YouTube as a Source of Medical Information About Peripheral Nerve Stimulation

YouTube is an important source of medical information for various medical topics and procedures. The purpose of the present study is to appraise the quality of medical information available on YouTube on the topic of peripheral nerve stimulation (PNS) for chronic pain.

A total of 53 videos were appraised by four individuals using three scales for appraisal: 1) the Modified DISCERN scale, 2) the Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) Benchmark scoring, and 3) the Global Quality Scale. Descriptive characteristics and author type of each video were recorded. The mean scores of these scales among all four reviewers based on author type were calculated. One-way analysis of variance was used to compare mean scores of the three scales among author types, and post hoc pairwise Tukey's honestly significant difference test was used to evaluate for significant differences between mean scores. Furthermore, mean scale scores of videos above and below the total average-view count and total average "thumbs ups" were calculated and compared.

Most videos (n = 31, 58.5%) were submitted from private practice. The mean Modified DISCERN and JAMA scores of videos by academic and society authors (M = 3.54 and 2.83, respectively) were significantly higher (p < 0.05) than the mean Modified DISCERN and JAMA scores of videos by private practice authors (M = 2.10 and 2.03, respectively). Interestingly, the mean scale scores of videos with above-average view counts were found to be lower than scores of videos with below-average view counts across all three scoring instruments.

YouTube videos on PNS stimulation for chronic pain are low to moderate in quality. Videos from academic sources were higher in quality than were private practice videos. Furthermore, videos with above-average view counts had lower mean scores on all three instruments, suggesting most of the viewership had watched lower-quality video content.