Harvard Heat Emergencies Prevention, Diagnosis and Management 2025

Harvard Heat Emergencies Prevention, Diagnosis and Management 2025

 

Target Audience: clinicians, emergency responders 

Information:

The Heat Emergencies: Prevention, Diagnosis, and Management Course is a virtual, lecture-based 4 half-day course to educate clinicians about how to diagnose, treat, and prevent heat-related illness. The course will describe the current evidence around all heat-related emergencies, including heat stroke, heat exhaustion, and heat syncope. The course will provide a background on the changing epidemiology of heat-related illness, varying definitions of heat, basics of thermal physiology, and individual and population-based approaches to prevention of heat-related illness.

Learning Objectives

• Explain the epidemiology of heat related illness and associated disease processes.
• Recognize the thermal physiology underlying clinical presentations of heat related illness.
• Create a differential diagnosis and develop comprehensive, evidence-based management plans for all forms of heat related illness, including heat exhaustion, heat syncope, and heat stroke.
• Describe groups at increased risk for heat related illness and develop anticipatory guidance and prevention plans.
•  Discuss the pharmacological interactions with heat-related illness and develop plans for protecting patients.
• Identify the resources needed and best steps to take for preparedness, diagnosis and treatment of heat related illness during event medicine and in low-resources settings.
• Explain the impacts of heat across organ systems, including impacts on mental health and behavioral health and kidney disease.
• Apply preventive solutions for heat related illness including from a community based, public health, and health systems approach.

Participant Types

General Physicians, Specialty Physicians, Physician Assistants, Nurse Practitioners, Nurses, Pharmacists, Primary Care Physicians, and Others

 

 

+ Topics:All agenda sessions are in Eastern Time.

Day 1 – Monday, June 16, 2025

 Welcome, Overview, and Importance of Heat Clinical EducationSpeakers:

Theme:
Tess Wiskel, Caleb Dresser

TimeSession TitleSpeaker(s)1:00 – 1:30 pmDefining HeatCaleb Dresser1:30 – 2:15 pmHeat PhysiologyRobert Meade2:15 – 3:00 pmEpidemiological Impacts of HeatAntonella Zanobetti3:00 – 4:00 pmCase Studies of Heat-Related IllnessGayle Kouklis, Mary Meyer, Tara Benesch4:00 – 4:45 pmClosing Remarks and Q&ACaleb Dresser, Tess Wiskel4:45 – 5:00 pm

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Day 2 – Wednesday, June 18, 2025

 Clinical Management of Heat-Related IllnessSpeakers:

Theme:
Caleb Dresser, Tess Wiskel

TimeSession TitleSpeaker(s)1:00 – 1:15 pmWelcome and RecapCaleb Dresser, Tess Wiskel1:15 – 2:00 pmEvent Medicine and Heat-Related IllnessJohn Jardine, MD2:00 – 3:00 pmCurrent Evidence on Heat-Related IllnessKurt Eifling3:00 – 3:45 pmDiagnosis of Heat-Related IllnessTess Wiskel3:45 – 4:45 pmManagement of Heat-Related IllnessCaleb Dresser4:45 – 5:00 pmClosing Remarks and Q&ATess Wiskel, Caleb Dresser

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Day 3 – Monday, June 23, 2025

 Heat Impacts on Special PopulationsSpeakers:

Theme:
Caleb Dresser, Tess Wiskel

TimeSession TitleSpeaker(s)1:00 – 1:15 pmWelcome and RecapCaleb Dresser, Tess Wiskel1:15 – 2:00 pmHeat, Kidney Disease, and Outdoor WorkNathan Raines2:00 – 2:45 pmPharmaceutical Considerations in Hot WeatherHayley Blackburn2:45 – 3:15 pmSmall Group Discussions: What Special Populations Are You Worried About in Your Practice, and What Can Be Done?Caleb Dresser, Tess Wiskel3:15 – 4:00 pmHeat-Related Illness in Special PopulationsBruce Bekkar, Marissa Hauptman, Manijeh Berenji, Nisha Shah4:00 – 4:45 pmHeat and Behavioral HealthElizabeth Pinsky4:45 – 5:00 pmClosing Remarks and Q&ACaleb Dresser, Tess Wiskel

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Day 4 – Wednesday, June 25, 2025

 Prevention, Systems, and Policy SolutionsSpeakers:

Theme:
Caleb Dresser, Tess Wiskel

TimeSession TitleSpeaker(s)1:00 – 1:05 pmWelcome and RecapCaleb Dresser, Tess Wiskel1:05 – 2:00 pmPrevention and Management in Low-Resource SettingsSatchit Balsari2:00 – 2:45 pmPractical Resources for the Busy ClinicianGeoffrey Comp, Caleb Dresser, Tess Wiskel2:45 – 3:45 pmHealth System Impacts & Preparedness for Extreme HeatJeremy Hess3:45 – 4:30 pmPreventive Solutions Through Public Health and PolicyJane Gilbert4:30 – 5:00 pmClosing Remarks and Q&ACaleb Dresser, Tess Wiskel