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Case Studies: Duke University Medical Center
The five Physician Assistant lists, which are handled by a server at Duke University Medical Center, are PAFORUM, PRIMARYPA, STUDENTPA, PAFACULTY, and PAJOURNAL. Each list provides an opportunity for PAs to discuss relevant issues, such as the clinical issues on PRIMARYPA. For the past few years, the lists were processed through the Majordomo software engine.
In October 1998, this engine suffered a failure that wreaked havoc among the lists it handled, including the PA lists. An upgraded version of Majordomo was installed but it, too, failed. The Duke Information Systems Department installed a new engine called LISTSERV®. After some initial confusion among list managers and subscribers, the PA lists are back online and better than before. There have been changes, however, including the server address and subscription commands.
In addition to these changes, LISTSERV incorporates other powerful changes that improve accessibility, aid in retrieval of messages, and maintain the lists in better order. Probably the most significant change is that one may access the lists directly via the Web. From there, a viewer may select one of the five PA lists, view the archived messages, join or leave the lists, and even post a message to the list (you must be a list subscriber before the server will accept your posting).
LISTSERV also incorporates several powerful maintenance applications to keep the subscriber list up-to-date, thus eliminating bounced addresses. One feature automatically deletes any subscriber whose address bounces on a set number of consecutive days or a set number of messages, whichever occurs first. Another feature allows the list owner to set up an automatic probe of the subscriber list at periodic intervals to determine which addresses are still active. These two features alone have already eliminated hundreds of invalid addresses from the subscriber lists. On the negative side, a subscriber who does not pick up email messages for a period of time may be automatically deleted, but a user can easily leave the list temporarily and rejoin at a later time via the web page. That individual may also review the list archives to see what occurred in his absence.
To address the tone of the lists, I have inserted new headings that describe the nature of the specific list and have place footers on distributed messages indicating the list's intent, ownership, and how to unsubscribe. These efforts, in addition to getting the subscriber lists under control, have gone a long way to reestablish the professionalism of the lists.
If you have not yet subscribed to the PA lists, please do so now. And, if you left because of previous problems on the lists, come back and look at us again. You will like the change.
Case study written in February 1999 with the assistance of James A. Davidson.
James A. Davidson practices Occupational Medicine at Hanford Environmental Health Foundation in Richland, Wash. He is a member of the Editorial Board of Physician Assistant Journal and manages the Physician Assitant lists at Duke Universty.
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