A Spotlight on NPI's Basic Suturing CME Course

Whether the result of a simple procedure that just needs closing or a traumatic injury that needs extensive intervention to properly heal, suturing is a vitally important part of treatment. Our Basic Suturing CME course covers a range of techniques and procedures, and we’re so pleased to be offering it at our Phoenix CME Conference this November for up to 15 AAFP or AMA PRA credits! Read up about the class here and be sure to sign up for our Phoenix CME conference!

Our suturing CME course covers terminology and background information as well as hands-on suturing practice. Below are some frequently asked questions and their respective answers, which can help explain the scope of this course.

Will I learn about general skin terminology, anatomy, etc., or should I know these things beforehand?
Our suturing course goes over the anatomy of the skin and physiology of a wound in healing in great detail.

How does patient interaction, billing, and more tie into this course?
You will be taught how to properly catalog patient history, proper wound care information for patients, and accuracy and efficiency in billing.

Does the class only deal with suturing, or does it cover other skin procedures?
Aside from suturing practice, you will be taught proper identification of indications where biopsies are needed, gain experience with local anesthesia, and learn to recognize and manage  wound complications.

The live, hands-on portion of the course is done with pig feet to practice an array of suturing and knot-tying skills as well as proper punch and incision biopsies and general tissue care. Learn suturing techniques like simple interrupted, horizontal mattress, vertical mattress, and corner stitch sutures to give you a wide range of practice with simple to complex wounds. The suturing portion of the course also covers alternative closure techniques like staples and glue.

Unlike other CME courses offered from NPI, this suturing class requires that all participants come with a minimum amount of supplies. A specific style of sutures and needles are required, which are listed out in detail via the link at the top of this article. Sign up for this great course today and become a trusted source of suturing and wound care for your patients!

A Spotlight on "Excisions and Common Wound Repairs: Patient Cases"

After the CME courses are done and you need a handy resource to keep around the office for a quick refresher on wound repair, there’s no better training resource than a DVD. Unlike some of our other, more instructional DVDs, this training video is intended to show you wound repair procedures as they would happen in an office. Pig’s feet are set aside to show you procedures on live patients. Hosted by John L. Pfenniger, M.D.M FAAFP, this video runs approximately 75 minutes.

In addition to founding National Procedures Institure, Dr. Pfenniger is Director of the Medical Procedures Center which specializes in office surgery.  Dr. Pfenninger is a nationally known author, educator and lecturer. He has written numerous medical articles and produced videotapes about procedural medicine. He has appeared on national Lifetime TV and is a clinical professor at Michigan State University. Dr. Pfenninger writes a regular column in the Midland Daily News entitled " A Word from Dr. Pfenninger..."

Dr. Pfenninger has received several awards including best research paper at Michigan State University, The Robert E. Bowsher Best Teacher Award, The Most Outstanding Article published by the American Family Physician, the Colposcopy Recognition Award, 2005 Society of Teachers of Family Medicine (STFM) Excellence in Teaching Award and the 2005 American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) Thomas W. Johnson Award for Career Contributions to Family Medicine Education. He was most recently awarded a “Certificate in Primary Care Skin Cancer Medicine” from the University of Queensland Medical School, Australia.

In 1994 his reference text, Procedures for Primary Care Physicians, the first such comprehensive book of its kind, was published by Mosby Year Book and has become a best seller. In 1998 the text was selected as one of the 37 best medical books of all time. A third edition, Pfenninger and Fowler's Procedures for Primary Care, was published in 2011.

The DVD covers a variety of procedures and methods including but not limited to:

• Undermining
• Deep inverted sutures
• Intermediate closures
• Shaves of seborrheic keratoses & benign nevus removal
• Leg nodule excisions
• Sebaceous cyst removal
• Basal cell carcinoma excision
• Interrupted suture repairs
• Corner stitches
• Half buried mattress stitches
• Running stitches

At a price of $134.95, this DVD is an affordable and fantastic way to supplement your office’s educational materials. Purchase Excisions and Common Wound Repairs: Patient Cases today and build your resource library for you and your practice!