Analysis of the web pages of the Intensive Care Units of Spain

In order to determine the Intensive Care Units (ICU) of Spanish hospitals that had a web site, to analyze the information they offered and to know what information they needed to offer according to a sample of ICU nurses, a cross-sectional observational, descriptive study was carried out between January and September 2008. For each ICU website, an analysis was made on the information available on the unit, its care, teaching and research activity on nursing. Simultaneously, based on a sample of intensive care nurses, the information that should be contained on an ICU website was determined. The results, expressed in absolute numbers and percentage, showed that 66 of the 292 hospitals with ICU (22.6%) had a web site; 50.7% of the sites showed the number of beds, 19.7% the activity report, 11.3% the published articles/studies and followed research lines and 9.9% the organized formation courses. 14 webs (19.7%) displayed images of nurses. However, only 1 (1.4%) offered guides on the actions followed. No web site offered a navigation section for nursing, the E-mail of the chief nursing, the nursing documentation used or if any nursing model of their own was used. It is concluded that only one-fourth of the Spanish hospitals with ICU have a web site; number of beds was the data offered by the most sites, whereas information on care, educational and investigating activities was very reduced and that on nursing was practically omitted on the web pages of intensive care units. (c) 2009 Elsevier Espana, S.L. and SEEIUC. All rights reserved.