YouTube as a source of education on tunneled catheter insertion: content and quality analysis

Tunneled catheters can be inserted for many reasons, and in most centers, and in most centers it is not clear who should insert these catheters. Some anesthesiologists may not have seen first-hand the insertion of a tunneled catheter during their residency, depending on the policies of the institution. YouTube is one of the most commonly used online platforms for accessing medical information. The aim of this study was to investigate the reliability of YouTube videos, for tunneled central venous catheter (Hickman and tunneled hemodialysis catheters) insertion for education.

The keywords "Tunneled catheter insertion" and "Tunneled central venous catheter insertion" were searched for on YouTube. The first 100 videos ranked by the YouTube algorithm were analysed. Animation and theoretical content videos, as well as videos that included only a part of the catheter insertion, were excluded. The sources of the videos were categorized as medical doctors or professional organizations. medical device advertisement and hospital. Two authors evaluated all videos via the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) benchmark criteria, modified DISCERN scores and the Global Quality Scale (GQS).

Twenty-three videos were analysed in the study. The video quality scores were similar across the video sources. The number of views and the number of likes were significantly positively correlated. Furthermore, a significant correlation was found between the JAMA, Modified DISCERN, and GQS scores. Notably, none of the analysed videos achieved full points in all three scoring systems.

Relying on a single criterion, such as the video source or number of likes, is not sufficient to determine a video's quality. Therefore, what is learned from videos needs to be double-checked. These platforms should be used as an additional tool, not as the primary source of education.