[Establishing evaluation indicators in health and medical Websites]

The internet has become one of the most popular and frequently used sources of information in Taiwan, where over one-third of the population has online access (at total of 8.8 million users). Health and medical Websites have become important information sources for professional care providers, but few evaluations have been made of the more commonly used medical Websites in Taiwan. Evaluation criteria for assessing accuracy based on critical thinking skills is required to reduce the amount of misleading information that might be transmitted. The purpose of this paper is to make suggestions for medical Website evaluation. Concepts include access, author status, content, information structure and design, and links quality. It is hoped that this information will help Taiwanese medical professionals better assess the quality of currently available healthcare-related Websites.