10 Humorous, Derisive, or Slang Synonyms for Leader or Official

10 Humorous, Derisive, or Slang Synonyms for Leader or Official 10 Humorous, Derisive, or Slang Synonyms for â€Å"Leader† or â€Å"Official† 10 Humorous, Derisive, or Slang Synonyms for â€Å"Leader† or â€Å"Official† By Mark Nichol Sometimes it just won’t do to be sober and serious when referring to someone in authority. These terms help convey an irreverent tone about a lordly leader or an officious official. 1. Big cheese: Interestingly, this slang phrase for an important person has nothing to do with dairy products; derived from a Persian word, chiz, that means â€Å"thing,† it was adopted by British civil servants and others who lived in India during the early nineteenth century, whence it spread to Britain and other English-speaking countries. 2. Big wheel: This slang term for an influential person probably derives from the idea that such a personage, like the wheels on a vehicle, facilitates progress (and the bigger, the better). 3. Bigwig: This word for an important (and self-important) person likely stems from the custom in European countries several hundred years ago of men wearing wigs: Some wealthy and/or powerful men tried to outdo each other by wearing outsize specimens and so were mocked as bigwigs. 4. High muck-a-muck (or high muckety-muck, muckety-muck, muck-a-muck, or mucky-muck): These terms refer to a haughty personage. 5. Honcho: This slang term for a leader, especially a business executive, derives from the Japanese term hancho, which refers to a squad leader in a military unit. 6. Kahuna: This Hawaiian word originally applied to influential members of native society, but it entered general usage when, in the mid-twentieth century, surfers began to refer to the best among them as kahunas or big kahunas. 7. Kingpin: Several theories exist about the origin of this word for a leader, especially one in a criminal enterprise, but it most likely derives from the idea of a key component in a machine. (An alternate possible origin is the name for the pin at the apex of an array of pins in bowling games; if you strike the kingpin, presumably all the other pins will fall. But the analogy of a part holding a machine together is stronger.) 8. Mandarin: This word, ultimately derived from the Sanskrit term mantra yes, that mantra originally came from a Portuguese word referring to Chinese officials. (Portugal was among the first Western nations to have any influence in China.) By extension, it applies now to bureaucrats, especially officious ones, though it also connotes an influential member of the intelligentsia or the literary elite, especially a conservative one. 9. Panjandrum: This coinage by eighteenth-century playwright and actor Samuel Foote refers to a powerful or pretentious official or other person of influence. 10. Pooh-bah (or grand pooh-bah): A pooh-bah the word is inspired by the name of an arrogant character from the Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera The Mikado whose impressive string of official titles terminates with â€Å"Lord High Everything Else† is an influential person or one holding multiple offices. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:50 Idioms About Legs, Feet, and ToesBest Websites to Learn English10 Tips for Clean, Clear Writing

Redress for Japanese Americans essays

Redress for Japanese Americans essays The Lengthy Process of Redress for Japanese Americans After the surprise attack of the Japanese on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the United States grew concerned that people of Japanese ancestry living on the West Coast would revolt and aid the Japanese war effort and were considered security risks. On February 19, 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, giving the War Department authority to establish military areas in which designated people would be subject to whatever restrictions the Secretary of War may impose. As a result, officials declared the entire Pacific Coast a military area and forced approximately 120,000 people of Japanese descent from their homes and into guarded relocation centers in Arizona, California, Oregon, and Washington. Two-thirds of the evacuees were American citizens and many lost their homes and businesses as a result of the internment. The directive remained official policy until December 1944 (Patton 72). While many people have at least some knowledge of this Japanese in ternment, the postwar Japanese American effort to win redress, and its high point of the 1980s, is not that well known. The process of apology and redress was very drawn out and it was not until over forty years after internment that a formal apology was given to Japanese Americans. With this apology, though delayed, most would assume that the government has learned a lesson from its past errors. However, it is important to consider if the anti-Japanese hysteria of the 1940s that led to Japanese-Americans being imprisoned in internment camps could be repeated today, especially with Muslim-Americans in the war against terrorism. The internment of Japanese American citizens and resident aliens was not just an odd, wartime event, but also a climax of a long history of racism and discrimination on the West Coast directed against Asian immigrants. Those from China felt the first effects of this sent...

