Summary
Objective
: To elicit and analyze information needs of patients and primary care physicians
(GPs) regarding the information services (static and functional) that a GP's practice
website should provide.
Methods
: To find candidate information services, we conducted a literature search and examined
primary care physicians' websites, especially Dutch websites. Semi-structured depth
interviews with the stakeholders, Dutch patients and GPs, were done to arrive at a
final checklist. We then conducted a survey to elicit the level of importance associated
with each service on the checklist. The data underwent statistical analysis and relevant
requirements were formulated. The requirements were then validated by interviews.
General website quality and usability aspects were elicited from the literature.
Results
: The research resulted in a checklist of 38 selected information services including
their priority ratings for patients and GPs; a discrepancy list between GP and patient
priorities; and a requirements document containing information services (14 static
and 6 functional), and general quality and usability aspects (8 and 5).
Conclusion
: The following items occurred in the top 10 of both user groups: general practice information, information of local public health institutions, self-help
information, repeat prescription, links to health websites. At the bottom on both priority lists were: links to journals, tests and forums. Dutch GPs are much more selective in terms of which information services to provide
on-line. Discrepancy between the two groups concerns on-line services that seem to
require a change to the GP's workflow, or those services that are not recognized for
reimbursing the GP. Although the Dutch patients' requirements seem to generalize to
other patients, the conflict list might depend on the primary care system.
Keywords
Requirements analysis - information services (MeSH) - medical websites - GP
