[Evaluation of the Internet presence of diagnostic radiology units at German universities]

Analyzing the availability and the contents of the internet homepages of the radiological departments of German universities.

In June and July 2001 the internet homepages of 36 radiological departments of German universities were evaluated in a study. A medical student experienced in using the world wide web examined the websites concerning the following criteria: research, teaching, informations for patients, clinical topics and general information. Additionally an evaluation of the technical standard of the presentation was performed.

31 of the 36 radiological departments presented a homepage in the world wide web. The subject research was presented by 29 institutes. Also 29 departments provided information concerning teaching in their presentations. In 24 cases informations especially for patients were given. In all topics there is a huge variety of the quality and quantity of the provided information throughout the different institutions. 21 homepages available without restriction during the study period; 3 were nearly completely under construction. Multimedia techniques were only used in 2 homepages. The structural hierarchy of the webpages was in the average only two or three levels. Only 6 providers presented an additional version of their homepage in english.

In the moment the possibility of internet-presentation is sub-optimal used by the responsible persons of the radiological institutions. The main emphasis is on research and teaching. There is nearly no use of multimedial elements in the presentations. Only a minority of the homepages can be read by international viewers because of the lack of an english version of the pages.