September 2000 • Volume 6 • Number 9
2001 ACF kicks off at Assembly
The launch of the coming year's Annual Clinical Focus, ACF 2001: Asthma, Allergy and Respiratory Infections, at the Scientific Assembly in Dallas promises to be anything but dull. If you attend, be prepared to bounce out of your seat, clap your hands and follow along with some powerful lyrics.
The official jumping-off point isn't until a Sept. 22 press conference at the Dallas Convention Center featuring AAFP President Bruce Bagley, M.D., of Albany, N.Y., and ACF medical director Stephen Spann, M.D., of Houston. However, ACF 2001 will likely get a pre-emptive boost at a special presentation the evening before, "Musical Medical Education for Adolescents."
In sensitized patients, allergens encounter IgE antibodies bound to mast cell or basophil membrane receptors. An antigen-antibody complex is formed that provokes a chain of reactions leading to release of inflammatory mediators.That session will feature two dynamic FPs, John Clarke, M.D., and his brother Matthew Clarke, M.D., both of New York City. The brothers Clarke rocked the house during the Aug. 2-6 National Conference of Family Practice Residents and Medical Students in Kansas City, Mo. They told of their success in using music to appeal to adolescent patients with asthma -- and then followed up with a rousing rendition of their hit rap single, "Asthma Stuff."
One can only hope the Scientific Assembly session will be as -- shall we say -- moving.
ACF is an educational initiative created to bring family physicians state-of-the-art information about a specific area of medical practice. Core ACF elements offered free at Assembly include two main-stage lectures, two three-hour courses and a Video CME program.
Additional core elements include articles in AAFP publications, an American Family Physician monograph and patient education handouts. ACF-related topics will also be included during national CME meetings throughout the year, and members will receive a wrap-up ACF CD-ROM at year's end.
ACF 2001 has been developed in cooperation with the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute; American Lung Association; National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; and American Thoracic Society. The 2001 initiative is supported by educational grants from Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.; Schering Laboratories/Key Pharmaceuticals; Aventis Pharma; Glaxo Wellcome Inc.; Roche Laboratories; Pharmacia Corp., Diagnostics Division; and Alcon Laboratories Inc.
In its previous three years, ACF has given you the tools to break down barriers to patient care. In 2001 -- thanks to the Clarke brothers -- it'll also give you a chance to bust a move.
FP Report is published by the AAFP News Department.
Copyright © 2000 by American Academy of Family Physicians.
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