gms | German Medical Science

14th Triennial Congress of the International Federation of Societies for Surgery of the Hand (IFSSH), 11th Triennial Congress of the International Federation of Societies for Hand Therapy (IFSHT)

17.06. - 21.06.2019, Berlin

Article

Send article

Online patient information on Hand Transplantation: How reliable is it for facilitating shared decision making?

Meeting Abstract

Search Medline for

  • presenting/speaker Stephen Ali - Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Trust, Norwich, United Kingdom
  • Marcus Quinnn - North Bristol NHS Trust, Bristol, United Kingdom
  • Ioannis Kyriazidis - North Bristol NHS Trust, Bristol, United Kingdom
  • Samuel Norton - Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Trust, Norwich, United Kingdom

International Federation of Societies for Surgery of the Hand. International Federation of Societies for Hand Therapy. 14th Triennial Congress of the International Federation of Societies for Surgery of the Hand (IFSSH), 11th Triennial Congress of the International Federation of Societies for Hand Therapy (IFSHT), 11th Triennial Congress of the International Federation of Societies for Hand Therapy (IFSHT). Berlin, 17.-21.06.2019. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2020. DocIFSSH19-409

doi: 10.3205/19ifssh0243, urn:nbn:de:0183-19ifssh02437

Published: February 6, 2020

© 2020 Ali et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. See license information at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

Outline

Text

Objectives/Interrogation: This study evaluates the quality of online information available for patients considering hand transplantation with vascularised composite allotransplantation.

Methods: Selected key phrases were entered into two popular search engines (GoogleTM, BingTM). These phrases were: "hand transplant", "hand transplant amputation" and "hand transplant vascularised composite allotransplantation". The first 50 hits per search were reviewed. Of the 300 identified sites, duplicate (158), irrelevant (26), news (128), academic papers (62) and inaccessible (3) results were excluded. 23 discrete resoures were identified for evaluation by two independent assessors using the DISCERN instrument, a set of online criteria by which the quality of patient information websites can be judged.

Results and Conclusions: The median DISCERN score of analysed websites was 40/80 (20.5-55.0). This equates to Fair, bordering on Poor global quality (Excellent = 80-63; Good = 62-51; Fair =50-39; Poor = 38-27; Very poor = 26-15). None of the analysed sites were rated Excellent, 9% (2) rated Good, 48% (11) rated Fair, 30% (7) rated Poor, and 13% (3) rated Very poor. The included websites scored poorly on both reliability of information, including extent to which it can be trusted (18/40; 8.5-25.5), and also quality of information on treatment choices (20.5/35; 8.5-25.5). High quality information is required to facilitate patient-centred shared decision making in patients considering hand transplantation, but is not easily available online, with many available resources being of poor quality. There is a need for focused and reliable online resources to be developed for this patient cohort.