Health coverage on WebMD.com

Analysis by Kathy Chamlee

WebMD.com is one of the most comprehensive, easy-to-use health-related Web sites on the Internet. Health information is widely available online, but few sites can even come close to matching the depth and breadth of WebMD.com.

Its home page is inviting and well organized. Its personalization capabilities are practical and useful. And its interactive features are truly enriching and innovative.

CONTENT
WebMD.com blends health and communications expertise to deliver information clearly and effectively. The site’s staff consists of both medical doctors and communications specialists, and the site’s content is regularly assessed by an independent medical review board that is made up of four doctors. This combination of regular staff and expert review makes it easier for the user to trust that information on the site is accurate, timely and unbiased.<

The topic of health is so broad that it can quickly become overwhelming. But WebMD.com is organized by intuitive subject areas, such as women’s, men’s and children’s health, or health guides and health services, that make the topic, and the site’s contents, feel accessible. The articles are concise and clearly written, and the graphics, particularly the illustrations of symptoms and conditions, are informative without being overwhelming.

The site makes excellent use of video to explore topics, and it features an extensive video library of topics organized alphabetically. It’s hard to find a health-related subject that WebMD.com does not address, either in text or in video, and the site is an excellent starting place to research any health issue.

INTERFACE
The home page is crammed full of links and information, but it’s so well organized that it still feels inviting. The search function, probably the most important function for a health-related site, is prominently positioned in the center top of the page, and it remains in that position as the user navigates through all of the sub pages. The home page has a list of links to common topics at the bottom that also remains available as the user navigates through the site. The list of categories is too long to repeat here, but a few examples include: arthritis, asthma, back pain, stroke, incontinence and fitness.

Back near the top, on the left, is a carousel of featured topics. The body of the site is grouped into clearly defined chunks of related topics such as “Latest Headlines and Features,” “Top 12 Health Topics for Men, Women and Children” and “Common Treatments for Men, Women and Children.”

The sub pages all have a consistent look and feel. One particularly useful feature on the sub pages is that the user is given a choice of three different font sizes in which to read text articles.

INTERACTIVITY


WebMD.com has excellent interactivity, including personal health assessments, a symptom checker, quizzes, online support groups, a place to create and store personal health records and blogs with comments.

INNOVATION
WebMD.com’s most significant innovation is its personalization. It aims to be both a community meeting place to gather and discuss health topics, and a personalized Web site on which to track and research personal health issues. Its overall health assessment quiz and its symptom checker are both innovative and highlight interactive.

Another nice innovation on WebMD.com is the site’s use of video to explain various health-related topics. This innovation is particularly nice for people who don’t like to read text online. For those who do choose to read text online, the ability to choose the size of font the text is presented in is also a nice innovation.

Comments

[Sam]

Wow! This is one comprehensive Web site! No matter the health topic you're interested in, it looks as if WebMD offers a relevant package of stories. The designers have done a very good job squeezing a tremendous amount of information onto the site without overwhelming you. I especially like the context-based links that appear alongside stories...they underscore how strong a resource this site is for people in search of medical information.

[Adam]

Personal health records contains many different types of information that is directly related to the doctor visits you have had, the diagnosis that you have received, the medications that you have been issued and many other types of information.

[Olive]

This is great info to know.

[Personal Health Records]

This is very good inforamtion for personal health records