Background
Methods
Selection of websites for evaluation
Website | Dates assessed |
---|---|
Map of Medicine [20] | 19-21 July 2011 |
BTA [21] | 14 July −3 Aug 2011 |
GP notebook [22] | 20 July −29 Aug 2011 |
eMedicine [23] | 22-26 July 2011 |
CKS [24] | 22-27 July 2011 |
Mentor-online [25] | 20-25 July 2011 |
GP online [26] | 28 July – 1Aug 2011 |
Action on Hearing Loss [27] | 18 July - 4Aug 2011 |
patient.co.uk [28] | 18 July - 4Aug 2011 |
NHS Choices [29] | 18-21 July 2011 |
NICE [30] | 19-20 July 2011 |
Doctors.net [31] | 27-28 July 2011 and 12–13 June 2012 |
GP Mentor [32] | 12-25 July 2011 |
Website details
Reliability and quality assessment: the DISCERN questionnaire
Summative content analysis
Tool development
Website | Sudden hearing loss¶ | Significant distress¶ | Cranial nerve symptoms¶\ | Pulsatile tinnitus¶ | Unilateral hearing loss ® | Persistent tinnitus ® | Unilateral tinnitus ® | Impact on QOL ® | Anxiety | Depression | Sleep problems | Onset, causes | Tinnitus pitch/loudness | Hearing loss | Hearing difficulties | Otoscopy | Carotid bruit | General medical |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Map of Medicine
|
√√
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| √ |
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| √ |
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| √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ |
BTA
| √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | |||||||
GP notebook
|
√√
|
√√
| √ |
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| √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | |
eMedicine
| √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | |||||
CKS
|
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|
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| √ | √ |
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|
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|
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| √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | |||
Mentor-online
| √ | √ |
√√
| √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | |||||||
GP online
|
√√
| √ |
√√
| √ |
√√
| √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | ||||
Action on Hearing Loss
|
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| √ | √ |
√√
|
√√
| √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | ||
Patient.co.uk
| √ | √ | √ |
√√
| √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | |||
NHS Choices
| √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ |
Website | Ear wax removal | Ear infection | Blood pressure | Information leaflets | Educate patient | Information on self-help | Sound devices | Hearing aids | Self-help/ groups | Anti-depressants | Anxiolytics | Night sedation |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Map of Medicine
| √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | ||||
BTA
| √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ |
GP notebook
| √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | |
eMedicine
| √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | |||||
CKS
| √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | ||
Mentor-online
| √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | |||
GP online
| √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | ||
Action on Hearing Loss
| √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | |
Patient.co.uk
| √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | ||
NHS Choices
| √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ |
Conduct of content analysis
Results
Website details
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. |
Quality assessment: The DISCERN questionnaire
Website | Used by% GPs | Section 1 score | Section 2 score | Overall score | Kendall's coefficient of concordance |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Map of Medicine
| 2 | 4.6 | 2.3 | 3.5 |
Wt = 0.85, df = 2, p = 0.001 |
BTA
| 2 | 3.3 | 3.1 | 3.2 |
Wt = 0.67, df = 2, p = 0.014 |
GP notebook
| 52 | 3.5 | 2.4 | 3.1 |
Wt = 0.84, df = 2, p = 0.001 |
eMedicine
| 1 | 3.6 | 2.6 | 3.1 |
Wt = 0.45, df = 2, p = 0.002 |
CKS
| 7 | 3.9 | 1.9 | 2.9 |
Wt = 0.84, df = 2, p = 0.001 |
Mentor-online
| 15 | 3.9 | 1.6 | 2.8 |
Wt = 0.82, df = 2, p = 0.002 |
GP online
| <1 | 3.4 | 2.1 | 2.8 |
Wt = 0.76, df = 2, p = 0.004 |
Action on Hearing Loss
| 2 | 2.8 | 2.6 | 2.7 |
Wt = 0.79, df = 2, p = 0.003 |
Patient.co.uk
| 19 | 4.0 | 1.6 | 2.6 |
Wt = 0.92, df = 2, p < 0.001 |
NHS Choices
| <1 | 2.8 | 2.0 | 2.5 |
Wt = 0.75, df = 2, p = 0.005 |
DISCERN SECTION 1: Reliability of the information
DISCERN SECTION 2: Quality of the information on treatment choices
DISCERN SECTION 3: Overall quality scores
Summative content analysis
Website | Minutes (SD) |
---|---|
Map of Medicine
| 35 (0) |
BTA
| 50 (17) |
GP notebook
| 40 (5) |
eMedicine
| 55 (5) |
CKS
| 50 (5) |
Mentor-online
| 35 (9) |
GP online
| 50 (10) |
Action on Hearing Loss
| 35 (9) |
Patient.co.uk
| 45 (5) |
NHS Choice
| 35 (0) |