Capital Structure Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Capital Structure - Essay Example 1963. 441-442). Many theorists didn't like their theorems but finally did find evidence in their applicability in many cases. Stiglitz (1969. pp784) however emphasized that the theorem was framed with some limitations in mind pertaining to existence & distribution of risk classes, competitiveness in the markets and clarity of effect of bankruptcy on the validity of the theorem. Stiglitz (1969. pp789) proved that under given risk classes the primary objective of firm management is to maximize firm value and hence they shall tend to choose the most appropriate capital structure that can achieve maximum value of the firm given certain implying factors that vary from firm to firm. But what could be such implying factors Let us focus on another empirical generalization established by Borch (1969. pp6-7) regarding conflict of interest in firm capital structure. If an organization has started with a capital and have achieved value addition over the capital, the shareholders will expect divi dend payments from the value addition. Payment of dividends to shareholders will conflict with the interest of creditors as the latter would like to continue with long term interest payments. Hence, the creditors will tend to establish certain terms of agreement that indirectly impacts the dividend policy of the management thus affecting the capital structure of the organization as non-payment of dividends may end up reducing shareholder interest and hence can reduce equity financing. Another factor that affects the Capital Structure is the rate regulation by regulatory commissions. Spiegal and Spulber (1994. pp424-425) proved that rate regulations generates an incentive for the regulated firms to increase their debt levels. Thus regulated firms tend to have high leverages than unregulated firms. Chaganti & Damanpour (1991. pp488-490) and Brav (2009. pp265) argued that the firm's ownership determines capital structure to a large extent. Institutional investors or managers tend to reduce debt to equity ratio whereas shareholders that are "sensitive" to changes in performance tend to increase debt to equity ratio. This may be described using agency theory that the owners willing to take higher risks to maximize shareholder value will tend to reduce leverage while the owners willing to take lesser risks to maximize shareholder value will tend to increase leverage. Balakrishnan and Fox (1993. pp7-8) related firm Capital structure with asset specificity in which the investments are made. They argued that the firm's leverage would be positively related to investments in tangible assets or redeployment of existing assets but would be negatively related to investments in intangible assets. For example, a firm investing heavily in R&D will be more inclined towards equity finance because the outcome of R&D is normally intangible assets that do not form promising collaterals for debt

Organisational Culture, Artifacts, role of Artifacts in Organisational Research Paper

Organisational Culture, Artifacts, role of Artifacts in Organisational Change and S.M.A.R.T Objectives - Research Paper Example In essence, organizational culture refers to the â€Å"pattern of shared basic assumptions that the group learned as it solved problems that have worked well enough to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think and feel in relation to those problems† (Willcoxson & Millet 2000). Culture is not a distinguishable aspect of an organization. Organizational culture is a principal set of beliefs and values coherent among leaders in steering the organization, and interpreted by the employees and managers into proper conducts and armored through incentives and permits. Organizational cultures are formed and transformed over time. Needless to say, there is a broad correspondence among authors and scholars on how the organizational culture reacts to and replicates industry attributes and community traits held by the organization employees. Moreover, it also typifies the traits and values of its leaders or founders (Gordon, 1991). Schein denotes that organizational culture is both defined and epitomized by â€Å"group strictures and prescriptive criteria and that provide the basis for allocating status, power, rewards, authority and respect†. Culture defines â€Å"what a group pays attention to and monitors in the external environment and how it responds to its environment† (Brown, 1995). ... In reference to Kelly (2008), â€Å"Organizational culture is the essence of organizations defining what’s grave and setting the standards by which to measure success†. The health care and public health systems in United States have had a recurring trend and an emergent culture. Over decades, there has been limited diversity in leadership, with women given little opportunities to hold executive positions. In addition, there has been an existent disparity in salaries between women and men in the health care and public health systems (Lantz, 2008). Cultural Artifacts Across the world, cultures formulate tangible and intangible artifacts that typify their culture. Willcoxson & Millet (2000) define artifacts as the â€Å"visible structure and practices, such as policies and procedures, which can be monitored and changed if necessary†. Artifacts include observable symbols and signs, physical structures, language, ceremonies and stories. In reference to Willcoxson & Mi llet (2000), â€Å"artifacts provide the lasting glue that holds the organization together and provides an anchoring point to ground the organization†. In the United States health care and public health system, gender inequality is an impending artifact. Role of Artifacts in organizational change In reference to Kelly (2008), changing organizational culture to maintain the organization’s feasibility can be extremely â€Å"challenging unless grounded on sound logic†. Organizational change involves alteration of the artifacts. Artifacts can be used in changing the organizational culture. In the process of organizational culture change, comprehension of cultural artifacts is critical. Artifacts should be adapted to support changes in the organization culture. Needless

