Tired of Being Cyber-Challenged? These Courses Are for You!

Interest in computer education among APA members has skyrocketed in the past few years. The computer sessions at last year's annual meeting were so popular that people either had to sit on the floor or couldn't get into the meeting room at all.

Whether this interest is driven by necessity or curiosity (or even embarrassment in the case of those psychiatrists whose offspring are more conversant about computers than they are), the Scientific Program Committee has responded to the demand for more computer education by adding three CME courses to the 1997 annual meeting, which is being held in San Diego May 17 to 22.

For the past several years Robert Kennedy, M.A., and Tom Kramer, M.D., have been leading sessions at the annual meeting on the use of personal computers and the Internet. This year they will present similar material under the more rigorous format of CME courses.

"Computer Survival Guide" (course 33) will be held Monday, May 19, from 8 a.m. to noon. Designed for computer novices, the course will teach participants the basics that psychiatrists need to know to use computers at home and at work.

"Computer Connections" (course 40) will be held Monday afternoon from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. This course is for those who want to learn about computer networking as well as that network of all networks, the Internet.

New to the annual meeting this year is a computer course led by Robert Hsiung, M.D., of the department of psychiatry at the University of Chicago. Hsiung publishes the popular "Psychopharmacology Tips" site on the World Wide Web at . His course, "How to Publish on the Internet" (course 94), will be held Thursday, May 22, from 8 a.m. to noon.

Participants will learn the basics of preparing pages to be posted on the Web. Enrollees are strongly urged to bring laptop computers. Powerstrips will be provided, and Web publishing software will be distributed.

APA members who want to take these courses should register as early as possible after receiving their annual meeting packets later this month. While standing-room-only attendance was permitted in general computer sessions in the past, enrollment in all CME courses is capped.

If the courses are sold out, do not despair, says Steven E. Hyler, M.D., chair of the Multimedia Subcommittee. There will be lots more computer presentations, software demonstrations, symposia, a continuous clinical case conference, and even a new computer program production workshop at the San Diego meeting. More information on these will appear in a later issue.

(Psychiatric News, January 3, 1997)