AFP holds in contact with readers ...

AFP holds in contact with readers quite through the year to monitor to what extent well we are doing in meeting their exigencys We conduct focus groups, we administer written mail views and we ask readers to accord to surveys when we exhibit at meetings, to answer online measure and estimates and send in feedback cards, and to write us and call us forward the telephone with comments. Your input helps us formulate a picture of who you are and what you ne Here are any examples of the ways you have helped us improve:

* You asked us to avoid requesting your social security number forward our "Clinical Quiz" answer cards, and we stopped requiring this information.

* You gave us a list of topic ideas for clinical updates, and we passed along your feedback to our medical editors, who are tailoring a solicitation plan to obtain the articles you want.

* You asked for improvements in AFP online, and we've formed a working assemblage that has developed a stepp approach to implementing enhancements in the journal's Web site. Since many of the enhancements hang on new technology, we've made plans for upgrading editorial and production software, and altering work processe to obtain the ideal output

* You have asked us to continue providing information that can be used at the point of care, and our medical editors have introduced several just discovered features that will put you in touch with the facts when you ne them. descry the editorial that appeared in the previous issue (Ebell MH Siwek J AFP: Doing more to help you prepare the best evidence. Am Fam Physician 2004;69:483-6)

chiefly of the feedback cards we receive from readers expres thanks and gratitude for the work we propose into AFP. The most late stacks of cards on my desk provide further testimony, with kudos arriving from as far away as Bangladesh. However, despite the praise, we remain self-critical, and we're looking to change the journal in ways that our readers may not equal be able to articulate.

For this reason, AFP has onward its planning calendar a series of changes that will evolve starting this spring, such as alterations in the examine of the cover, the table of make easys and the design of articles and departments, with simplicity being a clew goal. We also are planning to change the format of any of AFP's departments to make sure that you can locate the information you ne at the point of care.

We chance of a favorable result you will watch for these upcoming changes and put to hire us know how well we are anticipating your be in want ofs Look for the feedback cards located in the "Clinical Quiz" section (first issue of a month) or use the online feedback form (www.aafp.org/afp).

COPYRIGHT 2004 American Academy of Family Physicians

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