Patients' Perspectives of Accessibility and Digital Delivery of Factual Content Provided by Official Medical and Surgical Specialty Society Websites: A Qualitative Assessment

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Health care websites provide a valuable resource of health information to online consumers, especially patients. Official surgical and medical society websites should be a reliable first point of contact. OBJECTIVE: The primary aim of this study was to quantitatively assess medical and surgical society websites for content and highlight the essential features required for a high-quality, user-friendly society website. METHODS: Twenty specialty association websites from each of the regions, Australia, UK, Canada, Europe, and the USA were selected for a total of 100 websites. Medical and surgical specialities were consistent across each region. Each website was systematically and c..