Discussion Forum

Interactivity form a very crucial aspect for any web site. Chat forums, mailing lists, bulletin boards, etc. provide the platform for doctors to communicate and exchange ideas and views. At the same time it is also a very effective method for learning.

Apart from our organised mailing listservs at www.egroups.com, we are now piloting a new web-site at http://pcdom.org.my:9673/pilot_pns currently for doctors participating in the Primary Health Care Network Services (PNS), a DAGS funded project. The site offers e-Community facilities such as chats, (including e-Consultation rooms), file-sharing, bookmarks, message-boards, etc. We have also put together links to other forums which address different topics that are of interest to primary care doctors. This is a continuing process so please let the Webmaster know of any forum that you think may add value and comprehensiveness.

PCDOM Mailing Lists

We have organised our interactive activities using the listserv facilities at http://groups.yahoo.com. Committee Members (with working e-mails) are now automatically subscribed to a PCDOM_Committee mailing list, whereas others who are interested in general practice and primary care in Malaysia have been subscribed to the primarycare_in_malaysia mailing list. Current members are encouraged to introduce other colleagues to be members. Membership is currently restricted in the sense that they have to be approved first if they have not been introduced by current members. This was because during an initial "trial" period when the list was put up, there were postings made to the list to promote commercialware. A separate list for PCDOM_members only will be created soon to provide PCDOM Secretariat with a convenient communication channel with the members. Although members may not be able to post directly to the list, they will be able to email directly to the Secretary/President and also able to use other facilities such as chat forums, developing group resources, sharing databases etc.

To be a member of the primarycare_in_malaysia mailing list, please e-mail to the Webmaster

Other Forums

Equity, Health and Human development - listserv EQUIDAD is an electronic discussion group of the Division of Health and Human Development (HDP) of the Pan American Health organization. It is a RESOURCE ONLY listserv to disseminate information, promote communication and interdisciplinary links to individuals and organizations working on Equity, Health and Human Development. To subscribe to EQUIDAD, send a message to: listserv@paho.org. In the body of the message, type: SUBSCRIBE EQUIDAD

Evidence based health (EBH) is the application of critical appraisal to problems in health care. This UK site, includes its messages archives, offers the forum to announce meetings, courses and to stimulate discussion, air controversies and aid the implementation of EBH. This link provides you with more Evidence-based Health related discussion lists.

Health Technology Assessment (HTA) email bulletin provides news, recently published and forthcoming HTA monographs and how to obtain copies of them etc. A full publication list is at http://www.ncchta.org/htapubs.htm

National Guideline Clearinghouse (NGC) LISTSERV is now available. You can join this discussion list which is intended to give guideline developers and users an opportunity to discuss issues related to clinical practice guideline development, methodology, research, dissemination, implementation, and use.

A Discussion Forum and Information Resource for Public Health Knowledge This is an on-line discussion forum.

Medicine and Health. This is the Academic Mailing List Service for medicine and health which facilitates discussion and communication within the UK academic community and beyond.

Other Newsgroups. This is a list of interactive sites on various topics for you to choose.

News and Views

This section will reproduce news items /excerpts from non-medical sources (e.g. newspapers, magazines) that are of interest to primary care doctors or the public. The objective is to draw attention to issues brought out by such news and invite discussion / views pertaining to these underlying issues that impact on professional matters relating to the practice of primary health care and the relationship between the doctor and the patient.

Those who wish to have these news items and / or comments posted in this section can do so by post, fax (+60-3-7874-9208) or e-mail (link to scanned news items) to the secretariat. The source and date of the news items should be clearly shown. Pseudonyms can be use for comments to be posted.

2003

Stuck in the cyber web (November19)