Background: Functioning as a specialist research unit with a website offering the opportunity for enquiry submission requires provision of up-to-date, relevant information and the ability to direct the patient seeking specific clinical advice to the health care professional responsible for their care. This paper reports on an audit of enquiries submitted to a specialist wound healing research unit (WHRU) in the UK from December 2001 to May 2003.
Objectives:To establish the number of on-line enquiries received in a 17-month period and to identify the nature or subject of the on-line enquiry.
Results: There were a total of 285 enquiries for the 17-month period from December 2001-May 2003. Enquiries from the UK represented 66% (n=188) of the total. Subjects ranged from provision of educational courses to requests for general wound management information. In terms of the professional background of the individuals; Health Care Professionals (HCPs) and Professions Allied to Medicine (PAMs) accounted for 74% (n=212) of the total number of enquiries.
Conclusions: Having a website means that many individuals can access information more easily and strategies need to be in place to deal with such requests.
Declaration of Interest: None.
