Hospital Web Sites: Important Information and Communication Resource

Berglund Authority Level 4

by Kevin Kawamoto

INDEX:

.01 The Hospital Web Site
.02 Examples
.03 Case: Crisis Communication Tool
.04 Conclusion
.05 References

.01 The Hospital Web Site (return to index)

Will you be checking into a hospital soon? Or maybe you're interested in learning more about a hospital near your home, just in case you have to make an unexpected visit there someday. Perhaps your physician refers his patients to one particular hospital, and you'd like to learn more about that facility.

More than likely, information by and about the hospital you are interested in can be found on the Internet. Today more than 2,000 hospitals through the United States have publicly accessible Web sites. You can use a search engine like Google to find a particular hospital's Web site (if you know the name of the hospital), or you can access a Web portal such as HospitalWeb (http://adams.mgh.harvard.edu/hospitalwebusa.html) to search for a hospital Web site. HospitalWeb organizes hospital Web sites by state, so you can compare hospitals in your area, or research hospitals in other regions.

The time to do research about hospitals and hospital care is before you urgently need it. Hospital Web sites generally provide comprehensive information about the hospital – so much of it, in fact, that one could spend hours exploring the different content areas. The information you can get from a hospital Web site is often more plentiful and detailed than what any one person could tell you over the phone. The variety of information is likely not to be found in any single print publication either. While Web research doesn't necessarily take the place of asking questions of people in real time, it can greatly enhance the research process if one has the time and ability to properly navigate through the Web site.

The better informed you are about hospitals in your area, the more likely you will be able to make an informed judgment about where you should seek treatment. For example, if you are in an ambulance, are conscious and thinking clearly, and live in an area where there are multiple hospitals nearby, you may have the choice to direct the ambulance to a particular hospital. Paramedics will usually take you to the nearest hospital if there is only one nearby, but they may also take you to a hospital that is best equipped to deal with your particular medical condition if there are several hospitals to choose from. Or, if you are taken to one hospital, physicians there may recommend you be transferred, at some point, to another hospital for treatment. If you're suffering from severe physical trauma such as third-degree burns, for example, one hospital may be preferred over another because of specialized procedures and facilities available there. Sick or injured children may be referred or transferred to a hospital known for its pediatrics program. Your knowledge of hospitals, especially those in your area, can help you understand these choices and provide input about your own care. (Of course, one's health insurance policy often influences treatment options.)

Hospitals can vary in terms of their size, emergency rooms, reputation, specialty areas, management structure, affiliations, and in many other ways. Their Web sites are one way to compare different hospitals side by side. Some hospitals are huge entities, affiliated with a research university, and provide a full-range of medial and other services. Others are smaller community hospitals that offer limited treatment options and, perhaps, partner with other hospitals so they can offer a wider range of services.

.02 Examples (return to index)

The following list contains examples of the kinds of information you'd find on hospital Web site. Although these are based on a review of a large number of different hospital Web sites, the list is not exhaustive. Many hospitals are creative and unique in what they offer on their Web sites. Others are more basic and less extensive. Here are some of the more important pieces of information to look for:

1. About Us: A general description of the hospital, its mission and vision, origins, strengths, self-presentation, and so forth. The About Us statement is a good place to start when seeking general information about a hospital.
2. Directory of clinics, departments, physicians and other useful contact information.
3. Description of specialty areas (e.g., cardiac services, stroke and rehabilitation programs, pediatrics, childbirth center, etc.) Clinic hours of operation.
4. Billing and other financial information. Insurance coverage questions and answers.
5. Patient rights and responsibilities, privacy practices and other notices.
6. Special services (e.g., interpreter services, spiritual counseling, gift shop, pet or music therapy, etc.)
7. Description of In-patient services and Out-patient services.
8. Physician and other medical staff bios. "Staff spotlights."
9. Photographs of hospital facilities, personnel and others.
10. Maps (hospital campus, buildings, community). "How to get here" description.
11. How to prepare for your hospital visit.
12. Information about whether the hospital is affiliated with a university, a religious organization, government, or national health care organization. Is the hospital "for-profit" or "non-profit"?
13. Link to articles or press releases about the hospital. Health advisories.
14. "What's New?" section.
15. Link to hospital newsletters and other publications or marketing/advertising material such as clinic brochures or special procedures.
16. Employment and volunteer opportunities.
17. Patient stories and testimonials.
18. Information about the organization's fundraising division, special fundraising events and ways to contribute.
19. Community classes, screenings and other educational programs.
20. Research conducted at the hospital, findings, opportunities to be part of research studies.

HospitalWeb [1] contains a comprehensive list of hospital Web sites in the United States. Although not every hospital Web site is listed there, it is ideal for comparing and contrasting a number of different hospitals (via their Web sites) from a single Web site.

