Evaluating the Speed and Performance of the Websites of Hospitals and Specialty and Super-specialty Clinics of Hamadan University of Medical Sciences by GTmetrix
Objective: Medical websites are useful tools for training and informing patients, their families, and the public about diseases, procedures, drugs, and healthy life. Speediness and performance are of main criteria for evaluating these websites. This study aimed to evaluate the speed and performance of the websites of hospitals and specialty and super-specialty clinics of Hamadan University of Medical Science by GTmetrix.
Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional descriptive study, the speed and performance of 15 websites of hospitals and specialty and super-specialty clinics affiliated with the Hamadan University of Medical Science, Hamadan, Iran, were analyzed by using GTmetrix tool and extracting data in its two sections: GTmetrix Grade and Web Vitals. Data were described and analyzed in SPSS and Excel.
Results: 14 studied websites (93%) were very weak in page loading speed scores. In performance scores, all websites were rated fewer than 50 percent. The first and last ranks in the structure score belonged to Imam Hasan Mojtaba Hospital and Omid Clinic in common with 55 percent and Besat Hospital with 26 percent, respectively. All studied cases (but Shahid Heidari Hospital of Nahavand) ranked much longer than recommended in their LCPs. All cases were within the good threshold in their TBT scores. The majority of the cases (13 out of 15) are in the CLS threshold of much longer than recommended.
Conclusion: It is suggested that website designers and ICT administrators in hospitals and medical clinics in Iran, especially ones affiliated with UMSHA, be familiar with website measures such as GTmetrix and train in detecting the defects causing low performance, speed, and structure of websites as well as the procedures for removing them
