April 22, 2009 - The American Society of Hypertension Inc. (ASH) is launching the ASH Hypertension Accreditation Program to enhance the level of education of allied health professionals and pharmaceutical sales representatives in hypertension and related cardiovascular disease.
The program is designed to improve all participants’ understanding of hypertension and related cardiovascular disease, improve the flow of information and create partnerships with healthcare providers that seek to improve patient outcomes.
The training will be offered first to pharmaceutical sales representatives to provide them with an even greater understanding of the underlying science of hypertension and cardiovascular disease. The program is based on ASH’s Clinical Hypertension Review Course for physicians, which emphasizes state-of-the-art scientific principles and evidence-based clinical practice. Pharmaceutical company Daiichi Sankyo Inc. collaborated with ASH on the training concept.
“Physicians prefer to interact with well-informed pharmaceutical sales representatives who not only understand their company’s products, but have a keen appreciation for the disease and underlying science,” said Henry R. Black, M.D., president of the American Society of Hypertension. “The ASH Accreditation Program will focus on epidemiology, pathophysiology, treatment, clinical trials and patient case presentations -- content that fully aligns with our skills and educational mission. Daiichi Sankyo understands the challenges physicians face, and the benefits of having meaningful conversations with healthcare providers about the underlying science of hypertension, not just treatment options.”
The ASH Hypertension Accreditation Program is set to begin in June 2009, will be led by ASH members who are among the leading cardiovascular physicians and researchers in the world. Committee members Jan N. Basile, M.D., Joseph L. Izzo, Jr., M.D. and Committee Chairman Robert A. Phillips, M.D., Ph.D. worked with Thornton Medical Communications, an independent medical education company, to adapt the Clinical Hypertension Review Course for sales representatives. The curriculum content focuses on the science behind hypertension and cardiovascular disease and will examine mechanisms that regulate blood flow, pathways to heart disease and organ involvement, as well as social and economic disparities that affect diagnosis, treatment, control and compliance.
To achieve accreditation, sales representatives will be required to complete approximately 10 hours of home study prior to the live course, 13 hours of intense classroom training over 2-1/2 days, six hours of homework during the training program, and pass a 1-1/2 hour written exam administered by ASH.
For more information: www.ash-us.org.