Max Ward1, Brittany Ward2, Mickey Abraham2, Alexis Nicheporuck2, Omar Elkattawy2, Yehuda Herschman3, Antonios Mammis3, James K Liu3, Boris Paskhover4. 1. Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, New Jersey, USA. Electronic address: Mw731@njms.rutgers.edu. 2. Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, New Jersey, USA. 3. Department of Neurological Surgery, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, New Jersey, USA. 4. Otolaryngology, Facial Plastics and Reconstructive Surgery, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, New Jersey, USA.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: YouTube has rapidly become one of the most widely accessed educational platforms of our time. Over 1 billion hours of YouTube content are viewed every day, including neurosurgical videos. To date, there has never been a qualitative analysis of neurosurgical content on YouTube. METHODS: By evaluating the search interest of neurosurgical terms via Google Trends, we selected 8 search terms to assess on YouTube. For each term, we selected the top 20 videos, 10 when sorting by view count and 10 when sorting by relevance. Using the DISCERN criteria, we evaluated 131 unique YouTube videos to assess bias and overall educational quality. In addition, we categorized each video based on its intended utility and the credentials of the video's commentator. The number of views, average DISCERN scores, and bias scores were compared between search terms and between video categories. RESULTS: There were 131 unique and 29 duplicate videos. The videos received 143,538,363 combined views (1,104,141 average). The average video age was 4.6 years (range, 66 days to 12.5 years). The term "brain surgery" received the most total views (62,339,885), with an average DISCERN score of 1.65 overall and 2 for bias. The average DISCERN score was 2.02 overall and 2.39 for bias. There were 45 advertisements for either hospitals, physicians, or companies, totaling 18,052,873 views and averaging a DISCERN score of 2.04. CONCLUSIONS: YouTube is a frequently viewed but biased source for neurosurgical information. Advertisements are frequently disguised as educational material, and few videos provide references or sources for their information.
BACKGROUND: YouTube has rapidly become one of the most widely accessed educational platforms of our time. Over 1 billion hours of YouTube content are viewed every day, including neurosurgical videos. To date, there has never been a qualitative analysis of neurosurgical content on YouTube. METHODS: By evaluating the search interest of neurosurgical terms via Google Trends, we selected 8 search terms to assess on YouTube. For each term, we selected the top 20 videos, 10 when sorting by view count and 10 when sorting by relevance. Using the DISCERN criteria, we evaluated 131 unique YouTube videos to assess bias and overall educational quality. In addition, we categorized each video based on its intended utility and the credentials of the video's commentator. The number of views, average DISCERN scores, and bias scores were compared between search terms and between video categories. RESULTS: There were 131 unique and 29 duplicate videos. The videos received 143,538,363 combined views (1,104,141 average). The average video age was 4.6 years (range, 66 days to 12.5 years). The term "brain surgery" received the most total views (62,339,885), with an average DISCERN score of 1.65 overall and 2 for bias. The average DISCERN score was 2.02 overall and 2.39 for bias. There were 45 advertisements for either hospitals, physicians, or companies, totaling 18,052,873 views and averaging a DISCERN score of 2.04. CONCLUSIONS: YouTube is a frequently viewed but biased source for neurosurgical information. Advertisements are frequently disguised as educational material, and few videos provide references or sources for their information.
Authors: Joshua D Knopf; Rahul Kumar; Michael Barats; Paul Klimo; Frederick A Boop; L Madison Michael; Jonathan E Martin; Markus Bookland; David S Hersh Journal: World Neurosurg Date: 2020-09-02 Impact factor: 2.104