eLearning in less than 60 minutes

Changes/additions to materials:

29th March 2010: NICE has reissued its guideline on cardiovascular risk assessment and lipid modification (CG67) removing the recommendation to use a specific method for risk estimation (based on the Framingham equation).  NICE considered new evidence relating to QRISK but concluded that it was not able to recommend one cardiovascular risk estimation method over another. It has therefore left the decision to the NHS locally to use the method best suited to their requirements. All other recommendations in the guideline are unchanged. 

NICE guidance on CV risk assessment published
Since these materials were prepared, NICE has published guidance on CV risk assessment and lipid modification. The materials on this floor of NPCi are currently being updated and will be available shortly. In the meantime, key issues relating to the NICE recommendations are discussed in a blog and further information is available on the lipids floor of NPCi

In this room you will find a series of workshops using a multimedia presentation of PowerPoint slides with audio commentary by the NPC team. You will need speakers and a sound card in your computer.

Each section lasts around 10 minutes with an outline of the content given below. Simply click on one of the underlined links and then click on the play icon to begin. You can jump forwards to skip a slide or backwards to repeat a slide by clicking the relevant slide on the left hand side of the console.

Part 1 - Brief overview (07min 37secs)

• Key messages

Part 2 - CVD background (08min 39secs)

• What is atherosclerosis?
• Thrombosis
• Deprivation
• Ethnicity
• Risk factors for cardiovascular disease

Part 3 - Risk levels for intervention (08min 23secs)

• BP or lipid thresholds for guiding treatment: Medicalising the population
• What does the NSF say?
• Public health measures/primary prevention vs. targeting those with CVD or at high risk
• Strategies for prevention of CVD
• What constitutes high risk of CVD?
• Identifying people at high risk of CVD
• Summary: Risk levels for intervention

Part 4 - How good are the calculators? (14min 54secs)

• What are the pitfalls in risk assessment?
• Some risk calculators
• Framingham-based methods
• NICE recommends Framingham
• What about QRISK and ASSIGN?
• What about people with diabetes?
• Summary: How good are the calculators?

Part 5 - Communicating risk (12min 29secs)

• What is risk?
• Explaining risks: Turning numerical data into meaningful pictures
• Principles of communicating risks
• NICE highlights NPCi decision aids
• Consider these two ways of explaining the benefits of a statin
• Are patient decision aids of any value?
• ACE inhibitors in stable CAD
• Summary: Communicating risk
• Overall summary