An Important Role
As a health care professional, you can play an important role in the fight against chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). By becoming knowledgeable about the diagnosis and management of (CFS) and staying abreast of new information, you can provide a higher level of care to your patients and you can be on the cutting edge of addressing a challenging public health concern.

CFS affects more than 4 million Americans, making it one of the nation's most prevalent, yet misunderstood, chronic illnesses. Most of these nearly four million patients go undiagnosed, drifting from one health care provider to another until many drop out of the health care system altogether; either out of frustration and hopelessness or due to dwindling financial resources. Preliminary studies indicate that for CFS, as with other chronic conditions, early detection, diagnosis and treatment yield better health outcomes. Improving patient care through the education of health care professionals has become a major initiative for the CFIDS Association of America.

CFS Toolkit for Health Care Professionals
In conjunction with the national public awareness campaign the Association and CDC have developed this easy-to-follow Toolkit. You can download the Provider Toolkit here or find more information at http://www.cfids.org/sparkcfs/health-professionals.asp.

Available Resources
Much of the information created for this Web-site was intended for use by professionals and consumers. However, there is some special content of primary interest to those working in medical and research fields.

• 1994 International Case Definition: The CFS case definition is used by researchers in an attempt to select more uniform patient populations for CFS studies; however, because no clinical definition exists at the present time, it is often loosely applied by clinicians to make the diagnosis of CFS.

Related Information
The following list provides resources for health care providers who want information about chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). The CFIDS Association of America serves as a resource for health care providers, patients and other persons seeking information about CFS, including the following

• 1994 International Work Group Case Definition
• Diagnosis
• FAQs by health care providers
• Grant information
• Patient Health Status Questionnaire
• Prevalence Study
• Reprints of research articles and other related CFS materials, including a provider packet
• Research briefs and articles 
• Social Security Disability 

Additional Resources
Theadditional resources list can be viewed to find contact information for the Federal Government, disability benefits, national organizations and health professional organizations.