Discuss the relationship between globalisation and democracy (with Essay

Discuss the relationship between globalisation and democracy (with reference to the asia pacific) - Essay Example Globalisation is metaphorically making the world a smaller place as it is is now a lot faster to travel or communicate with any part of the world. Globalisation has also led to the merging of some cultures and the quick transmission of ideas and information.3 The process of globalisation is supposed to offer economic benefits to all countries involved within it. For the developed countries of the West and Japan it brings cheaper goods and services whilst for developing countries in Asia pacific and other regions it brings employment and investment. Along with the investment, ideas are also exported to developing countries, ideas such as democracy.4 Some have attributed the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe along with the brutally repressed student uprising in China with globalisation and an increasing desire for democracy. 5 China although it has retained its communist leadership has become increasingly involved with the globalisation since the death of Mao Zedong in 1976. The Chinese government adopted capitalist economic policies to drive forward economic development whilst retaining tight political control as they believed involvement in globalisation would possibly increase the demand for democracy.6 Globalisation can and has played a role in promoting and bring about democracy in the Asia pacific region although it has not been an easy or straightforward relationship. Countries such as South Korea have had long periods of economic growth and have benefited from globalisation. South Korea was also helped by its closeness to Japan; it however was not a democracy as such until the 1990s. The United States supported South Korea because it was anti-Communist.7 During the cold war the United States was happy to support not only South Korea but other undemocratic countries such as

Technology & humankind Essay Example for Free

Technology humankind Essay Technology has done a lot for human beings. Without the development in technology it is possible that the pyramids would never have been built and neither would we be able to communicate with each other from remote places all over the world. Some say that these technological advances such as the internet and cellular phones are a boon on society and humankind yet there are also those detractors who say that it is has not simplified life in so much as it has complicated matters. One of these things is the impact that television has on society. In order to arrive at a more concrete understanding of the issue at hand, it is interesting to apply what has been discussed to a current issue. One of these issues is the effect of media, particularly television, on the moral fiber of today’s youth. This will be discussed in brief to provide an accurate detail of just how these media effects theories can be applied to today’s social problems. As a quick glimpse at the recent events that grace the newspaper’s headlines show, there is indeed a growing concern over the violence that happens in schools all over the country (Chomsky et al 2002). The issue is not limited to the increased teenage pregnancies or even drug abuse. It encompasses a whole range of issues such as bullying and perhaps the most frightening, schools shootings (Chomsky et al 2002). With all of these problems plaguing not only the education system but also the entire nation as of late, the question that comes up is whether or not this is actually caused by the violent television shows and movies in the cable TV programming. While there has been no irrefutable data that lends credence to the theory that violent shows in television is the real culprit behind today’s misguided and often violent youth, there can also be no argument against the statement that though violence on television may not be the sole cause, it is one of the contributory causes (Fisher et al 2004). There are a number of media effects theories that solidify the argument that it is violence in media or in television that has led to the deterioration in the moral foundation of today’s youth (Gauntlett 1998). A good example of this would be the â€Å"Hypodermic Needle Model†, which is a theory that the influence of media is so powerful that it can be used to â€Å"inject† messages into the minds of the audience and control them (Gauntlett 1998). While it is not being suggested that television is being used a medium to brainwash today’s youth and turn them into an army of zombies for the media, it is being proposed, however, that the programming and quality of shows on television, such as violent programs, has a profound effect upon the youth (Shanahan and Morgan 2000). The influence, therefore, that