Case Studies
Merck & Co: Health Center
Heart Disease Web Site
Challenge: Back in 1998, Merck's online Health Infopark (now the Merck Health Center) included a substantial section on heart disease with a variety of useful information for patients, their families and caregivers. Since most of this content was adapted from printed material, it lacked a strong visual appeal and did not include any animations or user interactivity. Merck was searching for a Web development company that could also provide strong creative and medical content for the site.
Solution: Several of Scottmark's principals and key developers working for I.C. Axon, a well respected healthcare training company, presented a creative proposal to Merck and won a contract to provide new interactive material for the site. Over the next two years the site was given a significant face-lift and a series of award-winning features including anatomy and physiology information and a unique trivia game were added to enrich both the content and interactivity of the site.
Deliverables: In addition to providing a more upbeat and contemporary look and feel to the site, a variety of new medical content and healthy lifestyle material was written and produced including information on the importance of treatment compliance and a series of healthy recipes. Two standouts of the new material included an interactive visual tour of the anatomy and physiology of the heart and cardiovascular system and a unique Heart Smart Trivia game. The anatomy and physiology tour included accessible text that could be understood by all levels of site visitors plus original high-quality medical illustrations, animations, and interactive images that encouraged users to visually explore the cardiovascular system. The Heart Smart Trivia game was a fun and educational feature that used Flash technology to provide sound and animation.
Results: Despite the considerable amount of original medical content, the updated site passed smoothly through medical and legal approvals and was launched to very favorable reactions. The site has won a number of major awards including a 1999 eHealthcare World Award and several 2001 World Wide Web Health Awards including Most Innovative Site, Best Interactive Site, and a Gold Award in the category of Health Promotion / Disease and Injury Prevention.
Link: www.mercksharpdohme.com/disease/heart
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