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Currents At our June 22 communications meeting, Jerry Mallard, director of Television Services and the Health Communications Network, spoke to the management team about the network, which supplies 120 hours of continuing medical education programming each month to practicing health professionals across South Carolina. HCN's other services include loaning video tapes of its programs to employees, duplicating HCN programs on video tapes, and offering production and engineering consultative services.  HCN programs can be viewed at convenient locations throughout MUSC. HCN programs offer good, low-cost training and development opportunities for Medical Center employees, and should help managers demonstrate how we fulfill JCAHO training-related standards. We have included all managers in a recently updated mailing list to receive HCN's monthly Communicator, which lists the schedule of televised programs. Any area that does not receive a copy of Communicator should contact HCN at 792-4988. We encourage managers to make suitable programs available to their staffs.  As mentioned in the previous Currents, we are designating work teams to address a number of issues related to the MUSC Hospital Authority. Some of the issues to be addressed can be resolved with relative ease, while others are complex. Work teams will focus on the following issues: procurement/materials management, physical plant/maintenance/construction, human resources, financial systems, shared services, fixed assets, space allocation, risk management, public safety and other related matters. These work teams will develop plans to ensure high quality of services and support, while being cost-conscious. The overall guiding principle will be to fulfill MUSC's education, patient care and research mission. This newsletter will provide periodic updates about matters of interest being addressed by the work teams.  W. Stuart Smith Vice President for Clinical Operations Executive Director, MUSC Medical Center  Departments should complete assessment plan form Y2K John Franklin, director of Support Services, said the president's office recently issued a memorandum about year 2000 inventory and planning. The memorandum requested that each department complete an assessment and contingency plan form. Franklin said his team will complete this form for all Medical Center departments. Inpatient Equipment Distribution Center  Franklin also announced that an inpatient equipment distribution center will open July 6 in room 106 of Children's Hospital. The center will operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, including holidays. The center will pick up, deliver, clean, maintain, track and keep an inventory of medical equipment. Initial equipment involved includes infusion pumps, external feeding pumps, sequential compression devices, foot pumps and hypothermia units. The center's main number is 792-3986, pager 18116.