Structural investigation of websites of selected educational hospitals of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences from Patient Relationship Management (PRM) perspective

BACKGROUND Hospital websites are considered as an appropriate system for exchanging information and establishing communication between patients, hospitals, and medical staff. Website character, website contact interactivity, shopping convenience, as well as care and service are the factors that the present study investigated as far as the patient relationship management is concerned. METHODS This descriptive-analytical study was conducted on 206 patients visiting Shahid Faghihi and Ali Asghar Hospitals in Shiraz, which were capable of offering electronic services. The data collection tool was a researcher-made questionnaire based on the Mekkamol model and other similar studies, as well as investigations into the websites of the world's top hospitals. The questionnaire's validity was approved by a committee of experts and its reliability was approved based on a 54-patient sample with a Cronbach's alpha of 0.94. The data were analyzed using the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) with partial least squares (PLS) approach and by utilizing SPSS and Smart-PLS V2 software programs. RESULTS The results showed that there are significant relationships between "website character" and "website contact interactivity" (p=0.00), between "shopping convenience" and "website contact interactivity" (p=0.00), and between "website contact interactivity" and "care and service" (p=0.00). CONCLUSION Website design with such characteristics as website simplicity, shopping convenience, authenticity of information, and provision of such services as admission, scheduling appointments, and electronic payment of bills will result in interaction and communication between patients and hospital websites. This will, for its turn, pave the way for attracting more patients.