Forums Information and Guidelines

Our forums are the College’s platforms to facilitate communication, share ideas, seek advice from peers, and benefit from the experience of other members. The College has two forums allowing members to post and answer questions, subscribe to email notifications, and search archives online.

Access

Financial members can access the forums by logging in to the members’ section of the website.

Moderation

Forum moderators are voluntary positions. Communication about the forums should be directed to the ACIPC Office and not directly to the moderators. If a moderator considers a post to contain any material that is derisive, defamatory, abusive, profane, threatening, offensive, brings the College into disrepute, is likely to breach any law in the sole opinion of the moderator, or contains commercial information, it will not be posted. The post will be forwarded to the ACIPC Office and the member will be contacted by the ACIPC Office.

Disclaimer

Our forums are peer-to-peer platforms where members can engage with each other. The views, opinions, information, and advice shared in the forums are not provided by the College. Members must consider any views, opinions, information, and advice in the context of their practice and only as comments from a peer. Forum content does not constitute advice, endorsement or approval by the College.

Concerns About Posted Content

Whilst the forums are moderated, please email office@acipc.org.au if you have any concerns about posts. Concerns may include posts where information is not accurate or may be confusing to novice practitioners when advice is conflicting or lacking in evidence. Any posts that have language that could be perceived as intimidating or, offensive should be reported to the office.

Removing Content and Forum Membership

The College reserves the right to delete any posts and suspend or terminate access to the forums at the sole discretion of the College.

Guidelines & Etiquette

These guidelines will help ensure the best possible experience for all members.

• By participating in the forums, members agree to follow these guidelines.
• All discussions and content should be appropriate for a peer-to-peer community of practice.
• All posts should include your name, role, organisation, state, and email address. This is essential so other members can see the professional, commercial, and geographic context of posts and replies.
• State concisely and clearly the topic of your post in the subject line. This allows members to respond appropriately to your post and makes it easier for members to search the archives.

Privacy

Using the personal information of members for the purpose of sharing with a third party is explicitly prohibited and is a breach of privacy legislation. An example would be the collection of member data for sending invitations to a conference, seminar or promotional event, or any other commercial purpose.

Copyright

• Do not post any material protected by copyright without the written permission of the copyright owner.
• By posting, you warrant and represent you own the copyright of all material or have received permission from the copyright owner.

Conflicts of Interest

• Posts should clearly identify any commercial affiliations or possible conflicts of interest.
• Include any conflict of interests which might relate to the topic of the post. This would include declaring:
  • if you receive any benefit from a business in the IPC industry or product manufacturers, such as fees for advice or as a retainer
  • if you are an employee of a business in the IPC industry or a product manufacturer
  • if you receive any research funding related to the post or reply
• Where a conflict has not been declared, you will be requested to add a declaration before the post is approved.

Commercial Products

• Avoid discussion of specific commercial brands. For example, if you mean a certain antibiotic class, then use generic names rather than trade names.
• There may be exemptions to this rule, such as product recalls or discussion of standards approved items.
• Be aware that industry representatives who are members are welcome to subscribe to and post to this forum.
• If you wish to nominate particular products or commercial resource in response to a post, contact the post author directly if you believe it would be of assistance.

Personal & Automated Replies

• Be aware that replies to posts are directed back to the forum.
• Be careful when sending personal emails they are to the intended receipient and not to the forum.
• Try and turn off any automated replies to the forums, such as automated out of office messages. It may result in your email address being blocked by the forum software.
• If your email software allows you to exclude automated messages being sent to certain email addresses, please add the Infexion Connexion email address.
• All content not related to the discussion should be removed from your post or the email message sent to the forum.
• The moderators may alter email messages for unnecessary or inappropriate material. This includes message footers containing personal messages. Footers added by an organisational email server are beyond the control of members, but any other personal content should be removed.

Commercial Organisations

• Members from commercial organisations are allowed to participate in our forums.
• Posts or replies for advertising or commercial purposes are not allowed.
• Advertising options with the College can be found at www.acipc.org.au/advertising.
• Commercial organisations are allowed to post about the following:
  • Free educational activities
  • Educational scholarships
  • Research grants

Research Access Scheme

Any requests for members to participate in surveys or research projects must be approved via the Research Access Scheme, www.acipc.org.au/research-access-scheme.

Opinion Pieces

Opinion pieces should be submitted to the College’s journal, Infection, Disease and Health, which allows for the usual processes to be instituted for debate.

Questions About The Forum?

Please email office@acipc.org.au.