Health in cyberspace: A study about the landscape of hospitals in Sergipe

This paper relates the results of a research developed at Federal University of Sergipe (UFS), whose objective was to investigate and evaluate the presence and participation of hospitals in Sergipe on the cyberspace. The research used data form exploratory, quality and quantitative multiple cases. The research allowed determining how much involved hospitals in Sergipe are on the cyberspace and how insignificant the use of available ICT resources was when compared to other economic sectors or countries. It was observed that the sites are mostly used for institutional promotion, when there is a huge range of possibilities to be explored, such online services, appointment scheduling or blogs. Likewise, the issue of accessibility is not considered by hospitals as a necessity and a citizen´s right. Our results outlined a gap in order to identify what reasons justify the low participation of the hospitals in cyberspace.