The information contained in some YouTube videos on medical aspects sometimes contains some errors that can be fatal.
The study also identifies an opportunity for medical institutions to help patients by understanding what information they are getting online and how they can improve web resources in the future.
“Patients are likely to search for information about their medical conditions and procedures on the Internet, primarily because of the convenience and familiarity of the Internet, particularly YouTube,” says lead author Thomas Lee of Rutgers New Jersey Medical School.
“Most people only have a short amount of time to talk to a doctor about ICD placement, so it would make sense for them to go online to find out more about it. Although we cannot prevent our patients from learning on the Internet, nor do we want to restrict their access to information about their diseases, it is important that the medical community work to ensure that higher quality information is available that offers a complete picture of a treatment or process”.
Many of the informational videos appear to be of high quality but in reality the video does not convey the full picture of ICD placement.
According to the researchers, data on Internet behavior suggest that 80% of people search for health information online, and 56% for information on medical treatments or procedures.
In this study, researchers conducted a search on YouTube using the term implantable defibrillator, before excluding lecture-style videos, surgical and/or operating room videos, non-English language videos without subtitles, those with irrelevant content, videos without audio or subtitles and duplicates.
Of the first 75 videos identified, 25 were excluded. The remaining 50 were classified by type of generator: academic institution, medical device company, or independent charger.
In general, the videos evaluated turned out to be of low quality and highly variable in both scoring systems.
“It is very important that patients have access to high-quality information, as it can be difficult to interact with medical professionals. Often, a patient has to wait weeks or even months before being able to answer her questions with confidence,” Lee acknowledges. “The problem is that on YouTube a lot of the educational videos seem high-quality because of the hospital environment or the narrating doctor, but in reality the video doesn’t convey the full picture of ICD placement.”