Jayne DuBois, ND and Molly McDonnell PMHNP-BC, ARNP

Brandon Testa, ND and Rachel Boone, ND

The interaction of pharmaceuticals and herbs is often overlooked in many clinical settings. Understanding the basics of herb-drug interactions for commonly prescribed supplements and integrative medicines is important to help keep patients safe, particularly pediatric patients. This talk will explore common integrative therapeutics that can be prescribed by self-prescription, allied health professionals, or NDs alike and review current research on drug-herb interactions and information on safety monitoring.

Last year (2022) brought two BIG guideline updates from the ACG on GERD and Barrett's esophagus evaluation and management. These guidelines provided much needed clarification on screening, diagnosis, and treatment recommendations, including identifying more clearly those patients who require long-term PPI treatment. This lecture will review the guidelines and implications for clinical practice, as well as discuss how a naturopathic primary care practice may differ from conventional guidelines and the rationale for such deviation.

This lecture serves to review medications that are utilized in treatment of opioid use disorder mainly focusing on buprenorphine, with a very brief overview of naltrexone and methadone. This will provide high-yield prescribing recommendations for starting, maintaining, and tapering buprenorphine. The lecture will be given largely in case-based examples with structured evidence-based data to help guide prescribers feel more comfortable with this life-saving medication.

Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID) is estimated to affect approximately 1 million individuals in the United States each year, but diagnosis is often delayed or missed due to mild or non-specific symptoms or atypical presentation. Underdiagnosis increases the risk of long-term sequelae including infertility, ectopic pregnancy, and chronic pelvic pain. Mild and moderate cases of PID can be managed outpatient in the primary care setting and primary care providers should be comfortable diagnosing and treating this condition. This presentation will review PID signs and symptoms, diagnostic criteria, etiological agents, and patient management.

Review updates and evolving developments in rheumatology classification criteria, treatments and preventative care for immunosuppressed patients

Lymphomas and leukemias can present earlier in life than other cancer types. Given that these groups of cancers are more treatable now, these patients are showing up more often in the primary care setting. Many have received cancer treatments that can have lasting effects on vital organs or increase risk of secondary cancers. This lecture will help the primary care provider to identify and support these individuals to optimize long term health and reduce the risk for a future cancer recurrence.

This presentation will cover the basics of HIV testing, diagnosis, treatment initiation, and infection prevention with PrEP for Primary Care Providers. We will cover screening guidelines, testing options, tips on having what can be challenging conversations for patients and providers alike, HIV diagnosis and treatment initiation, and discuss multiple options for PrEP (Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis) to help prevent HIV infection and protect our patients.

Review the newly approved RSV immunizations, eligible populations, and best practices.

Atherosclerosis is a chronic inflammatory disease and is the underlying cause of death in about 50% of people living in westernized countries. As a primary care provider we see patients on a daily basis who have atherosclerosis, and we can provide them evidence guided treatments that modify their life and health span. The goal of my lecture is to review current research, practice guidelines, and evidence guided treatments to help stabilize, reduce progression, and where possible reverse atherosclerotic plaques. At the conclusion of the conversation you will walk away with practice ready and primary care level interventions using pharmaceutical, botanical/nutraceutical, and diet/lifestyle treatments.

The prevalence of hypertension globally necessitates effective prevention and management strategies, with dietary interventions playing a crucial role. This presentation synthesizes recent evidence, including a comprehensive umbrella review by Aljuraiban et al. (2024), to evaluate the efficacy of various dietary interventions in the prevention and treatment of hypertension. By critically assessing meta-analyses of both interventional and observational studies, we aim to delineate the quality of the evidence supporting specific dietary practices. Our review highlights the importance of considering bias, precision, and the magnitude of effects in interpreting study findings. Key dietary interventions discussed include the reduction of sodium intake and the potential benefits of the Mediterranean and DASH diets.

With the continued growth of naturopathic licensure and scope, Naturopathic Physicians in many states now have access to a broad range of treatments to help patients, in the form of the full range of pharmacotherapies available to our conventional colleagues. Any treatment, of course, is not without its risks, and the "controlled substances" carry not only medical but also legal and ethical risks. This lecture will review the different DEA schedules of controlled substances, many of the common medication classes covered (specifically opioids, stimulants, and sedative-hypnotics), as well as how to safely prescribe. In addition, recommendations will be made for safely, ethically, and legally prescribing these medications, to protect both the patient and one's practice.

The purpose of this presentation is to provide education on how to screen for alcohol use disorder properly and effectively as a primary care provider. This will include the establishment of rapport, identifying co-morbidities and risk factors, and the proper use of screening tools such as the CAGE questionnaire, T-ACE, AUDIT, and AUDIT-C. Additionally, we will cover appropriate screenings for red flags such as withdrawal, seizures, delirium tremens, and proper care coordination. Other topics in this presentation will include common nutrient deficiencies, medical and psychiatric co-morbidities, patient education, prognostic factors, and practitioner limitations. We will also review how to properly record and assess the number of drinks per week and key points in documentation with appropriate coding.