We are conducting an investigation of 'ICTs for Sending Messages
Between Consumers and their Health Care Providers' as a part of a uni
project.

I need some info on websites as a communication tool (others will look
at sms and email).

Ket questions are:
1.	What are the characteristics of websites? i.e. asynchronous, able
to accommodate illustrations, able to logically organise large amounts
of information, customisable, etc.
2.	What are their strengths and weaknesses? (include cost & time
considerations)
3.	What sorts of messages best suit the medium? 
4.	Is it appropriate for consumers to send messages using the medium,
or only receive them?
5.	What accessibility considerations should be taken into account if
the medium is to be used by consumers with a disability?

Optional Questions - further analysis:
i) From these characteristics, which components of the
healthworker-patient interaction would be suitable to conduct via a
website?
ii) And from there, how to set up the website to best suit this
communication (i.e. graphic design, information architecture,
language, etc)

I know there is a lot of info, so it would be great if could point me
in the direction of some resources where i can do the research
myself. 

I have some general info on the value of websites but would like to
get some info on their value within a medical context.

i have looked at bmj.com and about.com and hon.ch.

Thanks,

Elena

PS can i have the info in 24 hours??

---

Request for Question Clarification by czh-ga on 08 Apr 2003 10:46 PDT

Hello elena73-ga,

You have a complex, urgent, seven part question. Take a look at the
Google Answers pricing guidelines.

https://answers.google.com/answers/pricing.html

If you still need this information, I suggest that you break up your
question into several smaller ones. I think you'd have a better chance
of getting what you need. Good luck.

czh

---

Clarification of Question by elena73-ga on 08 Apr 2003 14:53 PDT

Hey, thanks for the advice. I have trimmed it down to the key issues
 
Hey.  Thanks. havn't done this before!

I have trimmed it down to the key issues about a website as an ict. I
will look into the more complex info about the medical context
myself...does this help??

Key questions are: 
1. What are the characteristics of websites? i.e. asynchronous, able 
to accommodate illustrations, able to logically organise large amounts
of information, customisable, etc. 
2. What are their strengths and weaknesses? (include cost & time 
considerations) 
3. What sorts of messages best suit the medium?  

Elena

Hello Elena,

What an interesting project! Consumer healthcare communication on the
Web is a huge topic. Implementing ICT for healthcare is constantly
growing and changing. How to design the Web site hinges on what you
want the site to accomplish. Do you want to deliver information? Do
you want to provide generic advice? Do you want to encourage patient
self-help? Do you want to allow communication between the caregiver
and the patient? Do you want to expedite administrative tasks or
improve record-keeping? All of these activities are possible. Once you
know the answers to these questions, you may also need to examine
rights to access, political and legal issues, consumer computer
literacy and ethical concerns. Exploring these issues will answer your
question about what sorts of messages suit the online medium.

I’ve collected a variety position papers, research reports, PowerPoint
presentations and health web sites to give you a broad overview of the
topic. These resources should help you get a better idea of how Web
sites can be used for communications between consumers and health care
providers.

I believe that your questions about the characteristics of Web sites
will be answered by the resources I’ve collected. As you well know,
there are hundreds/thousands of Web sites and books on the subject of
Web design and what makes a good Web site. If you need additional
information, please ask more specific questions about what you need.
I’ll be happy to clarify any part of this answer.

Good luck with your project.

czh

=====================
HEALTHCARE ICT ISSUES
=====================

http://hornstra.net/deb/SHCASanAntonioSeptember2000handout.pdf
Society for Healthcare Consumer Advocacy
Consumer Use of Websites
***** This is an 8-page presentation that covers the issues in moving
healthcare communications to the Internet. It includes lots of
statistics and Web links.

http://www.dti.gov.uk/cii/infosociety/vollebregt.ppt
e-Health Europe – The Dutch Case
Trends in Healthcare and Healthcare ICT
***** This is a 33-page ppt presentation and covers all of the issues
you raised and organizes it into a comprehensive review of the state
of the industry and plans for the future. Slide 6 for E-volution in
Healthcare  Web Services ( Phase 1 to 5) should be especially
interesting.

