Abstract

DIAZ CUENCA, Antonia  and  CHAIN NAVARRO, Celia. Content of the Webs in Spanish hospitals: An aspect pending discussion and unification. ACIMED [online]. 2008, vol.17, n.1. ISSN 1024-9435.

OBJECTIVES: To analyze the contents of the Websites in the reference hospitals in each Spanish province, including the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla. METHODS: Initially, each hospital was searched and located, and it was checked that they had a website; in that case, they were included in the investigation; in the opposite case the following hospital on the list in order of importance was searched, provided that it had more than 75 beds and more than one specialty. In all, 166 hospital Websites were analyzed, whether the institutions were private or public, and a 35-question survey was done from October 2006 to February 2007. RESULTS: Approximately 80 % of the analyzed WebPages offer information on how to reach the institution as well as a description of the medical area. More than 70 % inform about the provided services and more than 90 %, about the developed specialties. Almost 100 % offer data on how to contact the centre. Generally, more than 90 % of the sites present a uniform, agreeable and consistent design. More than 60 % of the websites do not offer their information in other languages, a necessary element for the communication with the diversity of languages existing in Spain; in more than 70 % thereis no webmaster or no way to contact it; they do not show website updating dates or ways to contact the physicians/professionals by specialty; they need patient interaction options as well as additional consultation programs, more than 80 % lack an internal search tool that can help to locate information within the site. The best evaluated websites are those of the General Hospital Complex of Albacete-Castilla, La Mancha, and Virgen de las Nieves Hospital Complex, in Granada-Andalucía. CONCLUSIONS: Although a progress is visible, the content quality of the analyzed websites is insufficient; it is necessary to unify the content criteria and to include and agree on a common policy of information for the citizens in the hospital websites.

Keywords : Health; Internet; quality; evaluation; e-health; Spain; autonomous communities.

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