Dataset Information

Critical Evaluation of the Efficiency of Colorectal Fellowship Websites: Cross-sectional Study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Websites are an important source of information for fellowship applicants, as they can influence ongoing interest and potential program selection.

Objective

This study aims to evaluate the current state of colorectal fellowship websites.

Methods

This cross-sectional study evaluates the quantity and quality of information available on websites of colorectal fellowship programs verified by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education in 2019.

Results

A total of 63 colorectal fellowships were included for evaluation. Websites were surveyed for content items that previous studies have found to be influential to program applicants. The 58 (91%) programs with a functional website were evaluated using an information index (calculated as a function of availability of content items concerning education, application, personnel, and benefits) and an interactive index (calculated as a function of accessibility and usability of the webpage). Programs had a median total score of 27.8 (IQR 21.5-34.5) of 79. The median score for the interactive index was 7.5 of 15 and for the information index was 20 of 64. The median scores for website application, education, personnel, and benefits or life considerations were 5, 5.5, 3.3, and 4 of 13, 24, 13, and 14, respectively. There was no difference in total score between programs in different geographical regions (P=.46).

Conclusions

Currently, colorectal surgery fellowship program websites do not provide enough content for applicants to make informed decisions. All training programs, regardless of specialty, should evaluate and improve their digital footprint to ensure their websites are accessible and provide the information desired by applicants.

SUBMITTER: Yan Q

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8556633 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Similar Datasets

Project description:BackgroundIn the information era, patients can easily be misled by inaccurate internet content, thus making not well-informed decisions about medical issues. Adenoid hypertrophy, one of the most common causes of chronic upper airway obstruction in children and adolescents, may lead to serious complications, including sleep apnea and craniofacial change. There have been no critical studies about the quality of websites on adenoid hypertrophy, posing a challenge for users without a medical background to determine which website offers more reliable information. Moreover, the blockage of access to internet search tools such as Google, Yahoo, and others has created an isolated internet environment for the enormous user population in mainland China. Differences in internet legislation, the commercial environment, and culture are also likely to result in varied quality of online health information inside and outside mainland China. To date, no study has compared the quality difference between mainland Chinese and English websites.ObjectiveThe aims of this study were to (1) analyze the quality of websites about adenoid hypertrophy accessible by patients, (2) investigate the quality differences between Chinese and English websites, (3) determine which type of website (eg, government-sponsored, health care provider) is more reliable in terms of medical information, and (4) determine whether the blockage of foreign websites is hindering users' accessibility to better-quality websites in mainland China.MethodsThe first 100 websites (excluding advertisements) displayed on the top three search engines worldwide and in mainland China for the key search term "enlarged adenoids" were collected as the data source. The websites were evaluated based on accessibility, accountability, interactivity, structure, and content quality (accuracy, content coverage, and objectivity). Cohen κ was calculated, and one-way ANOVA and the Kruskal-Wallis test were performed to compare the results between groups and subgroups.ResultsThe mean score for the content quality of English websites was significantly higher than that of Chinese websites (6.16 vs 4.94, P=.03 for Google, Bing, and Yahoo; 6.16 vs 4.16, P<.001 for Baidu, Sougou, and Bing China). Chinese users who are not influenced by the Internet Censorship System are more likely to access higher-quality online medical information (4.94 vs 4.16, P=.02). In within-group Student-Newman-Keuls q posthoc analysis, professional organization and government-sponsored websites were generally of better quality than other websites for both Chinese and English websites (P<.05).ConclusionsGenerally, the English websites on adenoid hypertrophy are of better quality than Chinese websites; thus, Chinese users residing outside of the Chinese mainland are less influenced by inaccurate online medical information.

Project description:IntroductionThe purpose of this study was to determine which components of sports medicine fellowships are most important to applicants when reviewing fellowship websites during the application process.MethodsAn anonymous survey was distributed to 492 fellowship applicants from the 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 cycles. The survey included questions about the importance of including components of fellow education, recruitment, and experience on program websites. The weighted average of responses determined each component's rank, with 5 being "very important" and 1 being "not at all important." Responses were analyzed by application cycle, current position, and sex using the Wilcoxon rank-sum test.ResultsSixty-five applicants participated in the survey and completed the demographics section, resulting in a 13.2% response rate. According to participants, the most important components to include on fellowship websites were exposure to advanced operative sports medicine techniques (weighted average, 4.62), complexity of cases performed (4.52), and number of cases performed (4.50). Analysis demonstrated statistically significant differences in opinion between application cycles for flexibility for conducting a remote interview (P = .0074), jobs obtained by previous fellows (P = .019), national rank of department (P = .021), program's geographic location (P = .026), protected academic time (P = .038), current positions for criteria for fellows' performance evaluations (P = .028), program's geographic location (P = .0097), and protected academic time (P = .0079). There were statistically significant differences in opinion between current positions regarding flexibility for conducting a remote interview (P = .0026), jobs obtained by previous fellows (P = .012), and national rank of department (P = .0013).ConclusionsOrthopaedic sports medicine fellowship applicants believe that it is most important to include information about the volume and complexity of fellows' cases and their day-to-day commitments on program websites.Clinical relevanceThis information would enable applicants to identify programs that will support professional development and allow program directors to communicate expectations.

