Earlier this month, we had a great showing of advanced practice nurses for our fall National Conference for Nurse Practitioners (NCNP). It was one week after Nursing Management Congress2017 and one week after the deadly mass shooting in Las Vegas. Being in town for both conferences was an experience – as we shifted gears for a different group of nursing professionals and also remained a presence in a city that was dealing with tragedy and starting to heal.

As a frequent attendee at NCNP, I often attend a wide variety of topics and speakers. With my background in critical care and women’s health, I am interested in both the acute care and primary care sessions. I had the opportunity this time to meet and learn from new experts and I found myself picking up on a certain theme, which I didn’t realize when I originally registered and picked my sessions! I think you’ll pick up on this as you read through some of these clinical and professional pearls that I picked up at the conference…

“Isn’t it time that nursing is referred to as one of the STEM [science, technology, engineering, and mathematics] professions?”
Keynote Address: Finding Your NP Voice
Margaret A. Fitzgerald, DNP, FNP-BC, NP-C, FAANP, CSP, FAAN, DCC, FNAP
 
“A high HDL cholesterol is only as good as a low LDL.”
Dyslipidemia: Going Beyond the Current Treatment Options
Joyce L. Ross, MSN, CRNP, CLS, FNLA, FPCNA
 
“One in four heroin users started with prescription opioids.”
New Trends in Street Drugs and Legal Highs Part 1
Andrea Efre, DNP, ARNP, ANP-BC
 
“The opioid OD triad: unresponsive/coma, respiratory depression/failure, and CNS depression (mioisis).”
New Trends in Street Drugs and Legal Highs Part 2
Andrea Efre, DNP, ARNP, ANP-BC
 
“When calculating the anion gap, for every one gram decrease in albumin from normal, add 2.5 to anion gap.”
Understanding Sepsis
Sophia Chu Rodgers, FNP, ACNP, FAANP, FCCM, FAANP
 
“Repeated doses of ibuprofen and acetaminophen can prolong the duration of a viral illness.”
Antimicrobial Update: A Focus on Respiratory Infections
Margaret A. Fitzgerald, DNP, FNP-BC, NP-C, FAANP, CSP, FAAN, DCC, FNAP
 
“Adverse drug reactions are responsible for an increase of two days for hospital length of stay.”
Pharmacogenomics and Chronic Pain: Putting Science Back Into the Treatment of Pain
Brett Badgley Snodgrass, MSN, FNP-BC
 
“Herbal and dietary supplements are at least the fourth most common cause of drug-induced hepatic disease necessitation liver transplant.”
5 Things I Wish I Knew Last Year
Louis Kuritzky, MD
 
“Prescribing cascade refers to when a new problem arises that is associated with the side effect of a medication and additional medications are added to treat it.”
Polypharmacy: What the Nurse Practitioner Should Know
Audrey M. Stevenson, PhD, MPH, MSN, FNP-BC
 
The theme I’m referring to above is drug information. These pearls are just a handful from the sessions I attended. There were also sessions on pharmacologic management of dementia, biologics, hormone replacement, direct oral anticoagulants, sleep medications, medical marijuana, opioid prescribing, non-opioid analgesics, and pharmacologic management of obesity. Wow!
 
I also attended back-to-back sessions on street drugs and spent some time with the Drug Enforcement Agency in the Exhibit Hall. The current opioid epidemic in the United States is not just a big city problem; it’s happening no matter where you are, among all ages, and it’s a big concern. Think about the prescribing you do on a daily basis. Drug approvals, indications, and warnings are constantly changing, and we must keep our knowledge up-to-date. Now, think about the number of drug overdoses you see, or patients and families that you know are dealing with addiction. These numbers are rising and, as nurse practitioners, we have a responsibility to appropriately assess and manage pain, and prescribe responsibly.