The educational value of thyroidectomy YouTube videos for surgical trainees

To evaluate the usefulness of thyroidectomy videos posted on YouTube for surgical training.

The following keywords were searched on YouTube: "thyroidectomy", "conventional thyroidectomy", "hemithyroidectomy", and "thyroid lobectomy". The first 30 videos from each search were selected for a total of 120 videos. Included videos were those displaying a conventional approach to thyroidectomy and real, non-animated patient surgery. Two independent reviewers assessed each video using the LAParoscopic surgery Video Educational Guidelines (LAP-VEGaS) and a thyroidectomy-specific grading score (TSS).

The search yielded 22 videos that met the selection criteria. The inter-rater agreement was excellent for the grading systems (ICC = 0.910). The average LAP-VEGaS score was of medium quality (8.82 ± 3.56 standard deviation (SD)). The highest average score (11.00 ± 1.68 SD) was assigned to videos published from academic institutions. There was no statistically significant difference in LAP-VEGaS scores when comparing the type of publisher between videos (p = 0.132). The majority of the videos (12/22, 55 %) did not include all hallmarks of thyroidectomy according to the novel TSS score. There was a significant positive correlation between TSS markers and the overall LAP-VEGaS score (r = 0.577, p = 0.005).

YouTube videos as an educational resource for thyroidectomy instructions vary in quality. Most of the thyroidectomy videos were medium quality according to the LAP-VEGaS score. YouTube sourced thyroidectomy videos should be used to supplement traditional educational methods.