NMAP: the UK’s nursing Internet gateway

The massive growth in health related information on the Internet has led to concerns about the quality of that information. This paper explores the need for quality filtering and describes the development of NMAP, the UK academic gateway to high quality Internet resources for nurses, midwives and allied health professionals. The gateway provides rapid access to resources that have been quality filtered. Issues and processes involved in setting up this national project are discussed, including the collaboration between many disparate organisations, and the quality criteria developed for the inclusion or exclusion of resources. Usage data for the gateway are included, which validates the need for the service and that it is well used. A user evaluation was undertaken during November and December 2001 with over 600 users completing an online questionnaire, and some of the results are presented. The paper intends to assist anyone involved in the evaluation and use of Internet resources to consider quality criteria and filtering or describing the massive volume of information now available.