Meet Orly Avitzur, MD, Editor in Chief of AAN.com

Neurology Today
6 March 2008; Volume 8(5); p 25-26

Cajigal, Stephanie

Orly Avitzur, MD, is one busy neurologist. Her AAN duties include serving as chair of the Electronic Health Records Work Group, the Practice Management and Technology Subcommittee, and the Audit Committee. And as if that weren't enough, she also writes about practice issues for Neurology Today's monthly In Practice column.

So how does Dr. Avitzur find the time to stay up to date on neurology news? She logs on to AAN.com , the AAN Web site. Dr. Avitzur, who speaks frequently to physician groups about technology and electronic medical records, was tapped by the AAN to lead the revamping of its site last April.

Dr. Avitzur spoke with Neurology Today about how AAN.com , and the Internet in general, have made it easier for neurologists to maximize their precious time.

One of the most important changes is that we've improved our search engine. Users are now capable of searching all the AAN publications and PubMed together simply by typing keywords into the search toolbar located at the top left-hand side of the site.

Another exciting addition is that we now have science and neurology news stories that are reviewed by the science editorial board and posted on the site daily. We use several different external news sources such as Reuters Health and Yellowbrix that are filtered to extract and feed neurology content to us. We also post breaking news from the FDA, such as notices about withdrawn drugs or serious side effects.

The site also has a CME tracker where all prior Academy CME credits have been stored and members can record other CME credits they've earned. Another practical tool on the site is a self-assessment examination that helps neurologists test their knowledge by answering questions about medical cases.

The AAN wanted to make the site more relevant to members, and to better organize the material so it would be more user-friendly. The Academy is constantly tracking site statistics to evaluate how members use the site. Right now members use links to the AAN publications the most. They also access external news and the section on clinical guidelines.

Figure. Dr. Orly Avitzur spoke with Neurology Today about how AAN.com , and the Internet in general, have made it easier for neurologists to maximize their precious time.

[ Click here to enlarge ]

By going to My Preferences (the grey topmost tab second to the right) members can select from a menu of items to place on their own home page. For example, they can include links to non-neurology publications they read on a regular basis (mine is set up to receive news from The Wall Street Journal), any of the AAN publications, or the member search feature.

Another way we've made AAN.com a one-stop resource for neurologists is by integrating links to all the AAN publications (the Neurology journal, Neurology Today, Neurology Now, and Continuum) onto the main page of the site.

I help define new features and oversee the activities of each section editor. I also review and edit all article submissions. We've just started a guest author column that includes articles written by members, which I review as well.

Each section editor is responsible for working on staff-related issues. Lily Jung, MD, is the advocacy editor; Daniel B. Hier, MD, is the education editor; Neil A. Busis, MD, is the practice and technology editor; and John W. Henson, MD, is the science editor. [See Meet the AAN.com Section Editors.]

Each editor has an editorial board he or she works with to ensure that the content is relevant to practicing and academic neurologists. In addition to face-to-face meetings, we take part in a conference call once a week and there is a constant e-mail flow between us.

Basically, the item has to come from a reputable source - it can't come from a pharmaceutical company - and it has to be timely and relevant to neurologists.

Early in the process we decided that one way we could offer a valuable service to neurologists is to be able to address neurological events in the public domain on a nearly immediate basis. So we set up a rapid response team, a group of expert neurologists who agreed to be available with short notice to respond to breaking news. The first time this came up was when New Mexico Senator Pete Domenici announced he is not seeking re-election because he was diagnosed with frontotemporal lobar degeneration. We contacted one of the members of the rapid response group, John Hart, MD, from the behavioral and brain sciences department at the University of Texas at Dallas, and he answered questions about the types of dementia. We posted this Q & A on the Web site about five hours after the story broke.

We did a survey and found that about 50 percent of our daily visitors are member neurologists and 50 percent are nonmembers, the public. So we decided that for all of our breaking news stories, we should divide the information into a section for neurologists and a section for the general public. The latter will contain articles that will be easy to understand. We're working with the NINDS to provide us with their excellent clinical content and have that available for our lay audience.

The traffic statistics have greatly increased when compared to 2006.Total page views have gone up 33 percent and average page views per session have increased 35 percent.

Working with the AAN Web staff has been very rewarding. Enhancements are actually made on a daily basis and they work very hard to respond to editors' ideas and requests and execute them rapidly. In 2008 the section editors will begin to produce audio podcasts, and in the future we will include tabs on the site that will subdivide information according to specialties. We recognize that, for example, headache specialists may want to go to one place to get headache information. We also hope to make the home page even more customizable.

Figure. A sample home page from the newly revamped AAN Web site, AAN.com .

[ Click here to enlarge ]

It's the single place where all the AAN publications can be accessed. All the materials are focused on interests and issues relevant to neurologists.

I think a lot of people are going to the Web for news and information. I'm hearing members say that now that they can access the Neurology journal and other publications on the Web and search for archived articles readily, they are less interested in keeping paper copies. The Internet is simple to use and it's a mechanism by which people can quickly go through a lot of information. It's updated frequently throughout the day so it's always current.

Lily K. Jung, MD, Advocacy Editor:

Dr. Jung said the advocacy section of the site is posting essays from members who have completed the AAN Palatucci Advocacy Leadership Forum. Michael F. Finkel, MD, for example, recently wrote about how he reinvigorated the Florida Society of Neurology. We're getting people to talk about the work they've done so other people can learn from that and take up that momentum, Dr. Jung said. …so you don't just complain about things not working, you realize that you are capable of going out and changing the status quo.

Figure. No caption available.

[ Click here to enlarge ]

Daniel B. Hier, MD, Education Editor:

One of the biggest educational challenges neurologists in practice will face over the next decade is meeting the educational requirements of Maintenance of Certification (MOC). AAN.com will work with the Education Committee to make sure members have the materials and programs they need in order to comply with MOC.

Figure. No caption available.

[ Click here to enlarge ]

JOHN W. HENSON, MD, SCIENCE EDITOR:

Dr. Henson said neurologists can browse AAN.com for important research advances and news alerts, and for items that their patients will read in the lay press. Before, we had almost no coverage of science news. A key development has been that on a daily basis, around 7 am, we post scientific news related to neurology.

Figure. No caption available.

[ Click here to enlarge ]

Neil A. Busis, MD, Practice and Technology Editor:

I want this site to be both a portal and a hub - a portal where you can come for the latest practice information such as clinical practice guidelines and coding and billing, and a hub to point you to other resources, so if the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare has an important new policy we'll point you to their Web page.

Figure. No caption available.

[ Click here to enlarge ]