television has upon the youth is undeniable. While this influence may have waned in the advent of the internet age and YouTube, it still bears a considerably large amount of influence over the younger children who are not able to access such media devices (Fisher et al 2004). Therein lays the danger; young children with impressionable minds are exposed to violence on television leading to a deterioration in the moral and ethical foundations of today’s generation. Another interesting theory to correlate the cause, violence in television, with the effect, violent behavior of the youth, is the postmodernist thought on the approaches to the Media Effects Theory (Gauntlett 1998). The main ideas of this theory rely on the fact that the ideas and perceptions of individuals has already been preconditioned by media in a sense that whatever input or meaning that is derived from media is already placed in a predefined context (Fisher et al 2004). This school of thought therefore suggests that in analyzing the behavior and effects the fact that media has already preconditioned the minds of the individuals and influenced the reception (Shanahan and Morgan 2000). As such, given the volatile nature of the mind of a child, the input that a child receives from violent programming on the television creates a preconceived notion of what the real world is like. By showing violence on television, a child may think and perceive that such behavior is actually socially acceptable (Fisher et al 2004). Studies have shown that there have been causal links found between aggressive and violent behavior in children and the type of television programs that these children generally watch. This can also be applied to the infamous Columbine shooting wherein the investigators have theorized that the motivation for the shooters may have been influenced by forms of media (Fisher et al 2004). As stated in one of the reports, â€Å"Among the many theories that have surfaced regarding the motivation for this incident the most prevalent one remains the effect that media has on the minds of today’s youth. † (Fisher et al 2004) While there are those who theorize that it was the fact that the shooters were isolated from the rest of their classmates thus prompting feelings of helplessness, insecurity and depression, as well as cultivating a strong desire for attention, the attention has been focused on the effect violent video games such as Doom, which the shooters frequently played, and rock music such as Rammstein. Every day the world searches for answers for many of the would-be â€Å"avoidable† tragedies such as school shootings, gang wars and juvenile teen violence. The reason for the term â€Å"avoidable† stems from the fact that many consider these as effects of media influences and morally condemnable social behavior (Fisher et al 2004). While media and television, in particular, are not the main causes for these tragedies, it cannot be denied that they have contributed to these problems (Fisher et al 2004). There may not be an easy solution for this but by identifying the causes that have led to this dilemma a big step has been taken to rectify this situation and to prevent more disasters such as this from ever happening again. There are some things that we really don’t need in life. We must learn to lessen our dependencies on technology and live (if possible) without using them too much. Our ancestors were able to live without microwave ovens and television I don’t see why we can’t. This all may just be future talk but one thing is certain. Today’s society has become so dependent on the benefits that technology has brought in making online life possible that we have come to a point of no return where we can no longer imagine life without it. If you think otherwise, turn off your cellular phone and unhook the jack of your computer and see how long you can survive without it. References: Chomsky, Noam Herman, Edward (1988, 2002). Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media. New York: Pantheon. Gauntlett, D. (1998) Ten things wrong with the effects model' in Harindranath, R. , and Linne, O. , (eds) Approaches to Audiences A Reader London: Arnold. http://www. leeds. ac. uk/ics/theory/effects. htm Fisher, Deborah , Hill, Douglas , Grube, Joel , Gruber, Enil . (2004) Sex on American Television: An Analysis Across Program Genres and Network Types. Journal of Broadcasting Electronic Media 48:4, 529-553 Gerbner, G. , Gross, L. , Morgan, M. , Signorielli, N. (1986). Living with television: The dynamics of the cultivation process. In J. Bryant D. Zillman (Eds), Perspectives on media effects (pp. 17-40). Hilldale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Innovations in Technology for Hospitals

