ASA September 2003 Newsletter

The Committee on Information Management (CIM) has completed a major revision of the membership demographic survey. The result is a more detailed questionnaire and one that will potentially yield more useful information for the Society and its members. This document is now available on the membership Web pages through the “Members Only” section of ASA’s Web site <www.ASAhq.org>. Please visit this site soon to confirm and update your membership survey.

A demographic survey is important to any large organization as it provides the means to identify and contact its membership. Accurate contact information increases efficiency and allows rapid membership contact.

The Internet provides large organizations with an opportunity to realize significant improvements in the efficiency of and the costs associated with collecting member information. Members can update personal information by filling out an online form; when a member’s personal or professional circumstances change, the appropriate information can be updated easily through a quick visit to the membership Web site. This technology promotes database integrity and improves ASA’s efficiency. By avoiding the costs of paper surveys, including publishing, printing, mailing and processing, your Society can save money that can be put to good use on other projects. To that end, CIM strongly encourages you to complete the online survey.

In the past, your Society has primarily collected basic information such as membership status and home or office addresses. The new survey will continue to collect this basic information but will also inquire about hospital affiliations, academic appointments, administrative positions, legislative contacts and expertise in various aspects of anesthesiology.

This additional information will allow the Society to develop new survey tools, to aggregate practice information and to contact subsets of the membership. Additionally, the survey will allow ASA leadership to identify subsets of the membership for more in-depth queries. Examples of potential survey topics include practice management issues such as workforce/workload status, call-coverage arrangements, nurse anesthetist utilization and preretirement staffing strategies. Other potential uses include grassroots legislative and political activity, clinical research or various educational initiatives.

Because ASA will be better able to identify members for future surveys (e.g., departmental chairs or corporate presidents), the majority of Society members will be saved the aggravation of extraneous contact. Simultaneously, the Society will conserve its resources and improve the quality of information it gathers.

Results of this demographic survey will eventually be available either in print, on the Web site or via direct request from ASA headquarters.

Again CIM encourages all ASA members to complete the revised online demographic survey. Doing so will improve the Society’s ability to contact its members rapidly and to efficiently gather information germane to its members.

Site for Sore Eyes

In October 2002, ASA launched its revamped Web site. For those of you not yet familiar with the improvements of the site, a visit to <www.ASAhq.org> is in order. While there, please visit the “Members Only” section to update your membership profile.

The following instructions for accessing the membership pages assume a small degree of proficiency with using a personal computer:

• Obtain Internet access through any computer that is connected to the Internet and has browser software (e.g., Microsoft® Internet Explorer or Netscape® Navigator). Many hospitals provide medical staff access to terminals allowing Internet access.

• Type ASA’s Internet address <www.ASAhq.org> into the browser Address Bar. Remember to press the Return key on the keyboard button.

• Use the mouse to click the “Members Only” button at the top of the resulting screen. • A page asking you to “log in” will open. To continue, you must enter a username and a password. This page contains information on usernames and passwords.

IMPORTANT: If using a public terminal (e.g., one in a hospital), please do not choose to save your username or password if given the opportunity. If necessary, you may look up your username by clicking on the Member Lookup button. Your password is your ASA membership identification number. You may choose to change it at a later time.

• The “Members Only" Web page will open.

• Click on the “Update Membership Information” text located on the left side of the page.

IMPORTANT: If using a public terminal (e.g., one in a hospital) please remember to “Log Out” by clicking the appropriate text when you are finished updating your membership survey.

Questions? Please contact Carol Krause at (847) 825-5586 or <c.krause@ASAhq.org>.

Eric Werner, M.D., is Staff Anesthesiologist, West Central Anesthesiology Group, Ltd., Central DuPage Hospital, Winfield, Illinois.

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