Insight Matters
Spring, 2002

Committee Strives to Connect Members
by Marion E. Sherman, M.D., Chair, Ad Hoc Committee on Electronics in Medicine

This year the Electronics Committee was established by the OPA Council, and set about determining a path to provide electronic organization and linkage to the OPA and members.

The first goal was to establish leadership and membership for the OPA Electronics Committee. After the electronic committee solidified leadership and membership, members provided input for conceptual addition/deletion/changes to draft initial goals and objectives. As the year comes to a close, I would like to express my appreciation to committee members for their time and energies put toward the electronic committee goals and objectives: Jeffrey Moore, MD, Philipp Dines, MD, Joseph Locala, MD, Agha Shahid, MD, and Pradeep Mathur, MD. Goal one has been met.

The second goal was to establish the internal OPA electronic structure. Objectives included: to provide information and computer literacy assistance to OPA members, encourage all OPA members to get email addresses and keep OPA informed of address changes, to consider OPA collaboration with large vender for member service provider discount, to inservice members regarding relevant electronics issues, to collaborate with OPA program chair re future electronics, to consider demo computers for email and web use at OPA meetings, and to determine what other OPA committees' electronic needs are not currently being met.

Administrative issues within the internal structure included: to assist in the establishment of OPA web page, to design and implement web management, and to address confidentiality issues. Phil Workman has graciously worked with the group to accomplish our direction with this second goal. This goal is in process.

The third goal was to promote external OPA Collaboration for linkage needs, with APA, other psychiatry, OSMA, AMA, media, public general assistance, and information; and also to collaborate with medical training/psychiatry training to promote electronics in training curriculums. This goal is in process.

More and more we turn to electronic communication in our personal and professional lives. Like the garage door opener and the microwave, at first we perceive email and internet as luxury items, but now find ourselves becoming more and more dependent upon electronic communication and information devices.

The electronics committee will continue to use this technology to offer ways to raise your communications efficiency, to increase your communications, and to allow more successful access to the information, which you seek. Please feel free to drop an email to an OPA Electronics Committee member if you have suggestions or comments. And please keep your email addresses current with the OPA records!

Editor's note: If you would like to contact a committee member, or if you have a new e-mail address, please e-mail the OPA staff at ohiopsych@ohiopsych.org.

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