http://www.nhsia.nhs.uk/ppt/sup_forum/mbywater_220702.ppt
Current Changes in Healthcare ICT from Silicon Bridge Research 
***** This is a 15-page ppt presentation on UK e-health initiatives.
It’s full of excellent graphs and illustrations addressing the
questions you raised.

http://www.markle.org/about/_about_index.stm
http://www.markle.org/news/_news_ITBHresearch.stm 
The Markle Foundation 
Emerging information and communication technologies possess enormous
potential to improve people's lives. The Markle Foundation works to
realize this potential and to accelerate the use of these technologies
to address critical public needs. The foundation focuses its work in
the program areas of Policy for a Networked Society and Information
Technologies for Better Health.

Research for Information Technologies for Better Health
Research supported by the health program is primarily concerned with
corroborating the presumed value of ICT for consumers in a health
context and understanding which characteristics of systems are likely
to be most effective. Research about the scalability of existing
projects, features that patients find useful, and the potential social
resistance of patients and doctors to new systems are designed to
complement other projects that the health program supports.

http://www.deloittehce.com/hce/en/library/report.htm
Deloitte & Touche – Health Centre of Excellence – Research and Reports
***** You can review a variety of research reports from a leading
consulting firm. See especially the articles of eHealth Consumers.

http://www.library.unisa.edu.au/internet/pathfind/rural.htm
Internet resources for Rural and Remote Health
A guide developed by the University of South Australia to assist users
in finding electronic resources relating to their disciplines.
Includes links to Australian and international rural and remote health
resources, discussion lists and newsgroups, as well as links to
electronic journals, databases, government and professional
organisations.

http://www.carelink.se/files/141023_Vivian_Vimarlund%5B1%5D.ppt 
Health Informatics -- An Economic Perspective
Vivian Vimarlund, PhD, Linköping University
***** This is a 16-page ppt presentation that deals with the economic
issues of Web applications in healthcare.

http://www.thayercountyhealth.com/
This is an example of how a healthcare provider can put interactive
services and canned content online. This site provides local
information, connections with affiliated health providers and links to
a generic health information site.
http://www.thayercountyhealth.com/getpage.php?name=message
Welcome to ThayerCountyHealth.com! This interactive website is another
way we meet our mission to “Improve the health of the population by
providing high quality healthcare close to home.” Thayer County Health
Services is committed to being the provider of choice for the health
and wellness needs of the citizens of Thayer County and our
neighboring communities in Nebraska and Kansas. With that in mind,
this website will allow you a more active role in the direction of
your health and wellness.
http://www.thayerfasthealth.com/
The FASTHEALTH Web Site is an Internet-based on-line information and
communication service run by FASTHEALTH CORPORATION, a Delaware
corporation ("FASTHEALTH").

http://www.hoise.com/vmw/03/articles/index.html
Virtual Medical Worlds
Virtual Medical Worlds is a monthly Virtual Magazine on Telemedicine
and High Performance Computing and Networking for readers interested
in computer applications in medical environments.

http://europa.eu.int/comm/european_group_ethics/docs/avis13_en.pdf
Ethical Issues of Healthcare in the Information Society
***** This is a 12-page report from the European Group on Ethics in
Science and New Technologies. It discusses historical and emerging
issues of ICT in medicine.

==============================
GENERAL WEB DESIGN INFORMATION
==============================

http://www.hu.mtu.edu/~kbachand/lists.html
Fantastic Website Characteristics

http://webreference.com/
WebReference.com is about the Web and webmastery. From browsing to
authoring, HTML to advanced site design, we'll keep you in touch and
informed.

http://www.nngroup.com/
The members of Nielsen Norman Group are user experience
pioneers...they advocated user-centered design and usability before it
became popular to do so.

http://www.webstyleguide.com/index.html
by Patrick J. Lynch, Sarah Horton
Entire book is online

http://karn.ohiolink.edu/philosophy/speech_friendly.html
Speech-Friendly Website Design
This page provides a list of annotated hyperlinks to various web
resources where you can learn more about writing speech-friendly
HTML--and why you should want to.


===============
SEARCH STRATEGY
===============

website characteristics
website design elements
ict consumer healthcare
web ICT