Diabetes Core Curriculum Workshop

Date: March 28 - 31, 2011 (Mon. - Thur.)
Location: Sheraton LaGuardia East Hotel in Flushing, NY
Time: 8:30-5:30pm

Contact Hours: 30 Contact Hours: RD, RN, NP, PA category II

Engage your senses -- come see, hear, ask questions, discuss. Enjoy this opportunity to talk with experts and your peers. The 'Diabetes Core Curriculum Workshop' is a unique continuing education course designed for healthcare professionals who have knowledge of diabetes education and counseling. Through interactive lectures, discussion of case studies, 8 self-assessment exams and exhibits, we present the most up-to-date information covering the principles of diabetes self-management education (DSME). If you are studying for the CDE examination, many people find it helpful to take the DCCW since we help you to identify what you know and what you still need to study to acquire proficiency.

May 13, 2008 The New York Times No one really knows how the African-American preference for menthol cigarettes developed in the first place. Some scientists speculate that cultural and taste preferences provide a partial explanation. The Rev. Jesse Brown, an antismoking advocate in Philadelphia, calls it a “chicken and egg” conundrum. But tobacco industry marketing has played a role. The migration of African-Americans to urban manufacturing centers after World War II, coupled with the emergence of black-oriented newspapers and magazines, created various opportunities for niche marketing. In the case of cigarettes, with research showing a slight black preference for Kools, a menthol brand, the industry saw an opening to appeal to black smokers. Or at least that is the explanation central to a paper on the history of menthol marketing by Phillip S. Gardiner, the research administrator of a tobacco disease program at the University of California, Oakland. The paper notes that Elston Howard, who became the first black player for the New York Yankees in 1955, was hired as a Kool spokesman. By 1978 Lorillard, Newport’s maker, had borrowed the singer James Brown’s hit single, “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag” for its marketing message, “Newport is a whole new bag of menthol smoking.” Dr. Gardiner’s paper, published in 2004 in the journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research, also notes that by the 1980s, Brown & Williamson, the maker of Kool, had started its Kool Jazz Festival to appeal to the same market. More recently, hip-hop artists have helped promote Kool, now the third-biggest menthol brand, which was acquired in 2004 by R. J. Reynolds. Dr. Brian A. Primack, assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and the author of a study published last year on the concentration of tobacco signs and billboards in African-American neighborhoods, said observational evidence suggested that about three-fourths of outdoor cigarette advertising in African-American neighborhoods was for menthol brands. Magazine advertising for cigarettes has declined since the 1998 tobacco industry settlement with state attorneys general. But the portion devoted to menthol brands — only 12 percent in 1998 — had grown to 76 percent by 2006, according to an recent analysis by the Tobacco Control Research Program at Harvard. Lorillard’s Newport, the country’s second-biggest selling cigarette and the leading menthol brand, is the best seller among African-Americans. “It’s very much marketed with youth orientation, and the primary distribution is in delis and bodegas,” said K. Michael Cummings, the chairman of the department of health behavior at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo. The tobacco companies do not agree that black smokers are a special target for menthol marketing. A Lorillard spokesman, Michael W. Robinson, said that Lorillard, a subsidiary of Loews Corporation, marketed its product across a wide array of ethnicities to adult smokers. “Lorillard wants the widest customer base possible among adults,” Mr. Robinson said. He said that only 15 percent of the company’s advertising budget is directed at the African-American market segment. David P. Howard, a spokesman for R. J. Reynolds, a unit of Reynolds American, which markets menthol brands including Kool and Salem, said his company also advertised to a wide range of audiences, because with so many more white smokers than black, only 18 percent of R. J. Reynolds’ menthol sales are to African-Americans. But he acknowledged that the company does try to appeal to black smokers: “Would we like African-Americans to choose R. J. Reynolds brands? Yes, we would. Do we have marketing and communications that that audience can identify with? Yes, we do.”

The Gov's Office of Health Care Reform (GOHCR), through the Chronic Care Initiative (CCI), aims to implement the Chronic Care Model in PA and is the umbrella organization for this collaborative, statewide effort that brings together many stakeholders (including health plans). Learning collaboratives are being formed in PA's six regions, starting in SE May 15, SC in October and SW or NE in November. Learning collaboratives are formal groups of about 30 primary care practices (they sign 3-year contracts), which will be supported by quality improvement coaches via IPIP, report on measure sets (diabetes and asthma initially) provided by IPIP using a patient registry provided by IPIP. The learning collaboratives kick off at sessions, organized by the GOHCR, that provide education on the models as well as compensation for time spent out of the practice by participating physicians and staff. The learning collaboratives have follow-up sessions to share lessons learned and continue learning about the models. All of these services are free to practices. The CCI will be initiated in the remaining regions in 2009 while also going back to the SE to develop another learning collaborative and offer other clinical topics (perhaps something in prevention). It's been said that 500 practices is the "tipping point" - that point where change becomes permanent - so we will continue to recruit practices and implement the Chronic Care Model. Link: http://www.pafp.com/