Research Article

Analysis of the Patient Information Quality and Readability on Esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) on the Internet

Table 1

Assessment tool for the website quality analysis.

Search Engine  Google Bing Yahoo
Website description
URL address
Type of ownership
Position in search result
Accessibility Easy Page not found No longer exists Password-protected
Illustrations and pictures Y / N
Quality
Last information update Y / N If yes, how old?
Authorship information available, Y/ N   If yes, easy to find Y / N
If yes, is author identified as - General Public, Educational institution, Club,
Prof organization, For-profit organization., physician.
Promotional message Y / N
What is being promoted?  Product / service / advertisement / procedure
Target audience information Y/N
 Type of target audience General public / HCPs
Adequacy of content (0, No information, 3, Some information, 5, adequate information)
 Indications 0 3 5
 Pre-procedure preparation 0 3 5
 Procedure 0 3 5
 Post procedure protocol 0 3 5
 Complications 0 3 5
Warning signs of complications   0 3 5
Total
Authenticity of the content 0 3 5 10
0-No referencing at all, 3-Good quality website referenced, 5-textbook referenced
10-Textbook and scientific articles referenced
HON certification Yes / No
Global Quality Score: ___
1 Poor quality, poor flow of the site, most information missing, not at all useful for patients.
2 Generally poor quality and poor flow, some information listed but many important topics missing, of very limited use to patients.
3 Moderate quality, suboptimal flow, some important information is discussed adequately but other information is poorly discussed,
somewhat useful for patients.
4 Good quality and generally good flow, most of the relevant information is listed, but some topics are not covered, useful for patients.
5 Excellent quality and excellent flow, very useful for patients.
Would you recommend the site  Y / N
Readability: FRE: ___  FKS grade level: ___