Surgical Internet at a Glance:Volume IX

Jeff Allen, MD, Louisville, Kentucky

More and more surgical societies are developing andpublishing their own world wide web sites. Thesepages have unlimited potential for members and

nonmembers alike. Meeting information, hotel and trans-portation arrangements, online membership application,payment of dues, and telesurgery are but a few of thepotential uses.

The Society of American Gastrointestinal EndoscopicSurgeons (SAGES) is an example of a surgical society withits own web page. Located at http://www.sages.org, thissite has a plethora of information for the viewer to enjoy.

The annual SAGES meeting is the subject of a largeportion of the web page. Although the date of abstractsubmission has passed since the time of this writing, theservice was available online, as well as registration for themeeting, using American Express, Visa, or Mastercard,which is easy to do. This task, requiring basic internetform-filling skills, is accomplished in less than a minuteand includes postgraduate course registration, social events,and provision for guest and spouse registration. A societymembership application, which can be downloaded andprinted using the Adobe Acrobat plug-in, is available fornonmembers who wish to join the society.

A wonderful section is the slide quiz area. Here, a high-resolution radiograph, photograph, or diagram is presentedalong with a clinical scenario. Two to ten questions followwhich are answered by a mouse-click. The questions are ina well-written, multiple choice format. After the questionsare answered and submitted, a results screen appears. Hereall the answers are given with a link to a more thoroughexplanation. A percentage correct is given along with a topten scores section. The number of participants taking thetest and their respective answers are also shown. As soon asthe test is completed, an e-mail is sent to the test-takerdetailing the quiz results with a link to post a note to thequiz message board to dispute or discuss answers included inthe e-mail.

A list of postgraduate fellowship opportunities in endos-copy and laparoscopy is included. This is broken down bystate and, although not a complete list, it has quite a fewprogram coordinators. This is a good place to start for chiefresidents wishing to pursue a fellowship in endoscopic orlaparoscopic surgery.

The Karl Storz lecture in new technology was presentedby Dr. Michael Mack on April 3, 1998, at the Washington

State Trade and Convention Center in Seattle, Washing-ton. The talk, entitled “Lap Chole to MIDCAB: Revolu-tion to Evolution,” was given at last year’s SAGES meet-ing. Although well received, only members and guests atthe meeting are likely to have heard the talk. Now, how-ever, in cyberspace using Real Audio, the lecture may beheard time and again and even downloaded to the visitor’scomputer.

The SAGES web page is equipped with an internal searchengine to help viewers find exactly what they are lookingfor in this large site. A searchable database of SAGESmembers is included and is geographically based. A listingof the 1998–1999 officers, board members, and the admin-istrative staff with e-mail links is also present.

Two calendars are included on the site. One is a calendarof upcoming SAGES meetings, courses, and events. This isespecially useful for surgeons in training as the residentendoscopy workshops are included. A more general surgicalcalendar for upcoming conferences and events not spon-sored by SAGES, but of interest to a SAGES member orthe general surgeon, is included.

Visitors to the SAGES web page are alerted to the soci-ety’s manual which is subtitled “Fundamentals of Laparos-copy and GI Endoscopy.” A link to the publisher (http://www.springer-ny.com/) makes online purchase of themanual a reality. Sample chapters of the manual are avail-able in their complete format, including diagrams andillustrations. Currently, the complete chapters on Docu-mentation and Laparoscopic Vagotomy are available on-line.

Patient information is available in the “publications”section of the web page. This is broken down by procedureand includes answers to frequently asked questions such as“What is the gallbladder?” “What causes gallbladder prob-lems?” and “What happens if the operation cannot beperformed by the laparoscopic method?” The minimallyinvasive nature of the society surfaces here in questionssuch as, “How long will you be in the hospital?” “Will therebe a large scar?” and “When can I go back to work?” Inaddition, health-care professionals can purchase brochuressuitable for distribution to patients at the SAGES onlinestore. Topics include laparoscopic hernia repair, laparo-scopic antireflux procedures, laparoscopic gall bladder re-moval, and laparoscopic colon resection. Also in the on-line store, are the catchy logo products such as “Here’sLooking IN You Kid” T-shirts.

The web page for SAGES is well made and offers infor-mation that can be utilized by patients and health-careprofessionals alike. It is easy to navigate and loads quickly.Future endeavors on this page likely will include telesur-gery and an online video library. The web page is worth avisit.

Am J Surg. 1999;177:183.Address correspondence to Jeff Allen, MD, 1114 Everett Avenue,Louisville, Kentucky 40204.

E-mail address: jeffa@iglou.com

SURGICAL INTERNET

© 1999 by Excerpta Medica, Inc. 0002-9610/99/$–see front matter 183All rights reserved. PII S0002-9610(98)00XXX-X