Managing a Satellite Communications Program in a Hospital Library*

BY LYNN SORENSEN SUTTON, Director of Librariest

Hospital 3990 John R Detroit, Michigan 48201-2097
Harper

FRANCES M. PHILLIPS, Director, Library/A V Services

SUSAN R. WINFIELD, Manager, AV Services

Hospital 18700 Meyers Detroit, Michigan 48235
Grace

ABSTRACT
A satellite communications service used for the continuing education of hospital staff can be successfully managed by a hospital library. Organization of the service includes managing equipment and personnel, finding programming, marketing the service, arranging for teleconferences, and establishing videotape procedures. A satellite communications program gives the library the opportunity to establish new partnerships with other departments in the hospital as well as with other segments of the community.

parabolic dish with mounting hardware to allow it to track one satellite after another, an amplifier to strengthen the signal, a receiver/modulator to process the signal's frequencies into television pictures, and a decoder to unscramble encrypted signals. Although the decoder is an optional device, as more and more producers are using encrypted signals, it is gaining in importance. PERSONNEL The ideal manager for a hospital satellite communications program would be a telecommunications specialist. However, not many hospitals are fortunate enough to have one. Usually, staff members working in the library, AV services, education department, or biomedical engineering are given the responsibility for running the system. A team effort among hospital departments can be effective when specialized telecommunications personnel are not available. At Detroit-Macomb Hospital Corporation, the biomedical engineering and maintenance departments supervised the installation of equipment. The biomedical engineering personnel then trained the library staff to operate the receiving dish and to perform off-air videotaping. Staff members from the education department assist with live teleconferences. It is estimated that one hour of staff time is necessary to perform all the functions involved in showing or taping each satellite program. This includes distributing program information, receiving requests, operating the satellite receiver and video recorder controls, corresponding with the patron about previewing the program, and processing the final videocassette if it is to be kept. It does
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AMERICAN Hospital Association estimated that at the end of 1985, 800 U.S. hospitals had access to satellite television programming, in contrast to 550 at the end of 1984 [1]. In many of these hospitals, the library has at least partial responsibility for managing the system. This paper discusses the practical aspects of managing a satellite communications program in a hospital library, with emphasis on the topics of equipment, personnel, programming, teleconferencing, marketing, videotaping, and community partnerships.

THE

EQUIPMENT
The satellite itself is a microwave relay station, about the size of a small car, revolving in geosynchronous orbit 22,300 miles above the equator. The downlink component, or earth station, consists of a
*Presented May 19, 1986, at the Eighty-sixth Annual Meeting of the Medical Library Association, Minneapolis, Minnesota. tFormerly corporate director of libraries, DetroitMacomb Hospital Corporation, Detroit, Michigan.

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not include the staff's attendance at the showing of a program or time spent on problems with the receiving equipment. This varies greatly with each institution. At Detroit-Macomb, some months passed with no interruptions, but sometimes several days were spent dealing with problems ranging from birds' nests in the dish to human vandals tampering with the controls at night. The security of the satellite receiving equipment is an issue that every hospital will need to resolve.

features health-oriented specials for the public, often sponsored ,by drug companies, on such topics as aging, epilepsy, smoking, Parkinson's disease, and diabetes.
Vanderbilt Medical Television (VMT) broadcasts clinical teaching teleconferences in medicine, nursing, pharmacy, and allied health specialties. It telecasts five days a week during the academic year, providing over 200 hours of accredited health care programming annually. Most of its programming is in the live "grand rounds" format. The Association of Hospital Television Networks (AHTN) is a clearinghouse for terrestrial and satellite-based hospital television networks. Members receive programming information from various producers. Programming is a mixture of free and pay-per-view teleconferences. TELECONFERENCING Interactive teleconferences are another important source of health care programming via satellite. Typically, a teleconference is an in-depth presentation by experts, several hours in length, with an opportunity for the audience to call in questions and receive answers. Each teleconference may cost several hundred dollars for a "closed site" where all employees of the receiving institution may view the program. The American Hospital Association presents a series of twelve teleconferences per year. These are generally high-quality programs on topics of interest to a wide variety of health care professionals. The American Rehabilitation Educational Network (AREN), a not-forprofit service based in Pittsburgh, presents a regular series of teleconferences for rehabilitation professionals. Regional or state networks, such as the Michigan Hospital Association, also broadcast teleconferences, as do specialty associations. HSN offers videoconferencing services to outside healthcare organizations through its "Access Network." It can produce and transmit programs for clients using a sophisticated encryption system that makes it possible to address individual hospitals and

