Teaching Osteoporosis Prevention

Nurse Practitioners need to know how to Screen for and Prevent Osteoporosis.  This past week I taught both the lecture and lab sections at Allen College.  The lab covered DXA, VFA, and FRAX.

The PowerPoint lecture emphasized the basic measures needed to Take Control Naturally, and the use of medications when needed.  As always, teaching was enjoyable and an opportunity to grow my understanding of Osteoporosis and how to deal with it.

The most important aspect of the lab was that DXA is only part of the story.  I showed patients whose Osteoporosis can only be diagnosed by VFA.  One example has Vertebral Compression Fractures of 30% and 60% despite a DXA t-score of +3.0!

FRAX demonstrates that Fracture Risk varies more with age and other Risk Factors than with t-score.  More about FRAX next week.

Jay Ginther, MD

October 2011

Categorised in: Evaluation and Screening, Healthcare Professionals, Take Control Naturally