Disease Screening Center Website

The core function of the official website of a qualified disease screening center is to help ordinary people avoid gaps in screening information, use the lowest time and cost to choose screening projects that suit their own conditions, and at the same time complete full-process services such as appointments, report inquiries, follow-up notifications, etc. It is essentially the "first service window" for public disease screening institutions to reach ordinary people, rather than a simple institutional promotion page.

A while ago, my best friend wanted to get age-appropriate HPV screening. When she opened the search engine, three or four private institution pages labeled "advertising" popped up. When she clicked on them, they were either screening packages for 9.9 yuan to attract traffic, or "women's health packages" with dozens of items. It was impossible to tell which ones were necessary and which ones were just a make-up. She flipped through almost three pages before finding the official website of the Municipal Disease Screening Center under the Municipal Disease Control and Prevention. On the homepage, there were several entrances: "Screening Guidelines for Women Aged 25-45", "Screening Guidelines for Smokers Over 40 Years Old" and "Special Access for People with Family Genetic History". She clicked on it and listed the required items, charging standards, and sampling points that could be reserved. She made an appointment with the nearest community sampling point for the next day, and downloaded the electronic report from the website on the third day without even entering the hospital, saving her the time of queuing at least twice.

In fact, the industry has been arguing about the functional positioning of this type of website for almost five or six years. The mainstream public service faction believes that the website of a public screening center is inherently public welfare and should be full of practical functions. Institutional introductions and leadership updates must be placed at the back. Free screening applications, project price announcements, and appointment entrances must be placed in the most conspicuous places on the homepage. It is best not to make the popular science too complicated. If ordinary people can find the information they want within three steps after clicking on it, it is considered qualified. The websites of municipal screening centers in Shanghai and Beijing are basically the same way. Last time I helped a colleague check the precautions for lung cancer screening. When I clicked on the homepage, there was not even a carousel image. Three options, age, smoking history, and past medical history, popped up directly. After filling in the form, it will directly give you advice on whether you need screening. It was very straightforward.

The other school of medical and prevention integration has a different idea. They believe that the website cannot just be a "tool man". It is best to be connected with residents' electronic health records. After logging in with an ID card or social security number, it can directly synchronize past screening records and chronic disease history, and automatically recommend suitable projects to you. For example, if you just had a gastrointestinal endoscopy with no abnormalities last year, the system will no longer recommend you to have an annual gastrointestinal endoscopy screening. Instead, it will remind you that you should do a Helicobacter pylori breath test this year; if you are a patient with hypertension, it will also actively push you to apply for the annual free target organ damage screening. Screening centers in many cities in Guangdong and Zhejiang are already testing this model. Last year, I helped my dad make an appointment for lung cancer screening. After tying his social security number, the system directly jumped out of his low-dose CT report from the previous year and judged that he was in a low-risk group. It was recommended that he do not need CT this year and instead switch to blood lipid and carotid artery ultrasound screening. I also helped him connect the number of the community health service center downstairs, which is indeed more reliable than our own guessing.

But having said that, websites that can achieve the above two levels are basically concentrated in first- and second-tier cities. Many screening center websites in third- and fourth-tier cities and even counties can really make people angry when using them. Last year, I helped my grandma find the registration portal for cancer screening in the county. I clicked on the home page of the website, which was full of last year’s conference news and leaders’ inspection updates. After scrolling for almost five minutes, I found a registration phone number in the third-level submenu of “Convenience Services.” No one answered the call, so I finally asked a relative who works in the community to register for it. It’s not that the grassroots staff are not paying attention. Many county-level screening centers only have about ten people in total. They are not only responsible for offline sampling and laboratory testing, but also cooperate with disease control and epidemic control and follow-up. There is simply no dedicated person to run the website. This is also an unavoidable practical contradiction at this stage.

In fact, for us ordinary people, there is no need to worry about what route these websites take. As long as you click in, you can quickly find information, make appointments, and check reports. It is a useful website. If you can't find the official entrance for a long time while searching, just search the official website of the local Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There will usually be jump links. Don't click on links marked "advertisement", as you will basically avoid getting into trouble. By the way, the official websites of many screening centers have now synchronized the functions of mini programs. If you really don’t want to use a computer, you can still use the mini program with the same name, which is much more convenient than going to offline outlets.