ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: During the past decade, the share of households in the EU with internet access has increased from 55 % in 2007 to 85 % in 2016. During that time the internet has become the most commonly used tool for communication and information acquisition. In health-care the website of a department may be advantageous to inform patients adequately and stay in contact with them. The aim of this study was to evaluate the online-presence of plastic surgery departments in the DACH-area (Germany [Deutschland], Austria and Switzerland [Confoederatio Helvetica]). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Homepages of plastic surgery departments in the DACH-area were identified and evaluated according to 40 different criteria from the five categories "general information", "information brokerage", "science and teaching", "information for patients and relatives" and "information on treatment". Additionally, all departments were searched for using the Google search engine and the rank in the list of search results was documented. The results from departments affiliated with a university and such without affiliation were compared using the t-test as well as the chi2-test. RESULTS: Of the 172 departments found, most were from Germany (77 %), followed by Switzerland (15 %) and Austria (8 %). As contact reference, a telephone number was given on all of the homepages and on 95 % of the websites the range of available treatments was elucidated. 95 % of the homepages were available in German, with only 22 % being available in English. At least seven and at max 34 of the 40 criteria were fulfilled. The three least commonly fulfilled criteria were information on first-aid measures in case of injury, information on possible waiting times and information on the number of intensive-care beds available to plastic surgery patients (all 4 %). The median Google-rank of the homepages was first. Departments affiliated to a university met 14 of the examination-criteria significantly more often than those without affiliation. CONCLUSION: The online-presence of plastic surgery department in the DACH-area can be summed up as sufficient. On average homepages of departments affiliated with a university conveyed more information. Nevertheless, information on first-aid measures in case of injuries and multilingual presentation need to be improved.
