[Descriptive analysis of hospital activity indicators published by the Autonomous Regional Governments in the Spanish National Health System.] / Análisis descriptivo de los indicadores de actividad hospitalaria publicados por las consejerías de salud.

OBJECTIVE: The supply of health activity data by health regional governments does not have a current study of the issue. The aim of this study was to analyze and describe the indicators of hospital activity related to public health organizations (health departments in the Spanish National Health System) showing the most notable experiences in this regard. METHODS: Observational study. General Internet search engines were used to find and evaluate institutional web portals (Ministry of Health, regional health governments) detailing existence, availability, accessibility and quality of information (aggregation, update, format, gender and age vision) of hospital management activity offered between 2015-2019. Descriptive statistics were used with estimation of inter-observer concordance. RESULTS: Generation of a list of 22 web portals for public health services. All the institutions evaluated had information on hospital activity. It is complex to find, freely available, disaggregated (14), updated (2018), in PDF format (15), gender vision: 2 (Catalonia and Madrid). No. of indicators per region: between 10 and 99 (average=54). Kappa agreement index (κ)=0.84. Notable contributions: Catalonia and Madrid, with other practices to highlight (Castilla y León, Murcia). CONCLUSIONS: The analysis of the management information offered by health regional governments shows a generic pattern of information that is difficult to access, disaggregated and updated at least two years from the time of the study, with a wide range of indicators, reduced contribution of the gender vision and in PDF format, which makes research and teaching difficult.

OBJETIVO: La oferta de datos de actividad sanitaria por las consejerías de salud no dispone de un estudio actual de la cuestión. El objetivo de este trabajo fue analizar y describir los indicadores de actividad hospitalaria relacionada con las organizaciones sanitarias públicas (consejerías de salud/sanidad en el Sistema Nacional de Salud español) mostrando las experiencias más notables en este sentido. METODOS: Estudio observacional. Se utilizaron buscadores generales de Internet para encontrar y valorar portales web institucionales (Ministerio de Sanidad, consejerías de sanidad/salud autonómicas) detallando existencia, disponibilidad, accesibilidad y calidad de la información (agregación, actualización, formato, visión de género y edad) de actividad de gestión hospitalaria ofrecida entre 2015-2019. Se usó estadística descriptiva con la estimación de la concordancia interobservadores. RESULTADOS: Se generó un listado de 22 webs de servicios públicos de salud. Todas las instituciones valoradas disponían de información sobre actividad hospitalaria. Es compleja de encontrar, de libre acceso, desagregada (14), actualizada (2018), en formato PDF (15), visión de género: 2 (Catalunya y Madrid). Nº de indicadores por región: entre 10 y 99 (promedio=54). Índice de acuerdo Kappa (κ)=0,84. Aportaciones notables: Cataluña y Madrid, con otras prácticas a resaltar (Castilla y León, Murcia). CONCLUSIONES: El análisis de la información de gestión ofrecida por las consejerías de salud muestra un patrón genérico de información de difícil acceso, desagregada y actualizada como mínimo a dos años vista desde el momento del estudio, con un rango amplio de indicadores, reducida aportación de la visión de género y en formato PDF que dificulta la investigación y docencia.

A comparative study of six European databases of medically oriented Web resources.

OBJECTIVES: The paper describes six European medically oriented databases of Web resources, pertaining to five quality-controlled subject gateways, and compares their performance. METHOD: The characteristics, coverage, procedure for selecting Web resources, record structure, searching possibilities, and existence of user assistance were described for each database. Performance indicators for each database were obtained by means of searches carried out using the key words, "myocardial infarction." RESULTS: Most of the databases originated in the 1990s in an academic or library context and include all types of Web resources of an international nature. Five databases use Medical Subject Headings. The number of fields per record varies between three and nineteen. The language of the search interfaces is mostly English, and some of them allow searches in other languages. In some databases, the search can be extended to Pubmed. Organizing Medical Networked Information, Catalogue et Index des Sites Médicaux Francophones, and Diseases, Disorders and Related Topics produced the best results. CONCLUSIONS: The usefulness of these databases as quick reference resources is clear. In addition, their lack of content overlap means that, for the user, they complement each other. Their continued survival faces three challenges: the instability of the Internet, maintenance costs, and lack of use in spite of their potential usefulness.