AbbVie’s rheumatology tool proves popular

A new web-based educational tool for rheumatologists, called Rheumatology Connect, is showing that these healthcare practitioners are keen to stay up to date.

Launched by AbbVie earlier this year, Rheumatology Connect is a cloud-based educational and professional development platform that allows rheumatologists access to the content they are interested in at any time in any location.

After a successful 12-month pilot and its launch to Australian rheumatologists in February, by March there were 83 active users of the site and this month there are 96.

The tool supports clinicians in keeping up to date with their continuing education commitments by providing access to live and on-demand educational web-based content, as well as a wealth of reference material.

Users can search for specific material, watch events in real time, save their favourite material on the cloud, share content with their colleagues, chat directly with their peers during a live seminar, email support material directly to their patients and keep up to date on local as well as international symposia.

AbbVie was spun off from Abbott Laboratories in January this year and at the end of 2012 was ranked 10th in BRW’s Top 30 innovative companies in Australia.

Some of the programs being developed and launched by AbbVie for patients and clinicians in Australia include The Man Plan, a program designed to help men with prostate cancer proactively manage any potential side effects while on treatment, and the Awake Fibreoptic Intubation app, developed to help registrars learn AFOI and assist anaesthetists on how to appropriately sedate and topicalise an airway in preparation for procedure.