Running head: EVALUATION OF WWW SITES

Evaluation of WWW sites
Nicole Crowley
Wright State University

Evaluation of WWW sites
Introduction
Nursing is an ever-changing profession. For years, we charted on paper and filed away countless medical records. The system was slow and cumbersome making it difficult for patients and providers to access patient’s records. Now, in the world of TeleHealth in nursing, we have evolved to computer charting making it easier to retrieve records for both health care providers and patients. This change has also empowered the patient to read and review their records with a click of a button. The technology in nursing has made way for fast, efficient, accurate charting and record keeping. TeleHealth is one of the biggest topics in nursing at this time leaving countless articles to review for research.
Explanation of framework/criteria
The tool used for evaluating web pages had five criteria used, and came from Cornell University library website. The criteria included evaluating for accuracy of web documents, authority of web documents, objectivity of web documents, currency of web documents, and coverage of web documents (Kapoun, 1998). Accuracy of a web document refers to who wrote the information available along with a clear purpose of the site. Authority of web documents refers to who published the document, do they list their qualifications. Objectivity of the site is what goals/ objectives does the page meet? How detailed is the information? Currency is when the data was produced or updated? Coverage is the links on the site evaluated and do they complement the documents themes? (Kapoun, 1998)
Discussion and evaluation of the websites Using the search engine Google, telehealth was typed into the search box. A government website was the fifth selection down. The first three sites were paid advertisements and the fourth site was a Wikipedia site. Using the criteria for evaluating web sites, the sources for accuracy and authority are listed clearly on the page. There is a hyperlink available to the resources for the webpage’s information. No one author was displayed. The goal of the website is clearly stated, defining telehealth, and grants available for telehealth programs. The website does not do a good job with the currency portion. No dates for when the site information was published or updated were clearly defined on the page. The coverage criteria are available with all hyperlinks working and sending the reader to more information or resources on the topic. The next website reviewed was an organizational website for telehealth. This website appeared to be written by a private organization but when reading further the site is funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Office for the Advancement of Telehealth. This site had all criteria clearly listed on its web page. All five of the criteria listed were clearly available on this web page. Organizations that sponsored the research were represented on the page along with references for the web site but no one author was displayed. For the final website, I used the search engine Bing. With telehealth in the subject heading, only one advertisement appeared. The