Department of Information Science, College of Computing Sciences and Engineering, Kuwait University, Adailiya, Kuwait.
Health Informatics Unit, Dasman Diabetes Institute, Sharq, Kuwait.
BMC Med Inform Decis Mak. 2018 Sep 24;18(1):82. doi: 10.1186/s12911-018-0660-4.
Current advances in information and communication technology have made accessing and obtaining health-related information easier than ever before. Today, many hospital websites use a patient-centric approach to promote engagement and encourage learning for better health-related decision making. However, little is known about the current state of hospital websites in the State of Kuwait. This study aims to evaluate hospital websites in Kuwait and offer recommendations to improve patient engagement and access to health information.
This study employs a cross-sectional analytical approach to evaluate hospital websites in Kuwait in 2017. The websites of hospitals that provide in-patient services were identified through a structured search. Only active websites that were available in either English or Arabic were considered. The evaluation of the websites involved a combination of automated and expert- based evaluation methods and was performed across four dimensions: Accessibility, Usability, Presence, and Content.
Nine hospitals met the inclusion criteria. Most of the websites fell short in all four dimensions. None of the websites passed the accessibility guidelines. The usability of websites varied between hospitals. Overall, the majority of hospitals in Kuwait have rudimentary online presence and their websites require careful reassessment with respect to design, content, and user experience. The websites focus primarily on promoting services provided by the hospital rather than engaging and communicating with patients or providing evidence-based information.
Healthcare organization and website developers should follow best-practices to improve their websites taking into consideration the quality, readability, objectivity, coverage and currency of the information as well as the design of their websites. Hospitals should leverage social media to gain outreach and better engagement with consumers. The websites should be offered in additional languages commonly spoken by people living in Kuwait. Efforts should be made to ensure that health information on hospital websites are evidence-based and checked by healthcare professionals.
当前信息和通信技术的进步使得获取健康相关信息变得前所未有的便捷。如今，许多医院网站采用以患者为中心的方法来促进参与度，鼓励学习，以做出更好的健康相关决策。然而，目前对于科威特医院网站的现状却知之甚少。本研究旨在评估科威特医院网站，并提供建议以改善患者参与度和获取健康信息的途径。
本研究采用横断面分析方法，于 2017 年评估科威特的医院网站。通过结构化搜索确定提供住院服务的医院的网站。仅考虑处于活动状态且提供英文或阿拉伯文版本的网站。对网站的评估结合了自动化和专家评估方法，并从四个维度进行：可访问性、可用性、存在度和内容。
符合纳入标准的医院有 9 家。大多数网站在所有四个维度上都表现不佳。没有一个网站符合可访问性准则。网站的可用性在医院之间存在差异。总体而言，科威特的大多数医院都具有基本的在线存在，其网站在设计、内容和用户体验方面需要仔细重新评估。这些网站主要侧重于宣传医院提供的服务，而不是与患者互动和沟通，或提供基于证据的信息。
医疗保健组织和网站开发人员应遵循最佳实践，改进其网站，考虑信息的质量、可读性、客观性、涵盖范围和时效性，以及网站的设计。医院应利用社交媒体扩大覆盖面并更好地与消费者互动。网站应提供科威特居民常用的其他语言版本。应努力确保医院网站上的健康信息基于证据，并由医疗保健专业人员进行检查。
