Sharing of Resources

A primary goal of the online forum Patientsafety-L is to facilitate sharing of resources and tools. To streamline dialogue, we ask that specific requests for sharing of materials, “please send to me too” messages, and similar conversations around the logistics of sharing materials be conducted privately rather than posted to the general forum. If you are posting about a resource that you are willing to share with others, please indicate how interested parties may contact you outside of the LISTSERV to make arrangements. If you are responding to an offer to share a resource, please send your inquiry directly to the appropriate poster rather than to the LISTSERV at large. Finally, if you have a tool or resource that can be shared easily, please share it with the entire group.

Copyright Regulations

Use of any copyrighted material, whether published online or in print, must include a citation of the source. Lengthy quotes, excerpts, or articles are not allowed unless accompanied by a statement of copyright and a statement explicitly granting permission to reproduce the material. To share such information with other readers, please reference the source by means of a hyperlink or bibliographic citation.  Materials not subject to copyright (e.g., federal government documents) or materials considered to be in the public domain may be quoted with no restrictions on length provided they are accompanied by a citation of the source. However, we encourage users whenever possible to provide a link rather than reproducing an entire article in a post. While NPSF will make every effort to notify posters of messages in violation of these rules, posters agree by posting to assume all responsibility for compliance with copyright regulations.

Promotions and Solicitations

The LISTSERV is not to be used for promotion of products, services, or commercial interests of any kind. While it is understood that the discussions may sometimes mention a company or commercial product by name, direct or indirect promotion or advertising of one’s own products or services is not allowed. Participants may not use the LISTSERV to solicit other participants either privately or through the forum for programs, conferences, events, or any other activity.

Conflict of Interest

Please disclose any relevant financial or personal conflict of interest. Promotional messages will be deleted in accordance with policy on promotions and solicitations (above).

Announcement of Events

We regret that at this time, Patientsafety-L does not allow publication of notices for events not organized or supported by NPSF.

Identification of Individuals or Organizations

For the sake of privacy, we will not publish posts recounting healthcare experiences that include names of or other potentially identifying information about the hospital(s), care provider(s), or patients involved. Please use discretion in discussing potentially sensitive situations, keeping in mind that posts distributed to the LISTSERV will subsequently appear in a public online archive.

Disclaimer

Opinions expressed on Patientsafety-L do not represent the opinions, policies, or activities of NPSF and are not endorsed by the Foundation. NPSF makes no guarantee nor any attempt to assess the accuracy of information contained in LISTSERV posts. Individual participants agree as a condition of participation to accept sole responsibility for the content of their messages.

Etiquette and Netiquette

Etiquette

ListServ participants are asked to observe generally accepted rules of etiquette when engaging in discussion on the LISTSERV. NPSF encourages discussion of topics that may be controversial and recognizes that these discussions may involve issues that may be emotionally difficult for some readers. While it is understood that participants may feel passionately about certain topics, participants are expected to be considerate of others and to maintain a respectful tone at all times. Posts containing language that is deemed insulting, abusive, defamatory, offensive, or otherwise inappropriate may be deleted at the moderator’s discretion.

Netiquette

• To facilitate browsing, searching and identification of post topics, participants are asked to observe the following guidelines when posting.
• Please make subject headings specific and concise. This will aid readers in identifying messages of interest.
• When initiating a new topic, please open a new “thread” with a new subject line. Please do not start a new topic via a reply to an existing message. Messages that nominally reply to an existing message but that introduce new, unrelated topics may be confusing to readers and may result in fewer responses.
• When responding to a previously posted message, please be sure that you have selected the correct message to which to reply! Otherwise, although your message will be posted, it may appear as a non sequitur in a thread for which it was not intended.
• When responding to a post, you have the option to reply to the entire group or only to the author of the message. If sending only to the poster of the message, please check to make sure that only that person’s email address appears in the “To:” field.
• When responding to a message, quoting at least part of the message to which you are responding will help to orient readers to the topic. When responding to a long chain of messages, you may remove older messages and quote only the most recent one(s).

Privacy

Please note that the Listserv-associated email addresses of Listserv posters are viewable to other subscribers to the Listserv. Posting a message to the Listserv constitutes agreement to share one’s Listserv-associated email address with other Listserv subscribers. Nonsubscribed participants of the Listserv may browse the Listserv archives but may not view the email addresses associated with posts. Any information appearing in the body of a post, including personal contact information (e.g., as part of an email signature), may be viewed by anyone, whether a Listserv subscriber or not. Listserv-related contact information should be used only for mutually agreed upon correspondence between Listserv subscribers and may not be used for promotions, solicitations, or any other type of unwanted contact. Posting to the Listserv constitutes acknowledgment that the poster understands and accepts these conditions.

Forwarded Messages

To protect privacy, posts that contain a forwarded message can be posted only with the permission of the author of the forwarded content. It is the responsibility of posters to secure such permission and to indicate that it has been obtained when submitting a post containing forwarded material.

Messages in violation of any of the above rules will be deleted at the moderator’s discretion.

Policies last updated September 2009.