Continuing Medical Education

Effective patient-clinician interaction is an integral part of successfully managing lupus. Medscape, in partnership with the Lupus Foundation of America, offers several continuing medical education programs designed to develop or increase the knowledge, skills, and professional performance of health care providers who treat patients who have SLE. These programs are supported by an independent educational grant from GlaxoSmithKline.

Educating My Patients on Ways to Safely Engage in Research (EMPOWER) seeks to reduce lupus-related health disparities among racial and ethnic minority populations – who are disproportionately affected by lupus – by improving knowledge about lupus, its treatments, and clinical trials. This program was developed by the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation. It is supported by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Office of Minority Health National Lupus Outreach and Clinical Trial Education Program.

Lupus: Deciphering the Clues was created by the Lupus Foundation of America and accredited by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation. The course provides an overview of lupus diagnosis and treatments for nurses, pharmacists, and pharmacy technicians. The goal is to increase awareness of lupus among health care professionals so they recognize and treat it earlier, and to educate the health care community on the up-to-date treatment options available for people with lupus.

The Lupus Initiative is a national program of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) that is dedicated to reducing health disparities in lupus. It offers CME/CE for physicians and other health professionals to improve the quality of care in those with – or at risk for – lupus. A range of courses is available.