Has anyone found a way to make a change to their whole hospital network
without the assistance of your computer department?  The answer could be
political,  technological, or both.

It should be so simple.  Everyone knows that Internet Explorer is free on
the web, and all you have to do is download it.  And we have about 3000
Pentium machines system wide that are powerful enough to accomodate it.

So the problem is:
*       I.S. refuses to make the upgrade to IE 4 or 5 because they are so
embroiled in a new patient care system that they have no time left to
breathe.
*       People around the hospital can't just download the new version
themselves because we have an NT network which is tightly locked down.  If
one does succeed in downloading the software, then all kinds of stern
messages come up and it's impossible to install the software.

Most of the hospital is complaining.  Even people who work in I.S. are
having a fit.  I am getting myself involved in this because I want to quit
using a CD tower and give everyone access to web databases.  And some key
databases just won't work with IE 3, particularly Ebsco and Scientific
American Medicine.  Ovid works with IE 3, but I don't want to pay their
inflated prices.

Has anyone found a constructive way to instigate a change like this?  Just
badmouthing I.S. is not productive.  They are already the scapegoats of the
hospital.  I'd like to find a way to make them and me look good.

Thank you for any and all ideas!

Beth Treaster
Health Sciences Library
Saint Francis Hospital
6161 S Yale
Tulsa, OK  74136

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