Evaluation of educational hospitals' portal as a tool for patient access to information

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the portal quality of educational hospitals affiliated to the universities of medical sciences in Iran. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in 2015. Two hundred and eleven portals were evaluated. Data were collected using a checklist containing 33 questions related to six qualitative criteria which included usability, ease of use and user-friendly, validity, efficiency, services and interaction. Data gathering was performed through observation. Data were analysed by descriptive statistics. The obtained score for usability criteria was 3.9 (good), for ease of use and user friendliness it was 3.6 (good), for validity it was 4.5 (very good), for efficiency it was 4.1 (very good), for service it was 2.9 (average), and for interaction it was 1.5 (poor). Increasing interactions and providing services through the hospital's website is essential. Therefore, it is recommended to increase, appointing patients for services such as visit, para-clinical services through the provided website.