize the assessment of an older adult with multiple chronic conditions using the Geriatrics 5Ms and the Age-Friendly Health System framework.
2. Select and interpret a brief cognitive assessment in the office setting and rehearse the conversation that follows a diagnosis disclosure, including the introduction of advance care planning.
3. Discuss brief validated tests of function, frailty, and fall risk while revising a care plan based on what the results show.
4. Construct deprescribing plan for an older adult receiving several medications whose disease-specific guideline targets no longer fit.
5. Demonstrate primary palliative care skills communication of prognosis, elicitation of health priorities, and management of complex symptoms.

Course Co-directors

Helen Fernandez, MD, MPH
Gerald and May Ellen Ritter Professor, Vice Chair, Education, Brookdale Department of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY

Sonia Malhotra, MD, MS, FAAHPM, FACP
Associate Chief of Palliative Medicine, Medical Director of Palliative Medicine, Division of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine, Deming Department of Medicine, Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, LA

Wednesday, 1:30–5:30 p.m.

This high-yield, interactive half-day course is designed so that you can confidently answer the following question: What nutrition interventions should I prescribe tomorrow in clinic and in the hospital? Using a series of complex patient cases covering outpatient nutritional counseling, obesity medicine, micronutrient management, malnutrition, and inpatient nutrition support, experts in the field of medical nutrition will guide participants through real-world clinical reasoning and decision making. Learning from microdidactics will be reinforced and applied through engaging audience polling, guided discussion, and questions from participants. This course will promote interdisciplinary teamwork, including collaborative care with registered dieticians, and will approach nutrition through an inclusive lens that is respectful of diverse cultures and food traditions.

Learning Objectives:

1. Identify patients for whom a nutrition-based intervention, either preventive or interventional, or specialist referral is likely to result in improved health outcomes.
2. Formulate evidence-based nutrition prescriptions for health promotion and chronic disease prevention and management.
3. Implement effective nutritional counseling techniques or nutrition support to promote healthy dietary patterns or treat malnutrition.

Course Co-directors

Michael Owen-Michaane, MD, MA, PNS, CNSC
Director of Medical Nutrition, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Institute of Human Nutrition, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY

David S. Seres, MD, ScM, PNS, DFASN, FASPEN
Professor of Medicine (retired), Institute of Human Nutrition, Division of Preventive Medicine and Nutrition, Department of Medicine, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY

Tuesday and Wednesday, 8:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.

Whether preparing for the initial Board examination or refreshing your knowledge for maintenance of certification, this popular 2-day course provides an effective, fast-paced overview of core topics in internal medicine designed to focus on material that has a high probability of being included on the ABIM General Internal Medicine Certification examinations. Taught by a faculty of clinician-educators, each an expert in their subspecialty, this condensed, high-yield review uses audience-response polling to actively engage participants and allow them to compare their answers with those of their peers. Each topic is introduced with a clinical case and a related multiple-choice question, the rationale for the correct answer is explained, and key clinical points are emphasized to promote learner retention. Participants also receive valuable tips for successful test-taking strategies included with course materials. This course is an efficient way to prepare for an ABIM Certification examination if you are short on time and seek a high-quality review.

Learning Objectives:

1. Enhance your knowledge of internal medicine by working through challenging clinical cases and questions guided by expert faculty.
2. Become adept at working through examination-type questions logically and successfully.
3. Implement changes in clinical practice in accordance with recent advances and evidence-based guidelines.

Course Co-directors

Fred A. Lopez, MD, MACP
Professor of Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, New Orleans, LA

Cynthia J. Brown, MD, MSPH, FACP 
Professor and Chair, Department of Medicine, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, New Orleans, LA

Tuesday and Wednesday, 8:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.

This hands-on 2-day course is designed to teach core POCUS skills to internal medicine physicians, centering on the skills needed to use ultrasound as a patient assessment tool in a variety of settings.

If you are interested in the potential for POCUS to expand your clinical reasoning skills, join this course taught by internationally acclaimed faculty. Online prelearning assignments and live lectures will provide a comprehensive foundation of core ultrasound knowledge. Using a small-group, hands-on format, attendees will practice ultrasound scanning on live models to support the development of bedside image acquisition skills.

Learning Objectives:

1. Identify indications and rationale for performing the following examinations: pulmonary ultrasound, focused cardiac ultrasound, kidney and bladder ultrasound, evaluation of abdomen for free fluid and aortic aneurysm, and evaluation of lower extremity for deep venous thrombosis.
2. Perform the ultrasound examinations listed above.
3. Interpret normal and abnormal images for the applications listed above.
4. Interpret POCUS findings in clinical case scenarios.
5. Describe the principles of ultrasound operation, artifacts, and image optimization.

Note: This is a POCUS foundation course. Internal medicine physicians who complete this course will meet prerequisite training requirements for enrollment in additional internal medicine POCUS courses that will be offered by ACP. Visit acponline.org/pocus for more information.

Course Co-directors

David Tierney, MD, FACP
Program Director, Internal Medicine Residency, Director, Internal Medicine Bedside Ultrasound (IMBUS) Program, Division of Internal Medicine, Abbott Northwestern Hospital, Allina Health, Minneapolis, MN

Noelle Northcutt, MD, FACP
Associate Professor, Department of Medicine, Denver Health, Aurora, CO