Skip to main content
AAO-HNSF 2023 Annual Meeting & OTO Experience Main banner
Icon Legend
This session is not in your schedule.
This session is in your schedule. Click again to remove it.

Head and Neck Surgery

Evaluating Laryngectomy YouTube Videos as an Educational Resource for Patients

Tuesday, October 3, 2023
4:18 PM - 4:24 PM East Coast USA Time
Location: 201AB

    Presenting Author(s)

  • Daniel J. Campbell, MD

    Resident Physician
    Thomas Jefferson University Hospital
    Philadelphia, PA, United States

    • Co-Author(s)

  • EM

    Eric V. Mastrolonardo, MD

    Resident
    Thomas Jefferson University Hospital
    Philadelphia, PA, United States

  • Ramez Philips, MD

    Medical Student
    Department of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery, Thomas Jefferson University Hospital
    Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

  • Elliott M. Sina, BA

    Medical Student
    Thomas Jefferson University Hospital
    Philadelphia, PA, United States

  • Dev R. Amin, MD

    Resident Physician
    Thomas Jefferson University
    Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

    • Senior Author(s)

  • Joseph M. Curry, MD

    Professor
    Thomas Jefferson University Hospital
    Wynnewood, PA, United States

Disclosure(s):
Daniel J. Campbell, MD: No relevant relationships to disclose.
Introduction: Patients are increasingly using online resources for medical education; however, such resources are often unreliable and an inappropriate patient learning level. Our study investigates the quality of YouTube videos on patient laryngectomy education and the relationship between video quality, popularity, and grade level of presented information.

Methods: Five YouTube searches were conducted using terms: laryngectomy, laryngectomy care, laryngectomy patient, laryngectomy education, and voicebox removal surgery. The first 50 videos from each search were collected. Videos intended for physicians (surgical technique-specific), irrelevant to laryngectomy education, without audio/subtitles, or non-English were excluded. Educational value was assessed using the modified DISCERN score (range: 5-25) and a novel laryngectomy education score (NLES) (range: 0-11). Video popularity was determined using Video Popularity Index, which uses likes, comments, and views per day. A Flesch-Kinkaid (FK) score was calculated using video transcripts to determine grade level of presented information.

Results: After excluding 115 duplicate videos and 99 videos not meeting inclusion criteria, 36 videos were reviewed. Of non-duplicate videos excluded, 30 (30.3%) were intended for physicians and 67 (67.7%) were irrelevant to laryngectomy education. Overall video quality was poor: mean NLES (3.65 +/- 2.5) and mean modified DISCERN score (13.85 +/- 4.6). No videos (0%) adequately discussed intra- and post-operative complications. Speech language pathologists were the most numerous primary speaker (14 videos, 38.9%), and 26 videos (72.2%) discussed post-operative speech options. Mean video FK grade level was appropriate (7.71+/- 2.2). Video quality scores were not correlated with video popularity nor FK grade level.

Conclusions: While YouTube videos may not provide an adequate comprehensive laryngectomy education, they may serve a targeted role for post-operative speech options. There is opportunity for head and neck surgeons to produce higher quality videos on laryngectomy patient education.