Nursing Home Website Review: Are they accessible, usable, and do they meet consumer needs?

Abstract

This study addresses a two-part research question: Are nursing home websites easily accessible and used and do they offer enough information for consumers to make informed choices? Research indicated that generally, hospital discharge planners are the ones who initially explain nursing homes to their patients with brochures and other hard copy information. Some consumers, (generally family members of the patients) have visited nursing home websites. A review of nursing home websites found that nursing home guide sites are often used for giving an array of information, including state survey results, quality assurance, staff ratio, and occupancy rates. The internet users who were interviewed stated that nursing home websites are often difficult to locate. Once having found the sites, interviewees ranked resident rights information as being most interesting, especially information on choice-making and how they are treated once in the nursing home.