Development of a checklist to assess COVID-19 information on orthodontic webpages.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To create a COVID-19 information checklist and critique all available webpages of hospitals with an orthodontic department in England. DESIGN: Cross-sectional analysis. SETTING: World Wide Web. METHODS: A 16-item COVID-19 webpage checklist was developed using up-to-date COVID-19 government advice, and the General Dental Council Principles of Ethical Advertising. Presence of advice on managing orthodontic appliance breakages, information on outpatient appointment changes and video consultations was also assessed. The checklist was used to undertake a cross-sectional analysis of all available webpages of hospitals with an orthodontic department in England between September 2020 to October 2020. RESULTS: A total of 61 webpages were assessed. Of them, 95% had a COVID-19 section on the homepage, including advice on the use of face coverings during hospital visits. Only 18% of websites provided information on orthodontic appliance care and breakages. Four orthodontic department websites stated the department was closed during this study. The mean update interval of the webpages was six weeks (range = 1-28 weeks). Only one webpage fully conformed with the COVID-19 checklist. CONCLUSION: Availability and completeness of COVID-19 information on webpages of hospitals with an orthodontic department varied, which may be due to the absence of a formal COVID-19 information webpage checklist. The checklist produced in this research may prove valuable to encourage uniform patient support and positive patient experience across orthodontic services. Principles behind the development of the checklist could be adopted during prolonged service disruptions to ensure optimal patient communications. The checklist is equally applicable to primary and secondary care settings.