PROGRAMMING Sources for health care satellite programming have been constantly changing in the past several years. Because the satellite industry is so new, networks have come and gone and come back again in confusing array. One telecommunications consultant estimated that some 40% of the video sources advertised or operating two years ago are no more. Yet every time one drops out, there seems to be another to take its place [2]. Once a satellite dish is in place, an institution has access to all the free programming in the air, including sports, entertainment, and religious events. It may be helpful to subscribe to a general interest program guide, such as Satellite TV Week or Satellite Orbit. These publications are also useful in finding reference channels during satellite programming. The Hospital Satellite Network (HSN) is the leader in health care satellite programming. Based in Los Angeles, HSN began broadcasting in 1983; it now has approximately 600 subscribers. There are two levels of HSN: professional and full service. Full-service HSN provides programming twentyfour hours a day, seven days a week, for physicians, nurses, health care executives, allied health professionals, and patients. Professional service excludes the entertainment programming for patients. The American Medical Association Video Clinics have recently been added to HSN's lineup. While it has the most professional-looking productions and slickest marketing techniques, it is relatively expensive. Prices average $ .60 to $ .80 per patient day. The Healthcare Information Network (HIN) is a New Jersey not-for-profit organization. It offers two hours of daily programming to subscribers, primarily for allied health professionals and hospital employees. Recently, HIN has added more live teleconferences and continuing education credit opportunities to its programming. Lifetime programming is available over many cable services as well as via satellite. It offers popular shows as well as professional programming every week on "Doctor's Sunday." Lifetime also
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thereby customize a network. Individual hospitals may be selected and paid for use of their facilities. Live television is more exciting to participants than a recording that can be watched any time. Teleconferences require a great deal of coordination, but they can be a revenue generator for the hospital as well as good public relations. Producers such as AHA, HSN, and AREN pay hospitals a premium to act as "open sites" for outside registrants. Duties of a teleconference coordinator include providing publicity, recruiting a moderator, 129

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and arranging for parking, refreshments, registration materials, evaluation forms, and incidentals.
MARKETING Marketing is crucial to the success of any hospital satellite service. Physicians, nurses, administrators, and health care professionals need to be told repeatedly of the satellite opportunities available. Producers such as HSN, HIN, and Lifetime provide copies of their monthly programming well in advance. Networks such as the Michigan Hospital Association provide program guides for a number of producers. It is essential that potential viewers receive a list of programming for the coming month. A mailing list of educational contact people in each department is helpful. Personal contacts are also effective; sometimes, a librarian knows that a certain patron would be interested in a topic. Physicians typically do not take the time to request a program in advance, although they are often eager to sign out the videotape afterwards. Wise librarians often videotape programs known to be of interest and publicize them along with other new library acquisitions. The HSN "Shop Talk" series for the satellite coordinator in the hospital suggests many practical ways to market the service.

ing collection of videotaped programs is an inexpensive way to enhance an audiovisual software collection. It is a good idea to put only one program on each tape; this eliminates conflicts in requests for different programs on the same tape. Shelf life of programs may vary, so the original requester should specify how long a program should be kept. Frequent weeding is necessary to keep the size of the collection manageable. A simple database program on a microcomputer can produce a catalog of available satellite programs, sorted by program number and title.

VIDEOTAPING Educational programming via satellite may be shown either live or on videotape. Most producers realize that the usefulness of their programs will be enhanced by allowing subscribing institutions to videotape them. It is generally agreed that in a hospital setting the flexibility of taping is necessary to accommodate the needs of personnel on all CONCLUSION shifts. Exceptions may occur when a producer such as HIN or HSN rents a commercially available The American Hospital Association and many program from another source that does not permit state hospital associations are encouraging their taping. Teleconferences may also have occasional members to invest in satellite communications special limitations on taping. The half-inch VHS technology. Once every hospital is part of a satellite format is by far the most popular for this kind of network, programming can move beyond contaping, because many patrons want to take the tinuing education, to instant mobilization on issues programs home for use on their personal video like liability insurance and legislative alerts. Satelrecorders. lite technology is part of every hospital's future. Written procedures are necessary for patrons to Managing a satellite communications program, request that a given program be shown or taped. then, can provide a new, high-tech role for the Special consideration needs to be given to pay- library within the hospital. It can form the basis for per-view teleconferences, which may require new partnerships with other departments in the administrative approval. If a program is taped, hospital as well as for the hospital as a whole with arrangements need to be made for the patron to the community. Although it requires a great deal of preview the material. The compilation of a circulat- work, it is definitely worth the effort.

COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS Satellite access has proven to be an important link in the growing partnership between hospitals and their publics. One way to do this is to make health-related programs available to the public either free or for a nominal fee. Some enterprising hospitals have made their facilities available to non-health care professional and community groups. Rural hospitals may have particular success with this, because satellite technology may not be otherwise available in their areas. By working with the local Chamber of Commerce, a hospital may also gain access to BizNet, a source of management programming sponsored by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. As one BizNet official said, "The most important thing a hospital could gain through providing this service is an enhanced community image-especially within the business community, where relationships these days tend to be strained" [3].

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REFERENCES
1. 800 satellite-receiving hospitals by 1986. Hospitals 1985 Apr 1;59(7):48. 2. Flower J. The human/high-tech connection. Healthc Forum 1985 Nov-Dec;28(6):supp 1-23.

3. Hospitals host business satellite shows. Hospitals 1985 Oct 1;59(19):52.

Received August 1986; accepted November 1986.

APPENDIX 1: ORGANIZATIONS PROVIDING HEALTH CARE EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMING VIA SATELLITE

American Hospital Association Media Center 840 North Lake Shore Drive Chicago, Ill. 60611 (312) 280-6051 American Rehabilitation Educational Network Harmarville Rehabilitation Center P.O. Box 11386 Pittsburgh, Pa. 15238 (412) 828-4800

Hospital Satellite Network 1901 Avenue of the Stars Los Angeles, Calif. 90067 (213) 277-6710 (800) 638-3336

Lifetime, Inc. 1211 Avenue of the Americas New York City, N.Y. 10036 (212) 719-7230
Michigan Hospital Association MHA Communications System, Inc. 6215 West St. Joseph Highway Lansing, Mich. 48917 (517) 323-3443

Association of Hospital Television Networks 401 Fallowfield Road Camp Hill, Pa. 17011 (717) 761-2272 Healthcare Information Network 760 Alexander Road, CN- 1 Princeton, N.J. 08543-0001 (609) 275-4101

Vanderbilt Medical Television CCC-5316 MCN Vanderbilt University Medical Center Nashville, Tenn. 37232 (615) 322-6948

APPENDIX 2: SOURCES FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

Journal Articles Alder H, diMonda R, Brennan B. Guideline report. Purchasing a satellite receiving earth terminal. AHA Hosp Tech Serv 1983 June;2(16):1-33. Amdursky SJ. Dishing it out: satellite services in public libraries. Libr J 1985 Nov 15;1 10(19):49-51. Brown MS. A review of health care television programming. Hospitals 1984 Dec 16;58(24):87-9. Caruba A. The satellite connection: hospitals link up for CME presentations. Biomed Commun 1982 JulyAug;10(4):7, 16-7, 26. Downs S. Hospital satellite network. Healthc Comput
Flower J. The human/high tech connection. Healthc Forum 1985 Nov-Dec;28(6):supp 1-23. Kavenik FE. Satellite communications. The sky's no longer the limit. Osteopath Hosp Leadership 1985

Sep-Oct;29(7):10-1. Linder RL. The hospital satellite network. Mobius 1985 July;5(3):141-6. Pauly GL. Michigan hospitals enter world of satellite communications. Mich Hosp 1984 Feb;20(2):7-10. Shively D. Tapping satellite communications' potential. Biomed Commun 1984 Oct;12(5):22-3. Wallace C. Satellite TV increasingly popular for educating hospital staff, patients. Mod Healthc 1985 Dec Commun 1985 Aug;2(8):91-4. 20;15(26):30. Flower J. The hospital satellite network: how high tech Wallin BL. New communications tools expand educational options. Health Prog 1985 Jan-Feb;66(1):58links up with serious educational programming. Hosp 61. Forum 1984 July-Aug; 27(4):51-3.

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Periodicals
Physicians' Video Guide. Visual Information Systems, Inc. One Harmon Plaza, Secaucus, N.J. 07094. Monthly. $15 per year.

Satellite Orbit. ComTek Publishing Company, P.O. Box 53, Boise, Idaho 83707. Monthly. $48 per year Satellite TV Week. Fortuna Communications Corporation, P.O. Box 308, Fortuna, Calif. 95540-0308. Weekly. $48 per year.

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