Reader designs site for access discussions
Past material to be archived
When James Webster read in the October 2005 edition of Hospital Access Management that Admitting/Communications Supervisor Paula Caster, with Ridgecrest (CA) Regional Hospital, could find no free electronic mailing lists, or listservs, to help enhance her knowledge and understanding of the access services field, he decided to come to the rescue.
"I was shocked and somewhat disappointed that a free discussion system wasn't available," says Webster, a network engineer for a Northern California school district who since has designed a forum-based site accessible at www.healthcaremd.org.
He adds that his motivation is twofold: "I'm looking at making a career change into the health care field, which gives me a personal interest in health care improvement. Second, my background is in information technology, which gave me the knowledge of how to create a useful tool."
Webster said he didn't design a listserv, which would rely on members e-mailing questions and responses back and forth, because that format would not have provided for the archiving and searching of past conversations.
With a forum-based site, he explains, members start a new "thread," or topic, within the appropriate category and replies are made to that thread. Members can monitor any number of forums they choose and select how they want to be notified — either with an e-mail noting that a new post has been made to a particular forum, or with an e-mail that includes the content of the reply and a link.
"My hope is that the site is used and that members help in its evolution and participate in discussions," he adds.
[Editor's note: If you have feedback on this or any other topic of interest to access managers, please contact Editor Lila Moore at (520) 299-8730 or [email protected]. James Webster can be reached at [email protected].]
When James Webster read in the October 2005 edition of Hospital Access Management that Admitting/Communications Supervisor Paula Caster, with Ridgecrest (CA) Regional Hospital, could find no free electronic mailing lists,...You have reached your article limit for the month. Subscribe now to access this article plus other member-only content.
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