Table 4 Details of 10 healthcare websites that were assessed in this study
Website | Intended purpose | Produced by | Targets clinicians? | Functionality | Accreditation | Links to.. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Map of Medicine[20] | Provides care maps used to establish new services, manage referrals and communicate across care settings. | Commercial, Hearst Business Media. | Yes, for GPs and secondary health care. | Homepage confusing but maps themselves easy to navigate. | The Information Standard. | AOHL, BTA, CKS, PAT. DH GPG. |
British Tinnitus Association[21] | Provides support and information for people with tinnitus. | Registered charity. | Yes, dedicated section. | Easy navigate, clearly marked, menu bar helpful. However lots of scrolling needed, and cannot use the ‘back’ button. | The Information Standard. | AOHL. |
GP Notebook[22] | Provides encyclopaedic synopses focussed on the needs of GPs. | Commercial Oxbridge Solutions Ltd. | Yes, GPs. | Easy use, reliable search function. Required the use of back button to get to additional areas from the first page. | None | BTA. DH GPG. |
eMedicine[23] | To provide healthcare professionals with information to improve patient care and stay current in their practice. | Commercial - WebMD Health Professional Network. | Yes, general `healthcare. | Overly burdened with text, with few subsections, heading or summaries, making it very laborious to find particular information. | None | None |
Clinical Knowledge Summaries[24] | Aims to provide evidence-based information and practical ‘know how’ on conditions typically managed in primary care. | Government – NHS. | Yes, aimed at clinicians working in Primary and first contact care. | Easy to navigate, logical drop-downs and lists. Can get to any required information in 2 – 3 drills. | Approved by Plain English Campaign. | None |
Mentor Online[25] | Aims to provide evidence-based information for medical decision-making. | Commercial - Egton Medical Information Systems Ltd (EMIS). | Yes, medical practitioners. | Well structured but requires practice to navigate. Useful shortcuts. | None | AoHL, BTA, CKS, GPN, NHS C, PAT. |
GP Online[26] | Aims to provide GPs with news, clinical and management resources, focused CPD and educational materials. | Commercial, Haymarket Business Media. | Yes, GPs. | Site is difficult to navigate, individual pages are very long, but related information not always on the same page and difficult to find. | None | AOHL, BTA, CKS, DH GPG. |
Action On Hearing Loss[27] | Aims to support people with hearing loss or tinnitus, and promote hearing health. | Registered charity. | Yes, section for GPs. | Easy to navigate but GP section is ‘buried’ in the ‘Supporting you’ section. Search function not useful as invariably directs you to forum pages. | None | BTA |
Patient.co.uk[28] | Provides non-medical people with information about health and disease. | Commercial - Egton Medical Information Systems Ltd (EMIS) | Suggests health professionals may also find the site a useful resource. | Clear layout, but too much information on main pages. Good use of sections and tabs. | The Information Standard. HONcode standard for trustworthy health. | AOHL, BTA, CKS, GPN, NHS C, EMED. |
NHS Choices[29] | Aims to provide information on self care, from lifestyle decisions to practical aspects of using NHS services. | Government - NHS | Contains a section for healthcare professionals but not related to medical practice. | Easy to navigate but excessive text. Some very user friendly search features. | The Information Standard. | AOHL, BTA, CKS, MOM. |