Single-Position Lumbar Fusion Online Videos for Patient Education: Understandability, Reliability, and Quality.

Introduction: Patients undergoing surgical interventions, particularly spine surgery, often rely on online videos as a first source for medical information. In this study, we sought to investigate the understandability, reliability, and quality of online patient educational videos focused on single-position lumbar fusion.

Methods: The YouTube platform was searched using five search terms: prone transpsoas lumbar fusion, prone lateral lumbar fusion, single position lumbar fusion, prone single position lumbar fusion, and lateral single position lumbar fusion. The relevance-based ranking search option was used with each of the search terms and was investigated for videos relevant that met the inclusion criteria. Videos from academic institutions, commercial entities, individual physician, and physician groups were included for final evaluation in this study. The DISCERN instrument, patient education material assessment tool (PEMAT), the Global Quality Scale, and Journal of the American Medical Association Benchmark were used to evaluate the reliability, quality, and understandability of the videos.

Results: A total of 500 videos were initially identified, and after applying inclusion criteria, 13 videos were selected for evaluation. The videos exhibited an overall average score in each category: DISCERN (41.8 ± 10), PEMAT understandability (65% ± 12%), PEMAT actionability (28% ± 15%), Global Quality Scale (2.9 ± 0.4), and Journal of the American Medical Association Benchmark (2.9 ± 0.7). Notably, there was no discernible correlation between video popularity and the assigned scores. There was no correlation between video popularity and scores.

Discussion: The findings of this study demonstrate that patients who seek to access information about single-position lumbar fusion by using the YouTube platform will be presented with a moderate overall quality of educational content on this procedure. As single-position lumbar fusion becomes a more prevalent choice for patients, we recommend enhancing patient education on this spine surgery approach by encouraging academic institutions to produce standardized and dependable video educational materials. This would greatly benefit patients looking to better understand this procedure and make informed decisions.