Innovations in Technology for Hospitals Public service Innovations through ICT  Ã¢â‚¬Å"eHospital-Dompe† Project â€Å"mChanneling† – a story of transformation of a government hospital in Sri Lanka. Abstract: District Hospital – Dompe is in Gampaha District, having the bed strength of 102 beds under Ministry of Health- Western Province. It’s †eHospital-Dompe† project is the most successful electronic transformation of a government hospital in Sri Lanka. The â€Å"eHospital Dompe† project was aimed making a District Hospital in Sri Lanka more efficient through adaptation of ICT solutions and appropriate change management. â€Å"mChanneling† solution is the first ever automated appointment system in a government hospital in Sri Lanka it is a service provided FREE OF CHARGE to deliver more patient friendly service. A unique public private sector partnership of Ministry of Health, all categories of hospital health staff, ICTA, Well wishers from the community, software hardware providers, presidential secretariat mobile partner were among the cornerstones of the success of this project. Keywords: eHospital-Dompe, Government Hospital, ICT, Change Management, mChanneling Introduction: This project was conceived in 2010. At that time the District Hospital, Dompe was an ordinary government hospital. The hospital was disorganized, overcrowded and there were unnecessary delays that compromised total patient care. The author, the hospital administration, and the hospital staff wanted to change the situation and make the hospital more efficient. Under the guidance of Regional Director of Health Services-Gampaha and Acting Director of the Hospital, the author, with the help of all categories of hospital staff launched a programme to provide efficient health care. The programme included attitude changing, improving moral, building up of team spirit and obtaining optimal use of the abilities of the staff. In addition re-arrangement of the hospital setting, provision of specific accesses to each service points especially emergency access and improving the quality of care provided, were also included into the programme. A new patient Registration Desk, Queue Management Centre, and a Reception Desk were established and 5s concepts were introduced. In addition, an uninterrupted power supply solution was installed with the assistance of donors in the community. Objectives: Rearrangement of the hospital setting to provide a hassle-free service Provision of efficient health care service Uplifting of quality of care provided into international standards The ultimate goal is to have a â€Å" Happy Content Patient â€Å" The ICT Solution – Background: We believed that an information technology solution would help make the hospital more efficient and approached the Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA) for support. The ICTA’s â€Å"eSociety† initiative supported us with a grant of Rs.4,150,000.00 for wired networking, computer hardware, and software. This was facilitated by Director, re-engineering government programme, Head of eSociety initiative and Project Manager for eHealth of ICTA. We visited Base Hospital-Karawanella where an ICT system was already in place. This enabled us to get an idea of the software that was available. We found that the software had to be customized to make it suitable for our hospital. After extensive discussions Lunar Technologies, Kalutara, under the direct guidance of the author and his team, developed a new system [Hospital Health Information Management System (HHIMS) Version 1.2]. This system has undergone several revisions since then. It is now available as free and open source software that could be downloaded, installed, and used by anyone. This was facilitated by the ICTA. To deploy the software solution, we networked all the Units of the Hospital, and bought an in-house server [Processor – Quad core E5530 Xeon 2.4 Ghz]. All the networking was wired and was done by Sri Lanka Telecom Services. All the service points/units were provided with a computer [A total of 41 computers: 31 were desktops (processor – Dual core) and 10 were laptops (processor i3)]. Sri Lanka Telecom Services was also the hardware provider. The system was inaugurated on 27 December 2011 under the patronage of Secretary, Ministry of Health (Western Province) and Regional Director of Health Services-Gampaha. The Process: In this project, all the units of the hospital are networked (wired) with an in-house server. All the service points/units are provided with computers linked each other. When a patient comes to the OPD, he will be registered in our system (once in life time) provided with a system generated Patient Identification Number a Patient specific Bar-Code. With this Bar-Coded Patient’s Health Card, the patient is then sent to Electronic Queue Management Centre. There, he will be given the today’s token to assign the correct place in the queue correct doctor’s chamber. Then he will be sent to doctor for consultation. All the doctors are provided with laptops bar-code scanners. When the doctor swipes the patient’s card with the barcode scanner, the doctor can get the patient’s demographic data, past medical surgical history, allergic history etc. within seconds. After the examination, the doctor enters the prescription/ procedure/lab test to the system accordingly. The patient is then sent to the relevant unit to get the ordered treatment done. When the patient goes to the dispensary, the pharmacist there can get patient’s prescription by swiping Bar-Coded Patient’s Health Card. The Laboratory, dressing room, injection room, E.T.U, Medical clinics Dental clinic are also connected to the system. All the daily reports (OPD register, Drugs dispensed, Drug Stock Balance) are generated by the system. When the patent is admitted to hospital, his medical records are updated with the relevant details at the discharge a system generated diagnosis card is issued. Three (03) backups are generated by the system automatically per day data encryption, predefined user access levels, individual usernames /passwords ensure data security. An additional feature of the system is immediate notification of notifiable diseases via email. Stand alone clinics in the hospital, such as the Medical Clinic, Family Medical Clinic, and the Screening Clinic for Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs) are