Assessment of Hospital Websites of Medical Universities in Tehran, Iran, Based ‎on ‎Information Necessary for Attracting Medical Tourism

Hospital websites can be appropriate and effective tools for attracting medical tourism. However, ýmany structural and content criteria should be considered in designing hospital websites. The aim ýof this study was the evaluation of websites of hospitals affiliated to medical universities in ýTehran, Iran, based on information necessary for attracting medical tourists.
This study was carried out using applied survey method. The study population consisted of all ýhospitals affiliated with Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Iran University of Medical ýSciences, and Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Iran, (n = 50). The data collection ýtool was the MDS-Hospital website questionnaire, the validity and reliability of which were ýapproved in previous literature (α = 0.90). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics ýý(frequency and percentage).
The average score of the structural dimension of hospital websites based on the questionnaire was ýý64.5%. However, the average score of the contextual dimension of hospital websites was less ýthan 50%. The websites of hospitals affiliated with Tehran University of Medical Sciences and ýIran University of Medical Sciences had a more favorable score in terms of structural dimension ýand contextual dimension, respectively.
The websites of the studied hospitals had an acceptable status in terms of the structural ýdimension. However, they did not obtain favorable scores on the contextual dimension. Thus, ýthese hospitals must redesign their websites in terms of the contextual dimension in order to be ýmore successful in attracting medical tourism.