Research for IT

The Virtual Naval Hospital (VNH) is a digital medical library administered over the Internet by the Electronic Differential Multimedia Laboratory, University of Iowa College of Medicine in collaboration with the U.S. Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery (BUMED). A CD-ROM version of the VNH is also distributed to Navy health care providers. Its purpose is to deliver authoritative medical information to point-of-care medical providers to help take better care of patients. Evaluations of the VNH to date have focused on information needs of medical providers and readership of the World Wide Web (WWW) site. No analysis of VNH utilization patterns, derived benefits, or media preferences has been done. The goal of this evaluation is to provide an analysis of the VNH that can be used to document lessons learned, and planning for future services that might be offered.