also linked to the system. The DMO’s office is also linked to the system and as a result, he can monitor the hospital from his room. Advantages: The system has been in operation for approximately 2  ½ years at the time of writing this paper. The system holds data of well over 50,000 patients. The OPD has become methodical, efficient and trouble free after the implementation of the IT solution. Two minor staff officers who manually did daily registrations have been re assigned for other tasks now, saving manpower. The OPD staff is benefited from the electronic queue management system and system generated daily reports. They enjoy their work in a paperless environment. There is no more manual searching of previous prescriptions as there are no chits books. The patients are easily managed now as they have faith in the system. The doctors have benefited by getting accurate, comprehensive past histories with medication, investigations and demographic data. They get to know about the availability of drugs immediately. They can plan the patient’s management and easily retrieve lab reports .With all those information doctors can make a more accurate diagnosis. At the same time they are directed for rational use of drugs, especially antibiotics. Doctors can also make sure that the ordered procedure was performed correctly at the relevant unit. The doctors can have a look at statistics for their personal interest (e.g. the number of patients treated by him/her). The nurses in each unit have benefited by their tasks being made easy as they get clear orders from doctors in advance of the patients’ arrival, which helps them to get ready for the treatment. In addition, they get system generated daily summaries. The pharmacists /dispensers are able to get legible prescriptions with automatic calculation of the number of tablets, making their duty easier. In addition, automatic stock balancing has reduced their workload made the dispensary process methodical accurate. The Medical Laboratory Technicians receives properly labeled samples. The administrator is also benefited as he/she can monitor the whole process sitting in his/her room. Obtaining statistical data is made easy by the system and it helps to utilize manpower optimally. Remote monitoring, easy statistical works, optimal resource utilization made health administrators duty easy. But, the main advantage is for the patients. With the help of the system they get better care. They will be able to have a personal medical record into international standards able to get treated in a short period of time in patient friendly environment. â€Å"mChanneling†- a FREE appointment system : mChanneling solution is the first ever automated appointment system in a government hospital in Sri Lanka it is a service provided FREE OF CHARGE. It is a joint effort of Presidential Secretariat, Ministry of Health(Western Province),ICTA, Regional Director of Health Services(Gampaha) District Hospital-Dompe. The free health system in Sri Lanka is obviously providing a service with quality to the nation. Though the quality of care is high, the efficiency of service is questionable at the O.P.D level. To overcome that delay seen in the O.P.D at D.H Dompe, an IT solution had been implemented 02  ½ years back functioning well by the moment. When the traditional paper based O.P.D is functioning, a patient’s overall average waiting time at the O.P.D is 01 hour 41 minutes. With the implementation of the IT solution the average waiting time has been reduced to 55 minutes. But with the busy life style even that time period seemed to be longer our attempt was to decrease the waiting time up to 30 minutes. To reach our goal, we planned an automated appointment system called â€Å"mChanneling† for the O.P.D of District Hospital-Dompe. As it is a timely need of entire Sri Lankan health sector, the design was made to be more simplified usable in any hospital in Sri Lanka. The solution can be functioned with only one computer with a internet access at any hospital the hospital need not to be a eHospital(computerized hospital) also. The mchanneling platform is a web-based one the administrative powers are with hospital authorities. The number of appointments to be issued each day is decided by the hospital itself uploaded. The hosting organization (Mobitel) is then open it to the general public by an IVR (interactive voice response).The hosting is FREE of charge the channeling is also FREE. The patient has to bear the call charge only there are no hidden charges. The assigned mchanneling HOT LINE Number is 0711-370370 . When a patient calls to the hotline, it is connected with Mobitel’s server redirected with a predefined voice IVR. It provides appointments only from District Hospital-Dompe Base Hospital-Dambadeniya by the moment. The patient can select the preferred language should go on as directed by the voice IVR. The automated IVR will ask for the date for the appointment the patient has to select time of the appointment. Each appointment contains 15 minutes any caller can obtain only 02 appointments per day by one phone number. The patients are facilitated to obtain an appointment within next 07 days. At the end of voice IVR, the patient has to confirm the selected appointment/appointments. Then the patient will receive a system generated confirmation SMS with details of appointment a reservation ID. The patient is asked to come to the hospital with the details of the obtained appointment- the SMS or the phone number from w hich the appointment is