Internal messages in a doctor's office is more of a TODO list than an email account.
a better analogy might be http://gtdgmail.com/ - where gmail is heavily modified to make it for functional to get things done.
Gmail's breakthrough is not in it's layout, it's in it's AJAX where the browser almost feels as peppy as Outlook. Since we aren't hindered by the browser a better goal would be to be more like Outlook than Gmail. Who thinks gmail is good anyway ? http://gtdgmail.com/fixemail.htm
Although taking inspiration from other GUIs is important, the most important aspect of GUI design is that form should follow function.
That being said, what are the main functions of the internal messaging ...
