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Hospital search engines ineffective for finding thyroid surgeons
CHICAGO — Looking for a surgeon who specializes in thyroid nodules, hyperparathyroidism and adrenal masses using the internal search engines offered by hospitals may not be effective, according to findings presented at the annual meeting of the American Thyroid Association.
“Patients who seek to self-refer to a provider through a hospital’s ‘Find a Doctor’ page may have difficulty finding an appropriate specialist for their needs,” Sophie Dream, MD, assistant professor of surgery at the Medical College of Wisconsin, told Endocrine Today. “With this study we specifically identified that when searching disorders treated by endocrine surgeons, the majority of websites do not primarily direct patients to an endocrine surgeon.”
Dream and colleagues used the search terms “thyroid nodule,” “hyperparathyroidism” and “adrenal mass” in the “Find A Doctor” feature of 16 academic hospital websites.
At 6.25% of the hospitals, an appropriate endocrine surgeon was revealed as the predominant provider following a search for “thyroid nodule.” By contrast, 25% of hospitals did not reveal an endocrine surgeon at all.
In addition, at 31.25% of the hospitals, an appropriate endocrine surgeon was revealed as the predominant provider following a search for “hyperparathyroidism.” However, an endocrine surgeon was not included in the search results at 18.75% of the hospitals.
Lastly, at 25% of hospitals, an appropriate endocrine surgeon was revealed as the predominant provider following a search for “adrenal mass,” but an endocrine surgeon was not included in the search results at 31.25% of the hospitals.
In total, a median of 8.5 health care providers were revealed via search across the 16 hospitals, according to the researchers, who noted that male health care providers made up most of the search results at 62.5% of the hospitals.
“It is important to have our patients seen by the most qualified provider for their condition so that they can receive timely and quality care,” Dream said. “With the internet, patients access to care should ideally improve as they are able to search a hospitals providers and schedule appointments with specialist when they have a new condition or diagnosis. Our findings suggest that many hospitals have not yet optimized the ‘Find a Doctor’ function on their webpages, which may limit a patient’s ability to find and schedule appointments when they identify their needs.” – by Phil Neuffer
Reference:
Gentry Z, et al. Poster 90. Presented at: 89th Annual Meeting of the American Thyroid Association; Oct. 30-Nov. 3, 2019; Chicago.
Disclosure: Dream reports no relevant financial disclosures.