Foundations Collaborate to Expand Educational Resources on IPF, Lung Diseases

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IPF educational resources

The France Foundation will be working together with the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation to expand its educational resources on major interstitial lung diseases (ILDs), including idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF).

According to a press release provided by the France Foundation to Pulmonary Fibrosis News, the collaboration will provide education at the local level together with leading ILD care centers, and will offer the opportunity for both patients living with the diseases and care providers to participate with clinicians in educational programs. The goal is not only to address the educational needs as defined by medical education providers, but also to ensure that patients’ educational needs are being addressed.

More than a decade ago, The France Foundation launched an initiative called PILOT (Pulmonary Fibrosis Identification: Lessons for Optimizing Treatment), which was designed to provide doctors with comprehensive medical education activities focused on the early and correct diagnosis of IPF and other pulmonary diseases, and to address issues related to improving disease intervention and management.

Since it began, PILOT has had more than 12 million hits on its website. In 2016, this initiative concluded with approximately 100 live meetings and online activities.

Under the initiative, community doctors will connect with specialists at ILD centers. The initiative will also allow patients and caregivers to meet with experts from the ILD center and from the community. And clinician attendees gain a special understanding of the patient and caregiver perspective.

During each of the educational activities, there will be a Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation patient ambassador who will be telling his or her own story about what it’s like to live with a lung disease. This adds a dynamic and realistic aspect to the educational program.

According to the release, The France Foundation believes that medical education needs to adopt a clinical approach that validates both patient perspectives and their experiences, incorporating these into the design and the evaluation of educational programs.

To bring the patient voice to the medical education platform, The France Foundation has been collaborating with patient advocacy groups to improve patient outcomes, which cannot be achieved without the participation of patients in their own care.