.03 Case: Crisis Communication Tool (return to index)

Hospital Web sites can also be an important media and community relations tool. During times of crisis, such as a disaster or a high-profile criminal or celebrity case, the volume of media inquiries can easily overwhelm a hospital's public relations personnel.

One way of dealing with these crisis inquiries is to create a dedicated home page on a hospital's Web site to provide basic background information, press releases, updates, official statements, links to related Web sites (e.g., a county agency, law enforcement, public health information, etc.) and even photographs and other images that can be used for news stories. A recorded message on the public relations office's phone system could direct journalists to this site. This will not resolve all the communication traffic problems but can alleviate a good part of it by reducing the high volume of repetitive questions. In all likelihood many journalists will still want to speak to a "real person." This demand can be resolved through a press conference with recommendations to visit the special home page on the hospital's Web site for more information and updates. This is also a more controlled way of releasing information, allowing the hospital to reveal only what it feels comfortable discussing publicly and protecting patients' privacy.

One example of a hospital Web site that was used to deal with overwhelming numbers of media inquiries occurred in October 1998, when the brutal beating of a 22-year-old University of Wyoming student named Matthew Shepard generated intense national media attention. The Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins, Colorado, where Shepard was being treated (he eventually died from his injuries), was swamped with media inquiries. The hospital used its Web site and a call-in message system as sources of news and information about Shepard and directed the journalists and the public to use those services. The Web site received thousands of visitors. The hospital provided an e-mail address for people to write to Matthew Shepard and his family to express their thoughts. Press releases on the Web site provide regular, fairly detailed updates, including statements from the Shepard family. Matthew Shepard died on October 12. A press release by the hospital on October 23 said that information about Matthew Shepard on its Web site was accessed 650,000 times. The hospital's Web hosting service said that number was an underestimation by about 25 percent, which means information was accessed more than 800,000 times. The Shepard family had received more than 15,000 e-mails. The hospital continued to use its Web site to update the media and public about Matthew Shepard (e.g., funeral plans, donations to a fund in his name, etc.) weeks after his death [2].

.04 Conclusion (return to index)

While hospital Web sites can be an important and hefty source of news and information, they are not objective sources. Like any business, hospitals will put their best foot forward when presenting themselves on a public medium, such as the Web. Because the hospital controls the content on its own Web site, you are unlikely to find critical information about the hospital there.

Hence, when researching hospitals, one should go a step further and examine more objective or neutral evaluations of a hospital's quality. Looking up archived news articles about a hospital in the local newspaper can provide a different perspective on a hospital's quality, revealing controversies and problems that a hospital Web site either ignored or discussed with its own particular "spin."

Publications such as U.S. News and World Report and Consumer Reports occasionally evaluate hospital quality based on its own set of research criteria.

A number of Web sites provide hospital evaluations to the public, sometimes for free, and sometimes for a fee. Here are some that were listed in the January 2003 issue of Consumer Reports magazine, with the caveat that "the idea of hospital report cards is so new that there's no standardized way of presenting the reports or agreement on what aspects of care should be measured" [3]. That said, here is the list:

Guide to Hospitals
Consumers' Checkbook
www.checkbook.org

Hospital Report Cards
Health Grades Inc.
www.healthgrades.com

Quality Check
Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations
www.jcaho.org

Health Care Choices
www.healthcarechoices.org

Hospital Profile Consumer Guide
www.hospitalprofiles.org

Some government agencies also make hospital evaluations available on the Web. A state government Web site is a good place to start looking for these evaluations.

Going to a hospital for treatment is a serious episode in one's life. Preparation and knowledge can make the experience more comfortable. Savvy consumers of health information should at least avail themselves of all the sources listed here when seeking information about hospitals. Hospital Web sites are a growing and useful component of health informatics [4].

.05 References (return to index)

[1] See HospitalWeb at http://adams.mgh.harvard.edu/hospitalwebusa.html.

[2] Information discussed here obtained from the Poudre Valley Hospital Web site archive of press releases during the time period in question and other news sources.

[3] Consumer Reports, January 2003, p. 15.

[4] For other columns related to health informatics, see:

"Health Information Online Abundant and Varied,"
http://bcis.pacificu.edu/journal/2002/11/kawamoto.php.

"Teaching Students About Cyberhealth Information,"
http://bcis.pacificu.edu/journal/2003/01/kawamoto.php.

"Older Adults and the Internet,"
http://bcis.pacificu.edu/journal/2003/02/kawamoto.php.

"Computer Technology in Health Care Settings"
http://bcis.pacificu.edu/journal/2003/04/kawamoto.php

"Privacy and Personal Health Information"
http://bcis.pacificu.edu/journal/2003/06/kawamoto.php

"Healthy Learning Can Be Fun: Digital Media and Health Education"
http://bcis.pacificu.edu/journal/2003/07/kawamoto.php