Here are answers to common questions and tips on how to make the most of AAPACN Connect.
COMMUNITY BASICS
What is AAPACN Connect?
Why are certain members featured on the AAPACN Connect home page and what do the points mean?
How do I report technical problems or inappropriate messages?
DISCUSSION GROUPS
What are discussion groups?
What do real time, daily digest, and no email options mean for subscriptions?
How do I change my subscription and email delivery preferences?
How do I post a message to a discussion group?
I stopped receiving emails from AAPACN Connect. What happened?
How do I view past messages posted to a community’s a discussion group?
Can I remove or edit a message that I posted?
Can I post a request to participate in a survey?
What is the hashtag feature?
How do I use the hashtag feature?
COMMUNITIES
What are communities?
How do I find communities to join?
How do I join communities?
DIRECTORY/PROFILES
How do I complete my profile?
How do I upload a picture to my profile?
What if I don't have a good picture?
How can I control who can see what on my profile?
What are the “networks” that show up on my profile?
How do I search for a member?
How do I add contacts?
How do I send private messages?
RESOURCE LIBRARIES
What are resource libraries?
How do I view files in a community’s resource library?
How do I download files in a community’s resource library?
COMMUNITY BASICS
What is AAPACN Connect?
AAPACN Connect is an online community for AAPACN members. Through AAPACN Connect, members are able to interact and collaborate with other members who share common interests, administrative and regulatory questions and best practices, tips, general information, etc. AAPACN members can search for other members in the Directory, add, read, or download resources from the libraries, start and/or participate in an online discussion, etc.
Why are certain members featured on the AAPACN Connect home page and what do the points mean?
Everything you do in AAPACN Connect earns you “points”: updating your profile, sending and accepting contact requests, posting to the discussion groups, sharing or borrowing files from the libraries, etc. Once you reach a certain point level, you are rewarded with a bronze, silver or gold “most valuable member” ribbon on your profile. The members featured on the home page of AANAConnect are the ones who have earned the most points in the last 30 days.
How do I report technical problems or inappropriate messages?
You can report a concern from the AAPACN Connect main navigation bar. Select Help from the navigation bar menu and then click on the link “Contact us”. Additionally, you can always contact AAPACN by dialing toll-free 800.768.1880.
DISCUSSION GROUPS
What are discussion groups?
Discussion groups are the primary way in which community subscribers communicate with each other. Messages posted to the discussion groups are emailed to all the other subscribers of that particular community.
What do real time, daily digest, and no email options mean for subscriptions?
- Real-time subscriptions mean that email messages arrive in your inbox as they are posted to the discussion group (typically within 1 hour of posting).
- Daily digest means you will receive one email each morning per discussion group that contains all of the previous day’s messages.
- “No email” means simply that – you will receive no messages in your inbox, and must log into AAPACN Connect to read messages posted to discussion groups
How do I change my subscription and email delivery preferences?
You can change your subscriptions and email delivery preferences at any time by:
- Clicking on the “My Subscriptions” link found in the footer of your discussion group emails.
- Going to your community profile page and selecting “My Account” and then “Community Notifications”.
How do I post a message to a discussion group?
There are several ways to post a message:
- Click the “Post a Message” link that appears on any discussion group message, both on those delivered to your inbox and in the archives.
- From the community homepage, click on Participate in the navigation bar and then "Post message" or from the “4 quick ways” box on the homepage.
- You can also post a message within any community discussion section by selecting “Add” next to the Latest Discussion Posts header.
I stopped receiving my AAPACN Connect emails. What happened?
Due to the volume of emails generated out of AAPACN Connect, some email providers think it is spam and will either send the AAPACN Connect emails to a spam or junk mail folder, or won’t let it be delivered at all. First, check your junk mail folder. If you don’t see the messages there, contact AAPACN staff at membership@aapacn.org. Our system will try to deliver messages five times, but if they are each rejected, it will put your account on hold and an AAPACN staff member will need to lift the hold. We HIGHLY recommend that you add the community email domain to your safe sender list: @connectedcommunity.org.
To prevent this from happening, please ask your IT department to add @connectedcommunity.org to your allowlist.
How do I view past messages posted to a community’s discussion forum?
All messages posted to a discussion forum appear on the discussion archives. To view these messages, you can do one of two things:
- Click on the name of the community on the All Discussions page – communities to which you belong will show in bold
- From the Communities drop-down menu in the main top navigation, click on My Communities. Click on the link called “Discussions” on the right hand side for the community archive you wish to view.
Can I remove or edit a message that I posted?
You are not able to remove or edit a message that you have posted to a discussion group. If you have concerns, please email us to discuss the issue with the site administrators.
How do I hyperlink text within a message?
When posting a message, look for the icon that has a globe and a chain link – this is the Hyperlink Manager. Clicking on it will open a box where you copy/paste into the field marked “URL” the website address of the page you are linking to. Then, copy/paste the text you want to appear in your message into the field marked “Link Text”.
Can I post a request to participate in a survey?
