The course will provide a series of multiple-choice question based cases in common and life-threatening clinical entities caused by exposure to nuclear radiation, chemical warfare agents or biologic warfare agents. The cases will feature multimedia content to engage the participant. Faculty for the course will primarily be drawn from Harvard Medical School (HMS) associated hospitals. The core faculty will be supplemented by a small number of selected external faculty who are nationally and internationally recognized in the field of contribution.

Physicians who might first encounter patients exposed to radiation, biological agents, or chemical agents (e.g., Internists, Emergency Medicine physicians, Family Practice physicians, and Pediatricians) are the target audience for the course. The participants will have an opportunity to review and advance their knowledge by taking the course. They will be required to complete all content associated with the course (their progress is electronically tracked). In addition, all participants will be required to correctly answer all associated multiple-choice questions during the course. A standardized level of care equivalent to a typical community level hospital in the United States of America will be employed.

NUMBER OF CREDIT HOURS: The Harvard Medical School designates this enduring material for a maximum of 2 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

This course should take approximately 2 hours to complete.

COST: $40.00 for the average learner. Participants living in emerging nations receive a 50% discount or can register for free. See our International Pricing Page for details.

OVERALL LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

1. Review core content for chemical agents and biologic agents likely to be involved in an exposure type of event.
2. Describe common pharmacologic treatment strategies for acute exposure to radiation and chemical agents and biologic agents likely to be involved in an exposure type of event.
3. Generate appropriate differential diagnoses, recognize patterns of presentation, and formulate treatment strategies based clinical history, physical examination findings, and limited laboratory investigation data.
4. Enhance problem-solving skills through data integration of supportive diagnostic modalities such as patient videos and audio clips.

METHOD OF PARTICIPATION:

Registrants participate in the learning process by answering interactive multiple choice questions that are dispersed throughout the case presentation. You must answer a question correctly in order to continue through the course. If you answer a question incorrectly, you will be prompted to try again.

In order to earn credit, physicians must complete the entire educational activity before the termination date (see above). Non-physicians may register for the course but are not eligible for AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Instead, non-physicians will earn a certificate of participation after successfully completing the course before its termination date.

COMBINATION OF MEDIA USED:

This internet enduring material is a case-based, interactive presentation comprised mainly of text, interactive questions, and images. A variety of media, including video clips, audio clips, and Flash animation, may be presented. Links to any necessary plugins are provided when necessary, but no plugins are required for general use of the CME website, and you may skip the multimedia presentation(s) within the course if you choose.

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MILANA BOUKHMAN, MD Course Director

Milana Boukhman grew up in the former USSR where she was a professional ballerina. She graduated from the University of California San Francisco School of Medicine and went on to completing her emergency medicine training at the Harvard Affiliated Emergency Medicine Residency/BI Deaconess Hospital before joining the emergency medical staff there. She is also a Harvard Disaster Medicine Fellow and runs a CME course on "Responding to Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Weapons" as the CME director. She is additionally on staff at the CIMIT-Russia program at CIMIT, the Center for the Integration of Medicine and Innovative Technology, which is a consortium of physicians from the Harvard teaching hospitals with scientists and engineers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Charles Stark Draper Laboratory. DISCLOSURE: Reported no relevant financial relationships with commercial entities

JONATHAN L. BURSTEIN, MD Course Co-Director

Jonathan Burstein is the Massachusetts State EMS Medical Director, and an emergency physician at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. He has worked for the US Department of Defense, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the US Coast Guard, and the US Department of Homeland Security on disaster planning and response, including for weapons of mass destruction. DISCLOSURE: Reported no relevant financial relationships with commercial entities.

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CAROL BATES, MD Reviewer

Carol Bates, M.D. is general internist in the Division of General Medicine and Primary Care at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. She received her medical degree from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Dr Bates is the Primary Care Program Director at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. During her tenure, more than 100 residents have graduated from the primary care track; most of them remain practicing general internists. Dr Bates has been very active in the Society of General Internal Medicine. She has served as New England Regional President and as co-chair of the annual scientific meeting of the society in 2000. Dr Bates has an active practice focused in particular on women's health. DISCLOSURE: Reported no relevant financial relationships with commercial entities

GRACE HUANG, MD Reviewer

Grace Huang, MD, is the Director of the Office of Educational Technology at the Carl J. Shapiro Institute for Education and Research, a joint venture between HMS and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) in Boston. She also works as a hospitalist at BIDMC. She has spent a number of years designing web-based modules on clinical skills, including computer-based case simulations (“virtual patients”), physical diagnosis tutorials, interactive pathophysiology diagrams, and procedure-based instruction. She serves as a consultant to the Association of American Medical Colleges in their initiative to promote scholarship and sharing of educational materials through MedEdPORTAL. Her clinical research interest is in the impact of a formal hospital-based procedure service on complication rates among internal medicine residents. DISCLOSURE: Dr. Huang's spouse works at Pfizer, Inc., and she holds stock options and shares in the same company.

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SANJIV CHOPRA, MD Planner

Dr. Sanjiv Chopra is Professor of Medicine and Faculty Dean for Continuing Medical Education at Harvard Medical School and Senior Consultant in Hepatology at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston. In his role as Faculty Dean for Continuing Education, Dr. Chopra provides oversight and leadership of the Department and oversees the academic development of our programs. Dr. Chopra is an experienced clinician, researcher, and educator. In his research roles, he has served both as a principal investigator as well as co-investigator. He has more than 120 publications and five books to his credit, addressing topics in disease states, patient care, and leadership. Dr. Chopra’s teaching experience is extensive, and he has won numerous teaching awards for his work with medical students, residents and physicians. Currently, he directs and speaks at 10 multiday CME courses, nine of which are through HMS. For his full bio, please click here. DISCLOSURE: Reported no relevant financial relationships with commercial entities.

ANDI LONG, EDM Planner

Andi Long directs the Department of Continuing Education’s Distance Learning group, which offers a variety of online continuing medical education programs to health care professionals around the world. Andi develops strategies for new pilot programs and systematically rolls out new distance learning initiatives and has a leadership role in IT planning and other online processes for HMS DCE. She oversees the day-to-day operations of each distance learning activity and ensures ACCME compliance across all enduring programs. She has had the privilege of working with hundreds of Harvard Medical School Faculty members to develop high-quality, engaging online programs that physicians in more than 170 countries have taken part in. Andi earned her Ed.M. in Technology, Innovation, and Education from Harvard Graduate School of Education and graduated from Bridgewater State College, summa cum laude, with a degree in English. Her professional interests focus on teaching and learning with new technologies and online course development. DISCLOSURE: Reported no relevant financial relationships with commercial entities.

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NUMBER OF CREDITS: 2 

The Harvard Medical School is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

The Harvard Medical School designates this enduring material for a maximum of 2 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

This course should take approximately 2 hours to complete.

Within 2 weeks of completing the course, you will receive your certificate via email.

Click the image to view a sample of the certificate

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