obtained or the Reservation ID . The reception desk staff of the hospital is facilitated with an access to mChanneling web interface able to track the reserved appointments online real time. The patients with appointments are provided with a PRIORITY CARD at the reception desk sent to the doctor assigned for mChanneling, according to the appointment time. The doctor is doing the consultation ordering the medicines as usual (At D.H Dompe it is done through the already implemented IT solution). Then the patient is sent to the special mChanneling counter at the dispensary for a priority service his priority card is collected. Advantages: The main advantage of mChanneling is to the general public as this solution enlighten the free health system in Sri Lanka by making it more patient friendly. The patients will experience an efficient service with minimal time spent at the Hospital. The Electronic Health Records Computerized Hospital Health Information Management System will be adding strength to the patients’ overall experience. The hospital staff will also benefitted by getting to know about the patients who supposed to visit the hospital, beforehand. The administrators will be able to allocate resources manpower accordingly. In addition, the health staff can experience the online web applications its usability it will lead to a carrier improvement of the staff making a more competent health worker. Challenges: There are two main challenges in the Sri Lankan health sector that prevents embracing of IT. First is the complexity of the health sector and the other is poor knowledge and attitudes towards IT. We launched several programmes to overcome the later problem. Several lectures, workshops, competitions (e.g. Best Worker Competition), 5S programmes, productivity programmes (Institutional/Home/Green Productivity) and Out Bound Training(O.B.T) were arranged for all health staff with the view to changing their attitudes. All of our staff has been given basic computer training under the guidance and direct involvement of the Faculty of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Moratuwa. Head of the Department, guided the programme. Then we selected 60 staff members who were directly involved with the system and provided them with software training. A selected small group was trained on basics of hardware as well. They were refreshed and guided regularly by the author. Small user group d iscussions were conducted to understand and improve the usability.The community was convinced by posters, banners public addressing system of the hospital. The patients got used to the new system rapidly. They were intelligent enough to understand the value of this project and it made our task easier. The Acceptance: Under the ethical clearance of Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya with the approval of Education , Training Research Unit of Ministry of Health, a cross sectional descriptive study was conducted to access the Customer satisfaction on using Information Technology in treating patients at Out Patient Department. 384 patients were interviewed. Median age of the study group was 42 years (Inter-quartile range: 33 to 52) and 297 (77%) were females. Among them, 334 (87%) had never used computers, 230 (60%) were not employed and 358 (93%) had more than one visit to the hospital. Three hundred eighty (99%) were highly impressed on using a personal health identification card and 336 (87%) believed their personal data is secured. Majority were â€Å"highly impressed† for using Information Technology on obtaining appointment at registration counter (n=381, 99%), during doctor consultation (n=374, 97%) and on obtaining drugs at pharmacy (n=375, 98%). Three hundred and fifty (91.1%) believed overall time spent at hospital has reduced as a result of less waiting time at registration counter (n=369, 96%), doctor channeling (n=367, 95%) and pharmacy (n=346, 90%) and all felt the quality of care has improved after introducing Information Technology. All patients recommended extending the present syst em to other clinics and wards. The way forward .. The system has been in successful operation for 2  ½ years by now. We always try to improve the software and its usability to improve the quality of health care provided by our hospital. Improving the patient’s health card with the Health Identification Number (HIN) proposed by the Ministry of Health is one of our priority expectations. We are working hard to ensure a more patient friendly service with use of Information Technology . Infrastructure development within our hospital is also necessary for the sustainability of the project. The electronic Bed Head Ticket and inter connectivity with other hospitals are needed to have an effective electronic transformation and these are within our reach. Conclusion: With the experience gathered through the â€Å"eHospital-Dompe† project, we can conclude that appropriate use of ICT can definitely contribute to improvement in the quality of care provided in the Sri Lankan healthcare sector. Electronic Resources: 1. eHospital- Dompe Project in YouTube. Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YqujXDfHHQ 2.Hospital Health Information Management System (HHIMS) Can be downloaded from git://gitrepo.icta.lk/hhims/hhims.git By: Dr. K.B Sampath Kulathilaka (M.B.B.S(Sri Lanka), Cet. In Health Programme Management( Uni. Of Colombo) Medical Officer In-charge of â€Å" eHospital-Dompe â€Å" Project â€Å"mChanneling† District Hospital – Dompe 0777-577927 / 0718-672770 Email ; [emailprotected]