Download An analysis of surgical and medical society websites in Australia, UK

An Analysis of Surgical and Medical Society-Association Websites in Australia, Canada,
Europe, UK and the USA: An Assessment of Quality and Variability of Health Information
Introduction and Objectives: Official surgical and medical society-association websites are an
invaluable resource of health information for professionals and patients. Within this niche of websites
the quality of information remains variable. We aim to systematically assess these websites for
content and delivery of health information and highlight the essential key features required for a high
quality society website.
Materials and Methods: There are 100 society websites across the nine surgical and various
medical sub-specialities in Australia, UK, Canada and the USA were selected via Internet search
engines. Each website was systematically and critically analysed for: easily accessible patient
information, downloadable information, statement of recent update, website links and multimedia
usage.
Results: There were 39 (39%) out of 100 websites that had information tab for patients on their
respective homepage while 41 (41%) have access to download information from the websites. Out of
100, 35% involved lifestyle information, 39% had procedure explanation while 23% had drug
information. Just about quarter (27%) had either pictures, videos and or other forms of multimedia
posted. Most (48%) of the websites were updated within a month period from date of review and 49%
had been reviewed within a year.
Conclusion: The majority of the specialty healthcare societies-associations were quite active with
their website updates. However, less than half of all websites were not patient accessible with the
primary focus on health professionals and most requiring login for information access. Specialty
healthcare societies-associations’ websites need to become more education-focused for patients and
other health professionals if they are to be the lead “voice” in their area of practice and to improve
their craft group’s profile within the wider community.