We are pleased to introduce a new series of articles created in collaboration with the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine (AMSSM). The series of five articles will cover common, interesting, and often perplexing sports medicine dilemmas that family physicians encounter on a daily basis. The series, coordinated by Francis O'Connor, M.D., Fairfax, Va., and Karl (Bert) Fields, M.D., Greensboro, NC, both family physicians and members of AMSSM, begins with the article on patellofemoral pain syndrome by Sameer Dixit, M.D.; John P. Difiori, M.D.; Monique Burton, M.D.; and Brandon Mines, M.D. (see page 194).

AMSSM has about 1,000 physician members who are primary care trained, board certified specialists in the fields of family medicine, pediatrics, internal medicine, emergency medicine, or physical medicine and rehabilitation. They also have specific training in sports medicine and provide specialized care and advice to patients who make exercise a focal part of their lifestyles.

According to James Moriarity, M.D., Notre Dame, Ind., immediate past president of AMSSM, members care for athletes of all ages and abilities, for team as well as individual sports, for Olympic athletes and Special Olympic athletes, and for amateurs and professionals. The organization promotes exercise as a fundamental component of a healthy lifestyle and as a valuable treatment for many disease processes. AMSSM sponsors nearly 70 sports medicine fellowships located throughout the United States.

For more information on AMSSM, visit the Web site at http://www.amssm.org. We hope you will find this series informative, insightful, and packed with useful information to help your patients continue a healthy and active lifestyle.

New Look and Procedures for the Newsletter

It's still the “yellow sheet,” but we've updated the look of the Newsletter in AFP and implemented some new procedures to ensure we continue to publish important items in each issue and take advantage of other Academy resources to improve efficiency. As described in this column in the December 15, 2006, and January 1, 2007, issues, the content of Newsletter has varied over the years, but has always focused on items of interest to family physicians. When Newsletter was first published, the Academy (then known as the American Academy of General Practitioners) had only one small group of staff members who focused on publishing and communications.

As the profession of family medicine changed and grew, the Academy grew along with it to keep up with the changing needs of the members and the changing times. One thing that has not changed, however, is the focus on effective communications with members, and publishing useful, timely articles that can help family physicians improve the health of their patients.

Today, that goal of effective and timely communication is addressed by 70 staff members in three divisions: Publications, Communications, and Online and Custom Publishing. AFP is published by the Publications division, but we collaborate with the other divisions to ensure our content is up to date and our processes are as efficient as possible.

In April 2005, the Communications division launched AAFP News Now, the Academy's online news source that is updated daily. News Now items also are sent weekly to members who have an e-mail address on file. In addition, the top news stories are published in a printed version of News Now that is sent to members each month. AFP staff members have used News Now as a news source since it was launched, but we are now collaborating with Communications staff members to routinely use News Now items in Newsletter.

The design of Newsletter has been updated to reflect which items come from News Now. We've also adjusted the format to make it easier to read and faster to link to AAFP News Now online. We hope this new design and our new procedures make Newsletter an even more valuable resource for you.

Comments?

As always, we appreciate your comments and suggestions. If you have any comments about the new AMSSM series, Newsletter, or other AFP content, please send an e-mail to afpedit@aafp.org, or return the comment card published in the first issue of each month.