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In order to evaluate if and to what extent Italian speaking cancer patients can benefit from information available on cancer web sites, an “in vitro” usability (ISO definition) study has been carried out. It investigated the usability of the web sites of the most representative Italian Institutions in the oncological field for the adult patients needing to find information about head and neck cancer. Specific evaluation criteria from the literature were used. The results point out some problems about accessibility, in line with other studies, and about the usefulness of the contents, in particular in the web sites of care delivery institutions: a grey present situation, but there are already grounds for significant improvement. Institutions and organizations must not waste the opportunity of being valuable sources in order to build the so called “informed patient, ” and the usability of their web sites could make the difference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The term e-health entered common speech a few years ago , while the term “e-patient” has recently appeared on the healthcare scenario. The aim of the present paper is to describe the nature of the so called “e-patient” from different points of view, through a review, not systematic, of the literature. A profile, though not totally exhaustive, of the current e-patient has been drawn, in an attempt to report uncertainties and worries that should not be underestimated. Comments are provided on the asymmetry between the evaluation effort around the internet world and corresponding face-to-face world. Disabled patients are almost excluded from the e-patient family due to the inaccessibility of most of the health related web sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to evaluate if and to what extent Italian speaking cancer patients can benefit from information available on cancer web sites, an "in vitro" usability (ISO definition) study has been carried out. It investigated the usability of the web sites of the most representative Italian Institutions in the oncological field for the adult patients needing to find information about head and neck cancer. Specific evaluation criteria from the literature were used. The results point out some problems about accessibility, in line with other studies, and about the usefulness of the contents, in particular in the web sites of care delivery institutions: a grey present situation, but there are already grounds for significant improvement. Institutions and organizations must not waste the opportunity of being valuable sources in order to build the so called "informed patient," and the usability of their web sites could make the difference.

The term e-health entered common speech a few years ago , while the term "e-patient" has recently appeared on the healthcare scenario. The aim of the present paper is to describe the nature of the so called "e-patient" from different points of view, through a review, not systematic, of the literature. A profile, though not totally exhaustive, of the current e-patient has been drawn, in an attempt to report uncertainties and worries that should not be underestimated. Comments are provided on the asymmetry between the evaluation effort around the internet world and corresponding face-to-face world. Disabled patients are almost excluded from the e-patient family due to the inaccessibility of most of the health related web sites.