Educational Quality of YouTube Cholesteatoma Surgery Videos: Areas for Improvement

Otolaryngology surgical education continues to evolve where trainees increasingly use videos to learn technical skills. Trainees commonly use YouTube, but no study to date has evaluated the educational quality (EQ) of otologic surgical videos on YouTube. We aim to assess the EQ of cholesteatoma surgical videos. Cholesteatoma surgical videos were queried using YouTube search terms, assessed using LAParoscopic surgery Video Educational GuidelineS (LAP-VEGaS), a validated assessment tool for publication, and categorized into low (0-6), medium (7-12), and high (13-18) EQ groups. In total, 74 videos were identified (mean LAP-VEGaS score = 9.6 ± 4.0) and 44.6% had medium EQ. Videos commonly lacked graphic aids to highlight anatomy (71.6%) and postprocedural outcomes (68.9%). LAP-VEGaS scores were greater in videos originating from US surgeons compared to non-US surgeons (12.4 ± 3.4 vs 8.0 ± 3.5; P < .001). Our study highlights that otolaryngology trainees may experience difficulty finding high-EQ cholesteatoma surgery videos on YouTube. Areas for improved EQ content are discussed. Level of evidence: IV.