A introduction to the American Psychiatric Nurses Association's member networking and discussion site, Member Bridge.

1. Introduction to
Member Bridge
An overview of features and uses for APNA
Members

2. Objectives
• Be able to:
– Login
– Create a profile
– Join communities
– Post Messages
– Respond to Messages
– Add attachments
– Comment on attachments
– Create and Comment on Blogs

3. Log In
• Go to www.apna.org
• Click on Member Bridge on the right hand side
of the main menu bar.
• This will take you to the homepage of Member
Bridge.
• Click on the large Log In button in the right top
corner and enter your APNA login information.
– If you don’t remember your password, follow
the prompts to have it emailed to the email
address you use for APNA communication.

4. APNA Home Page:
1
Member Bridge Home Page:
2

5. Main Menu Bar

6. Your Profile:
Your Professional Calling Card
All members of APNA automatically have a Member Bridge Profile.
To personalize your profile:
• Click on the My Profile tab on the top navigation bar
• Upload a recent picture
• Add your work information, areas of interest, education
and job histories
• Filling this in will help you connect with other
members who share similar interests/backgrounds
• If you are a member of an APNA Committee, a digital
ribbon for that group will show up under your picture

7. Your Profile:
Security and Privacy
How to change what information shows in your
profile:
– Go to My Profile – My Privacy Settings
– Go down to the Contact Preferences section
– For the items you don’t want to show, click the
radio button for Nobody.
• Ex: If you don’t want your home address to show in
your profile, make sure that Nobody is clicked for
“Address Lines”.

10. Don’t forget to save whatever changes you make!
• Once you click Save, these changes should appear in your
profile.
• HOWEVER, if you look at your own profile, you will still see
all of your information.
• To verify, have another member check your profile. The
fields marked Nobody should be gone.

11. Communities
Member Bridge features tons of online communities,
including every APNA committee and state chapter.
Each community has its own corresponding
discussion group and library. Members can also
create their own communities. Each community’s
privacy settings determine who can or cannot join or
view the committee and its discussions and
documents.

12. Types of Communities
Private Communities are controlled by APNA National Office
• Examples are Board of Directors or Council Steering Committee
Public Communities are open to all APNA members
• Examples are Practice Communities or Committee Expert
Panels
• You can join these Communities by going directly to the
community’s homepage and clicking on Join

13. Types of Communities (continued)
Member Created Groups are communities that have been created
by an APNA member.
– Any member can create a community centered around a
particular topic or interest and invite others to join it.
The All Purpose Discussion Forum is a discussion forum for all
members
– Members are automatically subscribed to this group
– Anything you post in this forum will be sent to all members via
the daily digest.

14. Subscribing to a Community
To participate in a Community you must:
– Join it
– Set your notification preferences
• Here is how:

15. 1. Find the Community you’d like to join:
Go to the
Communities tab
and select
Join Communities
Search by
Keyword Hit the change link
to filter
communities by
community type.
Or browse through all of
the communities
available for you to join.

16. 2. Join the Community
Click on the join button
next to the community
you’d like to join.

17. 3. Choose your subscription settings:
• Real Time, Daily Digest,
PDA, or No Emails
• We recommend Real
Time or Daily Digest
for Council and
Committee work
• Make your selection
and hit the Save button

18. Posting a Message
• Go to Communities
• Select View Discussions
• Click on Post a Message

19. Responding to Messages
• From an email
– Direct
– From the thread
• From the digest
– Direct
– From the thread
• Respond to sender only or
– Only the sender sees your response
• Respond to eGroup
– All subscribers see your response

20. Responding via Email:

21. Responding via the Message Digest:

23. View Thread
• Click on View Thread in any message window. This
will appear:

24. View Thread vs. Message Digest
• View Thread
– Shows a listing of all the messages in that
particular discussion thread, from the first
posted message to the last
• Message Digest
– Shows a listing of all of the posted messages
in that eGroup in order by date, showing the
most recent message first
– This listing is NOT thread-specific.

25. Adding Attachments to eGroup
Posts
• Follow the steps as shown on the next
slides.
• Note: moving to the next step too soon
causes an error and all information is
lost. You will have to start over.

28. Adding Attachments to Posts (contd)
• After you click Upload, your document will show
here:
• Click Finish

29. • Now, click Send.
• Your message and document will post in the
eGroup and subscribers will be notified by email.

30. Attachments Appear in the Community
Resource Library
• You can:
– Search Library
– Comment on individual documents
• Note: Users are not notified when comments are added here.
• Comments are limited to 100 words

31. • Click on the Library you
want to see and a listing
of posted documents will
appear
• Click on the document
title to download and
make comments.
• Click on Add Comments
to Comment

32. Blogs
• Go to the Blogs tab on the navigation bar
• Your options are: View all Blogs, Create a
New Blog, or My Blog
• Click on Create a New Blog to post
Note:
• Blogs are posted to all of the membership
• They are viewable by the public &
searchable on the internet
• Emails are not generated by blog posts

34. Comment on a Blog
• Blog Comments will post for all of the membership to
see.
• Members will then be able to:
– Mark the comment as useful
– Add their own comment
– Add related links

35. Additional Questions
• How do I change my signature?
– This is the signature block that shows in Member Bridge
posts and emails.
– Go to My Profile – My Signature
– Delete what is listed and type in your own.

36. This is the default template for your signature. It pulls information for each of
these fields from your profile. If you don’t want certain info to show up in your
signature, just delete one of the bracketed items. You can also delete them
all and type in exactly what you want to appear. Remember to hit Save!

37. • How do I unsubscribe from the All-Purpose
Discussion Forum?
1. Go to the eGroups tab and
select My Subscriptions.
2. Find the All-Purpose
Discussion Forum and select No
Emails.
3. Scroll down
to the bottom of
the page and hit
Save.

38. Questions?
Email your questions to
mtrimyer@apna.org