Can endoscopic lumbar discectomy videos shared on youtube be used as patient education tools? A quality control study

Abstract

Objective: Today, the internet is the initial resource of health information for people who are worried about their health condition. For this reason, it is crucial to clarify the reliability and content correctness of online medical videos. Therefore, this current study aimed to investigate the reliability and correctness of videos associated with endoscopic lumbar discectomy on YouTube®. Materials and Methods: We conducted a search on YouTube® using the keywords “endoscopic lumbar discectomy”. The headings of the first 50 videos on YouTube® associated with endoscopic lumbar discectomy were obtained and simultaneously evaluated by two spine surgeons. We excluded from our analysis videos with advertisements and video in a language other than English. We evaluated the videos using the DISCERN and JAMA scores and video power index. Results: The average number of views per video was 95,954. Most of the video contents were surgical techniques and general information. The average video length was 7.67 minutes. The average DISCERN and JAMA scores were determined as 30.2 and 1.94, respectively. According to the average DISCERN scores, 38% of the videos were evaluated as very poor, 44% as poor, 16% as average and 2% of as good in terms of video reliability. Conclusion: Generally, the reliability of the videos uploaded on YouTube® associated with endoscopic lumbar discectomy was “poor” or “very poor”. Therefore, we recommend that YouTube® videos should not be used as patient education tools for endoscopic lumbar discectomy.