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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

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FY 2001 OHIP Annual Report - Teleconference/Video Production

OHIP operates a broadcast quality television studio on behalf of CDRH and FDA. The studio is a uniquely powerful tool for outreach on a wide variety of topics. The primary medium for outreach has become production and presentation of "live teleconferences," although we continue doing videotaped programming on a limited basis.

Goals

  1. To provide the infrastructure and expert knowledge needed to effectively use audio and video in support of CDRH, FDA and other government public health programs.
  2. To evaluate, recommend and support new techniques and technologies for improving training, education and information exchange.
The television studio continues to provide excellent "value" to CDRH and FDA. Studio operations and capital expenditures, other than personnel costs, are completely funded by chargebacks to the other components of FDA and other government agencies sponsoring the programming. As a result, during FY2001;
  • CDRH programming was produced with minimal program dollars.
  • The same facilities and equipment used for teleconferences and video production were available to CDRH for other purposes:
    • we provided technical video support for Center-sponsored medical device panel meetings;
    • we provided video documentation of critical CDRH meetings and training events; and
    • we provided 8 hours of mission-related programming every day to CDRH employees via the CDRH fiber-optic network, including 32 educational and training programs received live via satellite and delivered simultaneously.

Our website for the television and video services continues to be a comprehensive source of information regarding our television and related video services. Developed in cooperation with CDRH’s Office of Systems and Management, it provides up-to-date information on television programs currently in production, programs scheduled for broadcast, and opportunities to secure programs previously broadcast. It also provides other PHS agencies with a greater understanding of the facilities and services available to them.

Another important feature of our website is a "program calendar" that provides information about, and serves as a marketing tool for, individual CDRH/FDA teleconferences.
  • notifies a potential audience of a scheduled event;
  • creates a temporary data base of downlink sites;
  • provides answers to frequently asked questions related to downlink operations;
  • allows for interactive exchange both before and after the distance learning broadcast; and
  • results in a database that significantly enhances our ability to accurately target marketing information for all programming activities.

Also during FY2001:

  • We used the enhanced ability of our facility and the expertise of our staff to provide new services to CDRH and FDA that allow audio and video to be digitized and used as streaming media on the Web and for the production of CD copies of television productions.
  • A new series of monthly educational and informational programs aimed at health-care providers has been instituted in concert with other CDRH components. The program, "FDA Patient Safety News", is currently distributed to four medical networks reaching a combined audience of 4,700 hospitals. Each program features stories on new medical devices recently approved for by FDA, recent FDA notifications about safety problems with devices, tips on protecting patients when using medical devices, and important product recalls. The show also features a "Journal Scan" section, in which we highlight interesting articles on patient safety in the medical literature. Playback schedules and 24/7 network operation produce 15,000 airings per month of each title.
  • In collaboration with OSM, "FDA Patient Safety News" has its own dedicated website where interested persons can review the stories that have appeared on the broadcasts, get more information on any of the topics we cover in the broadcasts, and report problems they’ve encountered with FDA-regulated products directly to CDRH. That site is located at fda.gov/cdrh/psn.
  • We began a series of monthly broadcasts to all FDA employees featuring the Acting FDA Commissioner. This series of programs, titled "A Conversation with the Commissioner", allows timely information to be imparted as well as interactive communication between the commissioner and any guests appearing on the program and the FDA workforce. These programs are also made available on the FDA website as archived media for viewing at any time from the employee’s desktops.
  • DCM facilitated the first ever joint teleconference between FDA and NTEU. The success of this collaborative effort generated a second teleconference to address union-related issues.
  • Plans are currently underway to inaugurate a CFSAN video network that will be made available to all employees in the new Greenbelt CFSAN headquarters building. This network will operate in the same fashion and with identical equipment to the current CDRH and CBER fiber channels that are currently managed and operated by OHIP.
  • We continue to explore, evaluate and implement new tools and technologies that allow information and educational programming to be delivered to CDRH employees either individually, in groups of varying sizes, interactively, and/or on an "as-needed" basis. Our mechanisms of delivery have expanded beyond videotape to include CD-Rom, DVD, and streaming media.
  • On-location video recordings of lectures, panel discussions, training classes, and other informational programs were used in a variety of training and learning situations, including rebroadcast to all CDRH staff.
  • We continued our working partnership with the Office of Regulatory Affairs (ORA) to provide training and other programming on a wide variety of FDA issues.
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