In an effort to encourage clinicians to be ready for COPD Awareness Month in November, the COPD Alliance has launched the COPD Prepared campaign. The goal of the campaign is to encourage clinicians to take four STEPs to become COPD Prepared, so they can properly screen, diagnose, educate, and provide care for those with COPD.

The campaign features a combination of traditional medical resources and modern technology to develop a variety of free tools aimed at reaching the growing number of clinicians and patients who go online to find information and resources on COPD.

The cornerstone of the COPD Prepared campaign is a two-sided Facebook application that reaches an audience of more than 800 million active Facebook users. One side of the application features the COPD Population Screener for patients to assess their risk for COPD and find additional information on COPD. The other side of the application, developed for clinicians, explains the four STEPs to becoming COPD Prepared and features resources and information, including a downloadable version of the COPD Population Screener. The application is also available for clinicians, organizations, and individuals to put on their own Facebook pages.

The COPD Alliance has also made available a number of other free COPD Prepared tools:

  • COPD Prepared Web site Widget—The Web site widget has the same functionality as the Facebook application, however, it requires no Facebook registration and can be added to Web sites, blogs, and other online mediums by inserting a script, found at http://copd.org/join-cause. The widget allows clinicians and health care facilities to offer the COPD Population Screener and other COPD information directly to their patients online.
  • COPD Prepared Button—Clinicians, health care facilities, and organizations can download the COPD Prepared button and place it on their Web sites to show their support for the fight against COPD and to show they have taken the four STEPs to become COPD Prepared.
  • COPD Prepared Webinar—Clinicians can access a free, recorded webinar to learn the four STEPs to becoming COPD Prepared. The webinar content was developed by the COPD Alliance and is presented by fellow clinicians.

“We wanted to do something to reach clinicians directly, and we think we have found an effective means with COPD Prepared,” said Brian Carlin, MD, FCCP, chair of the COPD Alliance. “Not only are we encouraging and showing clinicians how to become COPD Prepared, but we also are providing them with a number of free tools and resources they can use themselves and with their patients.”

Source: COPD Alliance