Evidence map›Paper›PMID 36264625›Full record

ArticleInteractive journal of medical research2022

American Anesthesiology Residency Programs: Website Usability Analysis.

Noah Seto, Jeffrey Beach, Joshua Calvano, Shu Lu, Shuhan He

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Interactive journal of medical research, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Noah SetoCollege of Osteopathic Medicine, Rocky Vista University, Parker, CO, United States.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5465-1288
Jeffrey BeachCollege of Osteopathic Medicine, Rocky Vista University, Parker, CO, United States.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2599-9725
Joshua CalvanoDepartment of Anesthesiology and Critical Care, University of New Mexico Hospital, Albuquerque, NM, United States.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3938-2336
Shu LuDepartment of Anesthesia, Corrigan Minehan Heart Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, United States.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4891-9812
Shuhan HeDepartment of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9902-5077

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundThe Association of American Medical Colleges has recently issued recommendations for the upcoming 2022-2023 application cycle that residency programs should conduct all interviews for this upcoming application cycle over the web. In light of these recommendations, many students will have limited exposure to anesthesiology programs and will rely on information gleaned digitally. This change means that the aspects of program websites used to provide information, such as size, structure, location, requirements, and contact information, will be crucial in helping prospective residents decide where and how to apply in the future. An evaluation of website usability, which includes initial appearance along with factors that influence its ease of navigation and convenience of use, can thus be applied to anesthesiology residency websites. Areas of need can be targeted to increase web presence and provide effective pathways to exhibit the different attributes of their programs to future applicants.

objectiveThis study aimed to compile a list of US anesthesiology residency programs and their websites while objectively analyzing the websites using a formally published usability scoring system, as well as to identify positive and negative trends to offer areas of improvement among anesthesiology residency websites.

methodsWe included only 114 US anesthesiology residency program websites in our sample set, since some websites we analyzed showed errors or inconclusive. Website usability was separated into 4 distinct categories for analysis based on methodology outlined in previous literature on both health care website usability and residency website usability. The 4 categories were Accessibility, Marketing, Content Quality, and Technology. Each website was then analyzed and scored based on key components highlighted within the 4 categories. The multiple factors were then graded using a percentage system to create a comprehensive score for each program.

resultsThe highest scoring category was Content Quality (mean 4.7, SD 2.48, SE 0.23). The lowest scoring category was Technology (mean 0.9, SD 0.38, SE 0.04).

conclusionsThrough the application of a health care website usability framework, multiple anesthesiology residency programs were analyzed and scored in the areas of Accessibility, Marketing, Content Quality, and Technology, which allowed us to determine the effectiveness of the usability of these websites to convey information to their end user. Websites must communicate vital information, with usability at the forefront, to continue to grow, especially as the United States faces challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Our recommendation is that anesthesiology programs should strive to improve website usability to increase the ease by which applicants can collect vital information about anesthesiology programs. A few proposed solutions include making changes such as decreasing error pages on websites, migrating away from using in-line cascading style sheets, and improving web page loading speeds to improve the Technology category.

Indexed as

communicationeducation in anesthesiamedical student educationquality improvementtechnology in education

Identifiers

PMID36264625
PMCPMC9634514

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.