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UNITING INFORMATION, EDUCATION AND HEALTH CARE COLLABORATION
The Pennsylvania Academy of Family Physicians (PAFP) is dedicated to finding new and innovative ways to serve its members and provide services of lasting educational and collaborative value in the rapidly changing world of family medicine. In keeping with its mission to "support its members through advocacy and education to ensure a physician-coordinated, patient-centered medical home for every Pennsylvanian," the PAFP is pleased to announce the PAFP Community.
For the last several months, the PAFP's Communications Dept. has been working hard to build the PAFP Community based around the "communities of practice" collaborative educational model. It's not merely a network of connected users; it's a closed digital platform where people of a particular interest or trade can discuss specific topics, share resources, work collaboratively, address problems or concerns, and learn from each other. The PAFP Community is something of a social network, but not the kind you're used to hearing about from your friends or in the media. Unlike Facebook or Twitter, the PAFP Community is a safe, secure network limited to use by PAFP members.
Through the PAFP Community, members will be able to communicate with one another privately; hold group discussions about aspects of family medicine from clinical practice to government advocacy; collaborate on projects together without having to email copies of documents back and forth; and even take part in valuable learning sessions or CME. What can easily cost members hundreds of dollars in travel and hotel expenses can now be done for free on the incredible PAFP Community.
Some of the features you'll see on the PAFP Community include:
- A live chat function wherein you can talk with members individually or in groups
- A video chat function where you'll be able to watch a speaker or discussion and ask questions and interact in real-time
- The ability to upload, download, share, and work together on documents
- Forums on a variety of topics, with the capability to add more on your own
- Individual, modifiable member profiles containing as much or as little information as you want
What you won't see on the PAFP Community: advertisements, spam, pop-up windows, unwanted solicitations, or any patient interaction. Furthermore, since the PAFP Community was designed and built in-house, the PAFP is open to suggestions for ways to improve the service.
The PAFP Community will launch on Monday, Sept. 2, 2013. We have already filled the website with some information to get you started, but the extent of the PAFP Community's benefit to you and your colleagues is entirely dependent on your use of the service. We are excited to announce that the PAFP's 2013 Regional Lecture Series will take place through the PAFP Community, and we think you'll be impressed with the scope and intuitiveness of this member tool when you join us for those meetings later in 2013.
If you have any questions, please contact the Communications Dept. We look forward to hearing your feedback!
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