Course Summary
Viral infections are a major public health concern and cause of serious illness and hospitalization worldwide. The current COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a plethora of research studies within a relatively short period of time on the origin, transmission, prevention and treatment of SARS-CoV-2 infection in all age groups and special populations. Public policies and national health guidelines pertaining to emergency approval of the mRNA vaccines to control COVID-19 outbreaks continue to evolve and change worldwide. Most recently, multiple research articles have been published on the repurposing of ivermectin as a monotherapy or as a combination therapy for COVID-19 patients in the outpatient and inpatient setting. However, at this time there is no conclusive evidence that ivermectin is or is not an effective treatment for SARS-CoV-2 infection, and the FDA and other public health organizations have not approved ivermectin as a treatment for COVID-19. Nevertheless, there are studies emerging as well as observational reports from varied regions of the world that are in favor of using ivermectin for this purpose. Because ivermectin is being sought both by patients and health providers, health clinicians will need to be informed about the status of ivermectin as a treatment for COVID-19 and the status of the clinical trial funded by the National Institute of Health that is studying whether ivermectin may be repurposed as a treatment for COVID-19.
Course Format
Homestudy
Learning Objectives
- To inform health clinicians of the historical, current, and proposed future research on the use of ivermectin to treat COVID-19 and to reduce the rate of morbidity and mortality.
Course Syllabus
- Introduction
- Overview and History of Ivermectin
- Pharmacological Profile
- Mechanism of Action
- Prescriber’s Drug Summary for Ivermectin
- Repurposing Ivermectin to Treat COVID-19
- Public Health and Professional Organizations: Position on Ivermectin for the Treatment of COVID-19
- Ivermectin and COVID-19 Research
- Individual Study Conclusions, Meta-analyses and Systematic Reviews
- Research Bias and Quality of Evidence
- Ivermectin Dosing and Safety for COVID-19 Patients
- Drug Dosing and Drug-Drug Interactions
- Hyperinflammation and Ivermectin
- Toxicity and Overdose
- Future Direction for the Use of Ivermectin
- Summary
Authors
Dana Bartlett, RN, BSN, MSN, MA, CSPI
Dana Bartlett is a professional nurse and author. His clinical experience includes 16 years of ICU and ER experience and over 27 years as a poison control center information specialist. Dana has published numerous CE and journal articles, written NCLEX material, textbook chapters, and more than 100 online CE articles, and done editing and reviewing for publishers such as Elsevier, Lippincott, and Thieme. He has written widely on the subject of toxicology and was a contributing editor, toxicology section, for Critical Care Nurse journal. He is currently employed at the Connecticut Poison Control Center. He lives in Wappingers Falls, NY.
Kellie Wilson, PharmD
Kellie Wilson is a Doctor of Pharmacy practicing in Anaconda, Montana, where she lives with her husband and four children. She attended the University of Montana in Missoula where she graduated in 2009 with a doctorate in pharmacy. She later worked in Boise, Idaho for a large, retail pharmacy for 2 years, and then returned home to Montana to oversee an independently owned retail and long-term care pharmacy in Anaconda. As an independent retail pharmacist she has become very involved in psychiatric pharmacy for two major behavioral health organizations that are located around all of Montana. Kellie’s passion is retail pharmacy because she enjoys the interactions with customers as well as the challenges and rewards of staying current with the continuous changes in the pharmacy field.