Project description:BackgroundThe internet has become a popular platform for patients to obtain information and to review the health care providers they interact with. However, little is known about the digital footprint of vascular surgeons and their interactions with patients on social media.ObjectiveThis study aims to understand the activity of academic vascular surgeons on physician rating websites.MethodsInformation on attending vascular surgeons affiliated with vascular residency or with fellowships in the Southern Association for Vascular Surgery (SAVS) was collected from public sources. A listing of websites containing physician ratings was obtained via literature reviews and Google search. Open access websites with either qualitative or quantitative evaluations of vascular surgeons were included. Closed access websites were excluded. Ranking scores from each website were converted to a standard 5-point scale for comparison.ResultsA total of 6238 quantitative and 967 qualitative reviews were written for 287 physicians (236 males, 82.2%) across 16 websites that met the inclusion criteria out of the 62 websites screened. The surgeons affiliated with the integrated vascular residency and vascular fellowship programs in SAVS had a median of 8 (IQR 7-10) profiles across 16 websites, with only 1 surgeon having no web presence in any of the websites. The median number of quantitative ratings for each physician was 17 (IQR 6-34, range 1-137) and the median number of narrative reviews was 3 (IQR 2-6, range 1-28). Vitals, WebMD, and Healthgrades were the only 3 websites where over a quarter of the physicians were rated, and those rated had more than 5 ratings on average. The median score for the quantitative reviews was 4.4 (IQR 4.0-4.9). Most narrative reviews (758/967, 78.4%) were positive, but 20.2% (195/967) were considered negative; only 1.4% (14/967) were considered equivocal. No statistical difference was found in the number of quantitative reviews or in the overall average score in the physician ratings between physicians with social media profiles and those without social media profiles (departmental social media profile: median 23 vs 15, respectively, P=.22; personal social media profile: median 19 vs 14, respectively, P=.08).ConclusionsThe representation of vascular surgeons on physician rating websites is varied, with the majority of the vascular surgeons represented only in half of the physician rating websites The number of quantitative and qualitative reviews for academic vascular surgeons is low. No vascular surgeon responded to any of the reviews. The activity of vascular surgeons in this area of social media is low and reflects only a small digital footprint that patients can reach and review.

Project description:BackgroundBlood 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.MethodsIdentified 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).ResultsFor 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).ConclusionsThis 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.

Project description:BACKGROUND:Today, there are various short- and long-acting contraceptive alternatives available for those who wish to prevent unintended pregnancy. Long-acting reversible contraception are considered effective methods with a high user satisfaction. High-quality information about contraception is essential in order to empower individuals to reach informed decisions based on sufficient knowledge. Use of the Web for information about contraception is widespread, and there is a risk that those who use it for this purpose could come in contact with sources of low quality. OBJECTIVE:The overarching aim was to investigate the quality of websites about long-acting reversible contraception. METHODS:Swedish client-oriented websites were identified through searches in Google (n = 46 included websites). Reliability and information about long-acting reversible contraceptive choices were assessed by two assessors with the DISCERN instrument, transparency was analyzed with the Journal of the American Medical Association benchmarks, completeness was assessed with inductive content analysis and readability was analyzed with Readability Index. RESULTS:The mean DISCERN was 44.1/80 (SD 7.7) for total score, 19.7/40 (SD 3.7) for reliability, 22.1/35 (SD 4.1) for information about long-acting reversible contraceptive choices, and 2.3/5 (SD 1.1) for overall quality. A majority of the included websites had low quality with regard to what sources were used to compile the information (n = 41/46, 89%), when the information was produced (n = 40/46, 87%), and if it provided additional sources of support and information (n = 30/46, 65%). Less than half of the websites adhered to any of the JAMA benchmarks. We identified 23 categories of comprehensiveness. The most frequent was contraceptive mechanism (n = 39/46, 85%) and the least frequent was when contraception may be initiated following an abortion (n = 3/46, 7%). The mean Readability Index was 42.5 (SD 6.3, Range 29-55) indicating moderate to difficult readability levels, corresponding to a grade level of 9. CONCLUSIONS:The quality of client-oriented websites about long-acting reversible contraception is poor. There is an undeniable need to support and guide laypersons that intend to use web-based sources about contraceptive alternatives, so that they may reach informed decisions based on sufficient knowledge.