The Online Presence of Hospital Medical Librarians on Hospital Web Sites

摘要

The public Web sites of hospitals are accessible to all Web users and can be easily located on the Open Web by utilizing popular general Web search engines such as Google and Yahoo! to search on the name of the hospital of interest. Hospital Web sites provide an extensive amount of general information about the hospital's clinical services, health care practitioners, and current clinical research findings. Hospital Web sites also provide basic information about administrative structure and departments, geographic location, parking facilities, translation services, and fundraising events. Many offer consumer health information online with an extensive A-Z list of health conditions. The information provided on hospital Web sites is intended primarily for use by the general public and patients. However, clinicians, researchers, government officials and regulatory bodies, insurance companies, and donors, among others, undoubtedly find the content on hospital Web sites informative.