Aesthetic-Patient Focused Caregivers International
The purpose of our newly formed organization is to create the first worldwide networking group linking together the most knowledgeable clinically-centered appearance management experts (physicians, PA's, NP's, nurses, MA's, medically-focused image consultants & skin care specialists) for the purpose of creating a platform that will help to promote better education and ultimately better self-care practices for patients with abnormalities. APFCI's members will sponsor many patient projects to help patients normalize their appearance and to provide for greater dignity and independence.
Look Who's Participating
As any of us who have lived through the humiliation of a highly visible cold sore or an oozing pimple can well attest, cosmetic counters, beauty salons and spas are inhospitable environments for persons who are appearance-sensitive. Individuals who are seeking help to restore their physical image due to a disfigurement cannot be positioned in visible areas that place them in the center of activity where they will be gawked at. Persons who have had their appearance permanently altered are living in unfamiliar worlds and enduring social scrutiny daily, none of which they have chosen and which they can ignore.
The idea behind our networking association is to begin to clarify some of the murky issues surrounding the special care of patients with disfigurement despite the obscurity of the subject. We intend to use this Web site to launch cross-discussions involving various providers. The intention is to collectively determine what type of applications is most valuable and what form of higher education is needed to properly attend to the concerns of these patients with abnormalities. As a group we can start to construct a framework with which to examine the delivery of clinically-based appearance management services and measurable outcomes.
More accountability for the care of these patients requires a common agenda. To comprehend what patients with disfigurements must endure in social situations sets the stage for thinking differently about what know-how and skill sets are actually required. By sharing our knowledge and insights we will expose the necessity for a broader educational context. While there are some basic similarities in the treatment applications, there are too many esthetic providers who are vague and confused about the patient’s true goals for self-care and independence.
Our ultimate objective is to give legitimacy to the work the professionals who perform it. We perceive of ourselves as visionaries and pathfinders. To have accomplished what must be done we take the long view, see the big picture, and are able to perceive of what can come into being beyond the boundaries of the here and now to set the course for the future. We believe that we are leaders and that we are fully capable to influence and guide in a positive direction, course, action and opinions. As leaders we are prepared to rise to a higher level of morality and motivation. We are fully prepared to exchange our successes and failures and to reexamine our treatment behaviors and assumptions, knowing this area of expertise has been studied very little. We seek to draw to our organization many diverse providers with different backgrounds and multiple talents including people with nontraditional credentials.
Our organization will be sponsored by industry and supported by leading medical experts in related fields of care. In addition, Aesthetic-Patient Focused Caregivers International will offer a unique opportunity to patients as well. They will have their own blog and will be able to connect for the first time with other patients worldwide.
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