We are going to witness more and more examples like this. As physicians get connected and start to use the Internet for more than email, there is a chance to develop virtual communities of physicians interested in specific health and medical issues. Twenty-five years ago we'd meet and discuss issues of interest in the doctors' lounge or at a dinner meeting. We lead busier lives today as we try to juggle the needs of patients with the demands of trying to keep current in a rapidly changing profession. At the same time, we're trying to save some time for family and friends.
Meetings are hard to make or take, and getting to the doctors' lounge . . .
CMA Online thinks it can provide a forum for physicians to communicate among themselves. Bulletin boards like these new online forums allow users to post and respond to messages from other physicians, creating new links between colleagues around the country and, perhaps, around the world. The transition from a guild age to an industrial age to an information age in medicine is happening at warp speed. May a thousand ideas bloom. Safire W. Up the down ladder.