Hu Huiying, Wang Jing, Zhu Ming
Department of Blood Resource Management, Institute of Blood Transfusion, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Chengdu, PR. China.
PLoS One. 2017 Aug 9;12(8):e0182748. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0182748. eCollection 2017.
Blood collection agencies worldwide are facing ongoing and increasing medical demands for blood products. Many potential donors would search related information online before making decision of whether or not to donate blood. However, there is little knowledge of the online information and services provided by blood centers in China, despite the constantly increase of internet users. Our research investigates the number of blood centers' official websites and their quality, and highlights the deficiencies that required future advances.
Identified official websites of blood centers were scored using a newly developed evaluation instrument with 42 items concerning technical aspects, information quality, information comprehensiveness and interactive services. Scores of websites were compared between blood centers with different level (provincial vs. regional blood centers) and location (blood centers located in economically developed vs. developing region).
For the 253 working official websites all the 350 blood centers in China, and the mean overall score of websites was 24.7 out of 42. 79.1% websites were rated as fair (50-75% of maximum), 5.5% as good (≥75% of maximum) and 15.4% as poor(25-50% of maximum;). Websites got very low sub-scores in information quality (mean = 3.8; range 1-8; maximum = 9) and interactive services (3.3; 0-10; 10). Higher proportions of provincial (vs. regional) blood centers and economically developed (vs. developing) blood centers had official websites (p = 0.044 and p = 0.001; respectively) with better overall quality (p<0.001 and p <0.01) and better sub-scores (in all of the four sections and in technical aspects and information quality). Website overall scores was positively correlated with the number of people served by each blood center (p< 0.001) and the donation rate of each province (p = 0.046).
This study suggests there is a need to further develop and improve official websites in China, especially for regional and inland blood centers. The poor information quality and interactive services provided by these websites is of particular concern, given the challenges in blood donor counselling and recruitment.
全球采血机构面临着对血液制品持续增长的医疗需求。许多潜在献血者在决定是否献血之前会在网上搜索相关信息。然而，尽管中国互联网用户不断增加，但对于中国血液中心提供的在线信息和服务却知之甚少。我们的研究调查了血液中心官方网站的数量及其质量，并突出了需要未来改进的不足之处。
使用一种新开发的评估工具对已确定的血液中心官方网站进行评分，该工具包含42个关于技术方面、信息质量、信息全面性和互动服务的项目。比较了不同级别（省级与地区级血液中心）和不同地理位置（位于经济发达地区与发展中地区的血液中心）的血液中心网站得分。
在中国350个血液中心的253个有效官方网站中，网站的平均总分为42分中的24.7分。79.1%的网站被评为中等（最高分数的50 - 75%），5.5%为良好（≥最高分数的75%），15.4%为较差（最高分数的25 - 50%）。网站在信息质量（平均 = 3.8；范围1 - 8；最高 = 9）和互动服务（3.3；0 - 10；10）方面的子分数非常低。省级（与地区级）血液中心以及经济发达地区（与发展中地区）血液中心拥有官方网站的比例更高（分别为p = 0.044和p = 0.001），且整体质量更好（p<0.001和p <0.01），子分数也更高（在所有四个部分以及技术方面和信息质量方面）。网站总得分与每个血液中心服务的人数（p< 0.001）以及每个省份的献血率（p = 0.046）呈正相关。
本研究表明中国需要进一步开发和改进官方网站，特别是地区级和内陆血液中心的网站。鉴于献血者咨询和招募方面的挑战，这些网站提供的信息质量差和互动服务不足尤其令人担忧。
