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Quick Reads Feature | The Pulse of ACC
Celebrating Women Physicians; Celebrating YOU; CMP; More.
Celebrating YOU
ACC's more than 54,000 cardiovascular professionals worldwide are the driving force behind the College's Mission to transform cardiovascular care and improve heart health. The ACC is recognizing its members who have demonstrated a long-term commitment to the ACC, their patients and colleagues, and the field of cardiology on a new anniversary page. Join us each month in celebrating the dedication of these valued professionals!
Surgeon General Focuses on Smoking Cessation
In the first Surgeon General's report since 1990 to focus solely on smoking cessation, U.S. Surgeon General Vice Admiral Jerome M. Adams, MD, MPH, underscores the strides made in smoking cessation over the last three decades, while also updating findings on the biology of addiction and smoking cessation; examining clinical treatments and tools proven to increase smoking cessation; and the importance of population-based strategies to increase smoking cessation, especially given "continued diversification of the tobacco product landscape."
The new report – "Smoking Cessation: A Report of the Surgeon General" – released on Jan. 23 highlights a sharp decline in the prevalence of current smoking from 1990 to 2017 in both men and women (52.0 percent to 15.8 percent and 34.1 percent to 12.2 percent, respectively). It also emphasizes that more than three of five U.S. adults who ever smoked cigarettes have quit. However, it also highlights very real challenges, including the "substantial financial burden" of smoking on health care systems, society and smokers themselves, as well as the considerable disparities that exist across the U.S. population when it comes to smoking prevalence.
The report recommends use of smoking cessation medications approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and behavioral counseling as the most cost-effective cessation strategies – both of which are not being used as frequently as they should. It also calls out the role that policies like smoke-free laws have played in broadening the prevalence of smoking cessation – policies that ACC members working with their respective state chapters and ACC Advocacy have been on the front lines working to enact at the state level and nationally with great success.
The report acknowledges that the growth in vaping and e-cigarettes "could have several different potential impacts, ranging from accelerating the rates of complete cessation among adult smokers to erasing progress in reducing all forms of use of tobacco products, especially among youth and young adults." The ACC is aware of these potential impacts and working closely with organizations like the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, American Society of Clinical Oncology, our partner cardiovascular societies and others to proactively mitigate them.
Celebrating Women Physicians
Women in medicine have come a long way since Elizabeth Blackwell became the first female medical doctor in the U.S. In recognition of these strides, National Women Physicians Day was created four years ago to honor Blackwell's birthday (Feb. 3, 1821) and pay tribute to female physicians across the country.
Early women physicians like Blackwell broke down traditions and barriers and set the stage for the next generations to grow and thrive within the field. In cardiology, women like Maude Abbott, MD, Myra Adele Logan, MD, and Helen B. Taussig, MD, FACC, were early trailblazers and pioneers. Today, the many women around the world who make up ACC's Women in Cardiology Section continue to carry on the legacies of these women with their own contribution to the profession, serving as mentors, teachers, researchers, surgeons, and more!
Additionally, societies like the ACC are privileged to have an increasing number of women leaders at their helms. At ACC.20/WCC, Athena Poppas, MD, FACC, will become the fourth woman to serve as president, with Dipti Itchhaporia, MD, FACC, becoming vice president. Along with them are current leaders, including: Judy W. Hung, MD, FACC, president of the American Society of Echocardiography; Maully J. Shah, MBBS, FACC, president of the Pediatric and Congenital Electrophysiology Society; Sharmila Dorbala, MBBS, MPH, FACC, president of the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology; Andrea M. Russo, MD, FACC, president of the Heart Rhythm Society (HRS); Christine M. Albert, MD, MPH, FACC, president-elect of HRS; Barbara Casadei, MD, PhD, president of the European Society of Cardiology, and Karen Sliwa, MD, PhD, FACC, president of the World Heart Federation.
What Are You Wearing?
Wearable technology can help patients engage in their health management and track certain health habits, but it does not replace their health care team. With the rise of digital devices, patients need more information to understand which wearables work for their condition and how to use them.
The ACC's CardioSmart new Wearable Technology Infographic offers information regarding how wearables can be used and what topics should be discussed with the health care professional. Download it for free and visit the CardioSmart website for more information and resources on this subject at CardioSmart.org/Wearables.
Mark Your Calendar for the 2020 CMP Performance Assessments
The ACC's Collaborative Maintenance Pathway (CMP) is expanding in 2020 to deliver integrated lifelong learning with assessment through ACCSAP, CathSAP, EP SAP and Heart Failure SAP. Each year, new science and guidelines will be added to all topics, while 20 percent of topics in each SAP will be thoroughly revised and republished.
Read/watch/listen/answer questions to earn seven hours and a 70 percent score to meet the 2020 learning engagement requirement.
Don't miss the 2020 Performance Assessments dates:
- Interventional Cardiology delivered through CathSAP: Aug. 19-25 and Nov. 4-10.
- Clinical Cardiac Arrhythmias & Electrophysiology delivered through EP SAP: Aug. 19-25 and Nov. 4-10.
- Cardiovascular Disease delivered through ACCSAP: Sept. 16-22 and Dec. 2-8.
- Advanced Heart Failure & Transplant Cardiology delivered through Heart Failure SAP: TBD.
- Enrollment for Cardiovascular Disease CMP is currently open, while enrollment for the other specialties will be opening soon.
Clinical Topics: Arrhythmias and Clinical EP, Cardiovascular Care Team, Heart Failure and Cardiomyopathies, Noninvasive Imaging, Prevention, Implantable Devices, SCD/Ventricular Arrhythmias, Atrial Fibrillation/Supraventricular Arrhythmias, Statins, Acute Heart Failure, Echocardiography/Ultrasound, Smoking
Keywords: ACC Publications, Cardiology Magazine, Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems, Smoking Cessation, Tobacco, Physicians, Women, Anniversaries and Special Events, Prevalence, Cardiovascular Diseases, United States Food and Drug Administration, Surgeons, Medicine, Mentors, Tobacco Products, Counseling, Echocardiography, Arrhythmias, Cardiac, Heart Failure, Patient Care Team, Medical Oncology, Electrophysiology, Habits, Cytidine Monophosphate
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