Medication Safety and Pharmacology

AANP Resources by Therapeutic Area

Continuing Education Courses

The AANP CE Center offers a wide variety of continuing education (CE) activities for nurse practitioners (NPs). Members get more, including access to many free activities and significantly discounted rates on others. Multiple CE activities are available with pharmacology credit. Topics range from acute pain management to thyroid emergencies and everything in between!

Visit the AANP CE Center

NP Tools and Resources

AANP-developed Resources to Support NPs in Treating Your Patients

• Are you looking for opioid resources? Visit the AANP Pain Management Resource Center.

Medications for Type 2 Diabetes

This helpful tool was developed as part of the comprehensive Clinical Advantage Bootcamp: Type 2 Diabetes Management Certificate for Nurse Practitioners CE program. Pharmacologic options for Type 2 diabetes continues to expand. Busy NPs need to stay up to date about the various drug classifications, doses, indications and side effects of the many Type 2 diabetes medications. This is an exciting time for diabetes management with many of the pharmacologic options providing more than one treatment benefit. This all-inclusive resource provides need to know information about non-insulin antihyperglycemic medications, insulin and glucagon.

• NP Tool and Resource.

This tool is supported by independent medical educational grants from Mylan Inc., a Viatris Company, & Novo Nordisk Inc.

External Resources

Conveniently Curated Information from Other Top Sources

There are many resources available for patients and providers. Some of them are listed below for your convenience. Inclusion of these links does not imply AANP endorsement.

Antibiotic Resistance (AR)

• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) AR Solutions Initiative offers a number of fact sheets to help practitioners detect, respond, contain and prevent resistant infections across health care settings and communities.
  
• An overview of the CDC's global AR projects to combat AR threats.

Controlled Substances

• The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Diversion Control Division prepared the Practitioner’s Manual to assist in understanding the federal Controlled Substances Act.

Medication Safety and Disposal Tools

• The FDA’s Disposal of Unused Medicines: What You Should Know webpage addresses how to safely dispose of expired, unneeded or unused medicines.
• An overview of safe drug disposal, including a description of several methods to eliminate expired, unneeded and unused medications.
• A flush list of the medications that should be flushed down a drain or toilet when no longer needed and when a drug take-back program is not available.
• A printable PDF copy of the flush list.
• Consumer articles on drug disposal and fentanyl.

Over the Counter (OTC) Medications: Proper Dosing and Safe Use

• Help your patients understand whether OTC medications for pain are right for them and, if so, how to use them safely.
• Help parents understand the correct dosing for OTC medications for children and how to safely keep medications away from children.
• Research shows patients don’t always know the potential risks of double dosing on medicine. Remind them to double-check their medicine labels to avoid doubling up on acetaminophen.
• NPs play a vital role in encouraging safe acetaminophen use. Remind your patients to always read their medicine labels to avoid accidentally double-dosing on acetaminophen.