Fostering National and Regional Networks

A national psoriasis is a task force composed by dermatologists interested in psoriasis, atopic dermatitis or any other chronic inflammatory skin diseases, whether from public or private practice, depending on the country.
The group may also include other healthcare professionals such as rheumatologists, nutritionists, psychiatrists, patient associations, ...

National psoriasis develop various activities, such as clinical or therapeutic studies, national and international surveys, national guidelines, discussion on the good use of treatments, yearly national meetings, information to the patients, experience sharing at the SPIN Congress.

The choice between a more formal or informal structure or type of organisation will largely depend on the legal framework and tradition of each country. Here you can find some examples of how a national group can be set up.
On an informal basis: a group of friends that start up a working group on psoriasis
On a formal basis:

1. Contact all dermatologists in your country and survey their interest in being part of a work group on psoriasis or atopic dermatitis, or vitiligo for instance
2. Organise a national meeting to discuss the goals of the group, set up the agenda and schedule the actions to take
3. Seek some official recognition and/or contact the respective national society of dermatology to form a specific psoriasis work group within its structure or for any other chronic inflammatory skin disease.
   

Please note that in any case, some form of official recognition is usually useful to obtain proper funding for the envisaged actions.

You may start your national network by:

• - Set up dedicated outpatient consultations 1 day a week in your department for psoriasis, atopic dermatitis, vitiligo etc., and support the creation of such consultations in each department of dermatology in your country
• - Link at the national level the consultants in charge of these outpatient consultations to form a national network
• - Join SPIN
• - Organise national meetings to exchange on difficult cases, set up nationwide surveys, guidelines, discuss on clinical and therapeutic research projects
• - Provide information and support to local/national patient associations

Example of activities to further develop your national network:

1. A website facilitating discussion on difficult cases, clinical or therapeutic research, international collaborations
2. National or International surveys to collect knowledge on patient needs, treatments, educational tools...
3. National guidelines and discussion on the good use of the treatments to improve the access to quality health care for patients
4. Encourage the creation of patient associations and/or provide information and support to them
5. Share experiences at the SPIN Congress every 3 years