204 Website Usability Analysis of United States Emergency Medicine Residencies

Abstract

The Counsel of Residency Directors in Emergency Medicine (CORD) has recommended all emergency medicine (EM) residency programs conduct virtual interviews for the 2020-2021 application cycle due to COVID-19. While residency factors such as geographical region, city, program size or hospital affiliation are not modifiable, EM residencies can still bridge the information gap created by a lack of face-to-face interaction by representing themselves digitally via their Web sites. Whether or not this representation is effective can be measured by evaluating usability, a term meaning ease of user experience on a Web site. Many variables determine a Web site’s usability, and this measure provides an objective method for EM residencies to improve their Web presence and effectively represent themselves to potential applicants. Aim 1: Categorize EM residency programs and their Web sites. Aim 2: Utilize a usability scoring system to objectively and quantitatively analyze their Web sites. Aim 3: Introduce aspects for improvement amongst EM residency Web sites. Our sample set included 53 U.S. EM residency program Web sites. These programs used their own primary domain or subdomain for the program’s respective emergency department. Programs using a subpage of a larger domain (ie, hospital or university) were excluded as the analysis would include non-residency related content (ie, patient care). Using methodology adapted from previous literature on health care Web site usability (Calvano, 2020), we divided usability into four categories for quantifiable analysis: Accessibility (ability of users to access and navigate a Web site), Marketing (search engine optimization, social media), Content Quality (relevance of material, frequency of updates, readability, and grammar), and Technology (Web site infrastructure, quality of program coding, and download speed). Utilizing several content analysis tools, analysis was performed on each Web site and scored in all four categories. An overall “General Usability” score was calculated for each Web site using a composite of the key factors within the four categories. Using a weighted percentage across all of the factors, an overall score was calculated. Content Quality was the overall highest scoring category with a mean score of 5.3 (std +/- 2.50) (SE 0.34). The overall lowest performing category was Technology, with an average of 0.8 (std +/- 0.09) (SE 0.01) (Table 1). On average, Content Quality had the highest score amongst EM residency program Web sites. To effectively promote their programs, residencies need quality content that communicates their key features. The lowest scoring category on average was Technology. Our recommendation is for all residency programs to periodically perform audits on their web pages using usability measures in order to improve their digital presence, especially during times when face-to-face interactions will be limited.Table 1CategoryMeanStandard ErrorStandard DeviationAccessibility1.90.080.61Marketing1.30.070.48Content Quality5.30.342.50Technology0.80.010.09General Usability1.30.050.38 Open table in a new tab