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Professional and Personal Development

(186) Evaluating YouTube Videos for Resident Education in Free Flap Surgery

Monday, October 2, 2023
2:45 PM – 3:45 PM East Coast USA Time
Has Audio

    Presenting Author(s)

  • Andrew Meci, MPH

    Student
    Penn State College of Medicine
    State College, Pennsylvania, United States

    • Senior Author(s)

  • Neerav Goyal, MD MPH FACS

    Associate Professor, Vice Chair Patient Safety
    Penn State Health
    Hershey, Pennsylvania, United States

    • Co-Author(s)

  • CB

    Craig A. Bollig, MD

    Assistant Professor of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery
    Penn State Otolaryngology
    Hershey, PA, USA

  • CT

    Christopher Tseng, MD

    Resident Physician
    Penn State Health, USA

Disclosure(s):
Andrew Meci, MPH: No relevant relationships to disclose.
Neerav Goyal, MD MPH FACS: No relevant relationships to disclose.


Introduction: The ease of access to online videos and the popularity of visual learning have made YouTube a popular educational resource. We analyzed the utility of YouTube videos as a graduate medical education resource for free flap surgery using a cross-sectional study.

Methods: YouTube was searched using the phrases “free flap surgery” and “free flap head and neck” to select up to 100 videos for inclusion. Relative search interest of these terms on YouTube from 2008-2022 was assessed via Google Trends. Videos were analyzed by free flap surgeons using Modified DISCERN, Global Quality Score, and JAMA Benchmark metrics of video quality, educational value, and transparency, respectively. Statistical analysis of video metadata and expert-determined scores was performed.

Results: Forty-four videos with 517,227 combined views were analyzed. Most videos were intra-operative (63.6%), produced by physicians (34.1%) or medical institutions (22.7%), and had target audiences of health professionals (95.5%). A small proportion of videos came from creators verified by YouTube (22.7%) or other sources (15.9%). The mean Modified DISCERN score was 15.4/25, with most videos classified as “fair” (54.6%). The mean Global Quality Score was 4.17/5 and the mean JAMA Benchmark was 2.7/4. Statistical analysis showed operative videos had statistically better popularity based on Video Power Index (p < 0.01). Higher Modified DISCERN scores were significantly associated with independent educators (p = 0.04), webinars (p = 0.03), and health professional target audiences (p = 0.04). Higher Global Quality Scores were also significantly associated with a health professional target audience (p < 0.01) and YouTube verification (p = 0.03), and higher JAMA scores with YouTube verification (p = 0.04).

Conclusions: Routine YouTube searches may not yield results ideal for resident education in head and neck free flap surgery. While many videos are of good educational value, lower transparency and reliability scores raise concerns of biased information. It is important to consider vetted educational or healthcare sources for resident surgical education.