Intranet may serve you well

Las Vegas-If you ask Dr. Paul Hobson, setting up a simple intranet can save you and your staff the most precious commodity of all - time.

In a presentation at the Western Veterinary Conference (WVC), Hobsontouted the benefits of setting up an intranet as a way to access commonlyused forms, hospital manuals and client information sheets.

Hobson, who owns three hospitals in London, England, says that settingup this type of system that can only be accessed by your staff offers ahost of commonly used documents.

An intranet is a private computerized network inside a hospital, andis only accessible internally.

"What is an intranet in practical and real terms? It is like havingyour own private Web page in your practice," Hobson explains.

Hobson says his practices use an intranet for:

* vaccine information

* client handouts

* hospital policies

* reception protocols

* staff and client telephone directory

* laboratory test protocols

* clinical protocols

* active links to Internet sites

* practice manuals

* health and safety information

* instructions on how to make puppy and kitten kits for new pet owners.

* And even how to troubleshoot problems with the label printer.

Hobson says that while most practices are setting up and maintainingInternet sites for clients, they should also consider setting up an intranet.The result will improve efficiency and help save time.

The intranet site can be extremely simple in design, yet very practicalto gain access to information quickly. He adds, his intranet site just usesMicrosoft Word documents saved as html documents and hosted on the practice'scomputer server. To start off, get familiar with simple Web authoring softwareon the market.

Initially, you may need to have a professional set up the structure,but in his practice a hospital staffer with an interest in computers didthe majority of the work.

The end result is that it allows veterinarians, technicians and receptioniststhe ability to find information quickly and at any workstation in the hospital.

"You really need to keep it simple to get started," Hobsonadds.