Comparative Assessment of Websites of Public and Private Hospitals in Isfahan, Iran

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Maryam Jahanbakhsh 1
Majid Matinfar 2
Sakineh Saghaeiannejad-Isfahani 3
Akbar Hassanzadeh 4
Habibollah Nikafraz 5
1 Lecturer, Health Information Management, Research Center of Information Technology in Health Affairs AND Department of Management and Health Information Technology, School of Management and Medical Information, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran
2 MSc Student, Health Information Technology, Department of Management and Health Information Technology, School of Management and Medical Information, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran
3 Lecturer, Educational Management, Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran
4 Lecturer, Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, School of Health, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran
5 MSc, Information Technology Management, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran
Abstract
Introduction: Hospital websites have a high potential for providing information and services to customers. The assessment and comparison of hospital websites determine the extent of their utilization and contributes to the formation of constructive competition between hospitals. Therefore, the present study was conducted with the aim of comparative assessment of the websites of public and private hospitals.Methods: This applied research is an analytical-descriptive study and was conducted in 2017. The study population included 13 public hospital websites and 3 private hospital websites in Isfahan, Iran. The data were gathered through a checklist based on 11 main and 69 sub-criteria and analyzed by inferential statistics.Results: There was a significant difference between the average of scores obtained from public and private hospitals’ websites in terms of the 4 main criteria including contact information and access methods, admission service and reservation, features, design and updating of pages and public relations. However, there was no significant difference between the average of scores obtained in terms of 7 other criteria and the overall score.Conclusion: The assessed websites did not fully utilize web capabilities and did not have a favorable status. Therefore, according to the results of this research, the authorities in this area must provide the information and services to the customers in a desirable way so that they can compete with other hospitals in order to attract more customers and improve customer satisfaction.

Keywords

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Health Information Management
Volume 14, Issue 5 - Serial Number 5
Autumn 2017
Pages 199-204