On March 7 2019 I selected

On March 7, 2019, I selected a health care website to do a website critique. The URL of the website is https://www.mayoclinic.org/. The Mayo Clinic is a non profit academic medical center based in Rochester, Minnesota, focused on integrated clinical practice, education, and research. This organization has a fully comprehensive website with approximately seven million visits a month. This website features advice regarding wellbeing, information on its services and details of its current education and research programmes. The website content is developed by a team of experts consisting of physicians, scientists and other medical experts. The major categories of information which are covered on this website are: Patient care and health information, department and centres in Mayo Clinic, research, education, information for medical professionals, products and services at Mayo Clinic, how to make a requisition for an appointment, find a doctor, find a job, patient and visitors guide, contact information, find diseases and conditions, symptom checker, gene guide, giving donation etc.General public are one of the categories of audiences’ who visit this site. The clue which defines this category of audience is the gene guide which states “A genetic testing experience that helps you understand how genetics can affect your health .” It even has a link from where an online purchase or an order for gene testing can be made. This website also consists of symptom checker and provides education regarding different disease conditions which is very useful for the public for educating themselves or to rule out which symptoms are associated with which diseases. Another category of audiences are the medical professionals. Evidence and clues to support this category are the subtabs like find a doctor, refer a patient, view clinical trials etc. This website is also used by students. Evidence for this category is supported by the hypertext links given as view degree programs, view admission requirements, log in to the student portal.Mayo clinic faculty and staff are also among the audiences for this website. Find a doctor and find other career opportunities are the two – hypertext links which are given under the Mayo clinic faculty and staff category. Media, research, job seekers are also some categories of audiences who could visit and use this site. One can find an expert in a research area and view Mayo clinic’s lab services. Job seekers can be another category of audiences who visit this site. Link to find a job is provided in the website which enables the jobseekers to find and apply for jobs accordingly. International patients are also benefitted by this website. They can request an appointment, get to know more about the financial services and the international offices of Mayo clinic.There are several hypertext links on this website page. They are: log in to patient account, request an appointment at Mayo clinic, find a doctor, find a job, addresses and phone numbers, preferred languages to select to view or read the website, patient and visitor guide, featured topics such as bone marrow transplant, brain aneurysm, brain tumor, breast cancer, colon cancer, congenital heart disease, glioma, heart arrhythmia, heart valve disease, living donor transplant, lung transplant, rectal cancer etc., symptom checker, discovering gene guide, research and clinical trials, mayo clinic news network, mayo clinic blog, making donations, hypertext link to download Canadian donation form and printable contribution form, more information about Mayo clinic. All these hypertext links are related to the main theme. As discussed above, Mayo clinic website features advice regarding wellbeing, information on its services and details of its current education and research programmes. All the various links mentioned in their webpage is consistent and constantly focuses on education, research, information regarding the disease conditions, finding a doctor etc. The webpage is basically providing more details and information regarding its services, education and research programmes. Although numerous hypertext links were found while reviewing this website, there were no personal links found which directs to a personal interest of an individual.This website contains some relevant graphics and images which add appeal to the information on the webpage / website. It has used about one or two relevant images on each specific topic which eventually helps to maintain the interest and attention of the viewers. Some examples of the images / graphics used in this website are: Mayo clinic logo, social media icons, health professional images, such as doctors and nurses, Mayo clinic locations in various regions etc. The content and the information used in the webpage and the website are more than the images or the graphics used. Moreover, the graphics used are related to the topic discussed in the webpage. This has helped to decrease distractions due to images. It is important to mention that graphics present on this website has helped to create a visual structure for the information and links on the page has helped to communicate and explain ideas visually. Minimal static light graphics are used in this website. The various audiences for these graphics are general public, students, health care professionals etc. The social media icons are helpful to login or to get updated notifications etc. for the general public if they wish to subscribe to any of those media, the college and university images helps to determine that those images or graphics directs towards students and their education. Links like Contact Us, About Mayo clinic, Site map etc. gives us an elaborate knowledge about this site. All the phone numbers, toll free numbers, policies, certifications etc. are also provided in the website which indicates the credibility of the website. This website originates from a non profit organization called “Mayo Clinic”. There are several text materials, books, e-books, etc. found in the library from this organization which provides information regarding various health conditions and different health related topics. This website also complies with the HON code: standard for trustworthy health information, which determines the reliability of the site and the information present in the website. The Mayo clinic website proudly mentions, “Our relentless research yields scientific discoveries and innovations that reach our patients faster and help them heal sooner. Our patients are frequently among the first to benefit from breakthrough therapies, advanced technologies and clinical research trials”. It is understood from the website that there is no sponsoring organization involved in the research. However, research funding is done by the organization and also accepts funding from the external source such as federal and state funding; extramural and industries. While reviewing this website, it was also noted that the website does not seem to be heavily commercial as the text and the content of the website are kept separate from the advertisement. However, there were some advertisements featuring on a certain webpage called “About this site”. Most of the advertisements were from the sales category, for instance mbna credit cards, mazda etc. and some were professional or job related , such as linkedIn. In addition, Mayo clinic website had an advertisement of its own called “The mayo clinic diet”, which if clicked, brings us to a new webpage which has options to purchase items or book appointment with a dietician etc.Mayo clinic website is a .org website. It has three main websites including information on medical services available, health information, Education and Research. As this website deals with facts, research and information, it can be called as an information website. For nurses and other health -care team members, it is important that the website is user – friendly. This website can provide quick access to important information about the health or illness. It also helps to access clinical knowledge such as drug information, nursing assessments, articles and nursing best practice guidelines and resources to better understand the health situation and plan of care. As a nurse, I know the importance of the health website like Mayo clinic, which may certainly help the nurses to search drug databases, libraries and resources to obtain important information related to any health conditions, diagnosis and treatment.