The Current Status of the Web-sites of Plastic Surgery Clinics in Seoul and the Factors affecting the Page-views

Kim, Do Young; Kim, Na Mi; Kwon, Ji Eun; Park, Eun Chul; Lee, Sang Gyu

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate the status of the websites of plastic surgery clinics in Seoul, and to elucidate the factors that affect the page views. Directors of the clinics were asked by telephone as to whether their clinics have an website, and the rank of their sites were measured using the Navvy (ve r 2.75) program. The gene ral characteristics of each clinic and directors were surveyed using the list of members for the Korean association of clinical plastic surgeons. The characteristics of the websites were also surveyed and categorized into their accessibility, introduction, contents, interactions, and etc. The relationship between each variable, the possession of a homepage and the rank were analyzed by univariate analysis and the independent effects of these variables were examined by multiple logistic regression analysis. The results are as follows: 196 out of 252 clinics(77.8%) had a website and 77 of these sites were ranked below the 150,000th place. In multiple logistic regression analysis, younger directors had a higher likelihood of possessing a website, and the location of the clinic also significantly affected whether or not there was a website. The websites of the clinics located in Kangnam/Seocho-gu and run by more than 2 plastic surgeons had a higher tendency to rank be low the 150,000th place. However, the char acteristic s of the website did not aff ect the r ank distribution. Considering the above results, the characteristics of the clinics and surgeons may contribute greatly for the clinics to have a website and to have a high rank. In addition, the characteristics of the site may not be a major influencing fac tor.