Is YouTube a reliable source of education for the intravitreal injection procedure?

This study aims to evaluate the quality of videos on YouTube that demonstrate the intravitreal injection (IVI) procedure as an educational tool.

A search on YouTube using the keywords "intravitreal injection", "intravitreal injection procedure", "eye injection", "eye injection procedure", "dexamethasone intraocular injection", and "anti-VEGF injection" was performed on January 10, 2023. Of the first 300 videos obtained, 70 met the inclusion criteria. The videos were evaluated for content and quality using the IVI procedure checklist score, DISCERN, modified Global Quality Score (GQS), Health on the Net Foundation (HON) code, and the Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) scores. The quality of the videos was also compared with regard to the uploading source, such as a university or training hospital, educational channels, and individual medical doctors or healthcare professionals.

The mean IVI procedure checklist score was 4.84±1.58, and 29 videos fulfilled more than 80% of the checklist items, indicating that only 41.4% of the videos conformed to the IVI procedure recommendations. The mean DISCERN, modified GQS, and JAMA benchmark scores were 34.75±10.46, 2.90±1.09, and 2.09±0.72, respectively, indicating poor overall video quality. The mean HON code score was 4.68±1.39, indicating moderate overall video quality. Videos uploaded by educational channels seem to be of better quality than those uploaded by others.

The majority of evaluated YouTube videos on the IVI procedure appear to be of low quality as an educational tool. Videos uploaded by educational channels would be preferred to gain quality information about the IVI procedure.