AAPACN members in good standing may post up to two requests per year for participation in an academic or student research project or survey. These projects must be of relevance to the post-acute and long-term care fields.
What is the hashtag feature?
Hashtags (#) are tags or labels or meta data that can be applied to content. #hashtagging will allow you to select content areas to reference and make your post or response more searchable for other community users#hashtags can help you discover other content tagged with the same tag. For example, you can click on a tag and will be directed to search results filtered by that tag.
How do I use the hashtag feature?
Adding a #hashtag to your content is simple:
a. Create a new post or reply to a member's post.
b. If the post warrants a tag so it can be later searched or contains great information, include a hashtag by starting with this symbol: #
c. A list will appear of all tags (as show above); begin typing the tag word and the list will refine.
d. You may click on the tag you'd like to use and it will populate in the message.
COMMUNITIES
What are communities?
AAPACN Connect is made up of many communities based around job title, area of interest, geographic location, etc. Each community has two components: a discussion group and a resource library.
How do I find communities to join?
Select "Communities" from the top navigation and then “All Communities”. From here you can browse through the available communities. You can click on the Community name to see recent discussions, members and library postings to give you an idea of what the community is about.
How do I join communities?
There are three ways to join a community:
- From the Communities page or a specific community's information page, click on the “Join" or "Join Community” button. If you don’t see the button, you either belong to it already or are not eligible to join this group.
PROFILE/DIRECTORY
How do I complete my profile?
There are two main ways to reach your profile:
- On the AAPACN Connect home page, click on either your picture or the link that says “Profile” in the box on the upper right side of the screen.
- Once in your profile, click the links located in each section (they say things like “Edit contact information” or “Add your Info”) to add information into that section. If no links appear, it means that this information is pulled from our database and you do not have the ability to edit it.
If you choose to edit your contact information, you will be routed to the AAPACN.org My Profile Information page and you can make any changes there. That will update our main member database and your AAPACN Connect profile.
A complete profile has information in all available sections, including a photograph!
How do I upload a picture to my profile?
To upload a picture, click on the Actions button under the photo icon and then “change picture”. An upload box will appear. Click “Browse” to locate the desired file (must be .jpg, .bmp, or .gif file type, and approximately 600X600 pixels or smaller), and click “Open” on the dialogue box. Then click the “Upload” button. Once a picture has been uploaded, you can either remove it by clicking the “Remove Picture” link or change the picture by clicking “Edit Picture” link, both located under your picture.
What if I don't have a good picture?
Have fun with it. The images enhance the collegiality of AAPACN Connect, so feel free to include any image that reflects your personality, hobbies, pets or the like. Just make sure that the image you include is neither offensive to anyone nor protected by copyright, if you have not obtained permission from its owner or copyright-holder.
How do I control who can see what on my profile?
When you are viewing your profile, you will see the menu option My Account, select it and then select “Privacy Settings”. This will allow you to determine who can view select pieces of information on your profile.
What are Networks?
Networks are your peer groups – they are other members who have something in common with you. These network groups are automatically compiled from your interests, location, job history and education history. By clicking on the network name, you can see who else belongs to that network and reach out to them.
How do I search for a member?
To perform a simple search for a member by name, click on Browse from the main menu and then Member Directory and enter the appropriate information. For the advanced search, click on the link that says “Use more detailed search criteria.” The advanced search allows you to look for members by areas of interest/expertise, specialty units in his/her facility, or even the MDS software provider they use.
How do I add contacts?
You can add a contact by clicking on the link that says “Add [Name] as a contact” (or sometimes simply “Add Contact”). You can find this link below a person’s name in a directory search results listing, on a person’s profile page, or on any discussion group posting that the individual authored.
How do I send private messages?
You can send a private message to someone by clicking on the link that says “Send Message.” You can find this option in three ways:
- Beneath a person’s name on the Member Directory search results screen
- In the Contact Information section of a person’s profile
- Below a person’s name on your My Contacts page
- Additionally, you can privately reply to a person who has posted a message to a discussion group by clicking the link “Reply to Sender” on the message, which displays either in your inbox or in the archives.
RESOURCE LIBRARIES
What are resource libraries?
Resource libraries are similar to the local library where you live - the place where documents and files uploaded by members/subscribers are kept and maintained. Each community has one, and each library is searchable – or you can search across all libraries. Libraries are populated in two ways:
- Each time an attachment is shared in a discussion group, it is automatically loaded into the corresponding library.
- Files can be uploaded directly to the library of your choosing.
How do I view files in a community’s resource library?
You can access a community’s resource library in several ways:
- Click on the link/paper clip icon in an email you receive from a discussion group.
- Click on the link named “Files” for the community you wish to access on the View Community Discussions page.
- Go to “Browse” in the top navigation, and choose “Library Entries.”
How do I download files in a community’s resource library?
Library entries are actually “folders.” Each entry can contain several files. To view and download an attachment, click on its name under “Attachment(s)”. Alternatively, if you want all of the files in a document, click on the library entry name, then click on the “Download all” link found at the bottom of the “Attachment(s)” section.