Evaluating the Quality of Ankle Fracture Education on Short-Form Video Platform YouTube Shorts

Abstract

Category: Ankle; Trauma Introduction/Purpose: Social media has had a significant impact on medical education. YouTube has been an established platform and has recently expanded into short form videos (YTS) that receives over 50 billion views per day, approximately 625% of the World population. Prior investigations have shown that the quality of education on the YouTube platform is unregulated, lacking in quality measures and content delivery. To date YTS has not been investigated in the field of orthopedic surgery. Our study analyzes the quality of ankle fracture education on YTS and the distribution of the topic’s video creators. Methods: For this analysis, we acquired the top 75 videos on YTS with the search query "#anklefracture + shorts." Duplicate shorts, shorts containing irrelevant material, and shorts without measurable content were excluded. Videos that met the inclusion criteria were then scored using previously verified scoring systems: GQS Score, PEMAT Understandability %, PEMAT Actionability %, and JAMA Score. The following continuous variables were acquired: Views, Date Posted, Likes, Comments, Followers, Video Engagement Rate (VER). Categorical variables were acquired: Advertisement Status, Verified Account, Creator Type. The authorship of each channel was identified based on American Board of Orthopedic Surgery (ABOS) certification. We compared two groups, American Board-certified channels vs channels of any other education level. All variables were analyzed utilizing a one-way ANOVA for significance. Results: Of the top 75 videos, 21 meet our inclusion criteria. Only 3 authors, 27.2%, had ABOS certification. Of the 6 verified YT channels none were orthopedic surgeons. 9 videos were created by ABOS certified channels and 12 by other channels. The video upload date ranged from February-2021 to January-2023. The average scores for ABOS authors were likes 666, 11.4 comments, 359666 followers, 0.448% engagement rate, GQS score 3.67, JAMAScore 3, PEMATUnderstandability 91.9%, and PEMATActionability 14.8%. Average scores for authors of any other education level: 403 likes, 11.3 comments, 140856 followers, 3.61% engagement rate, GQS score 3.83, JAMAScore 3.08, PEMATUnderstandability 94.5%, PEMATActionability 50%. Followers and Actionability were the only significant variables (p < 0.05); ABOS channels had more followers while other channels had higher actionability. Conclusion: Directing the online message in orthopedic patient care and education is important. This study emphasizes that orthopedic surgeons are skilled at capturing followers but fall short when compared to other channels in calling their viewers to action. It also shows how Orthopedic surgeons are equivalent when it comes to educating viewers in an understandable and verified manner. In order to lead ankle fracture education on YTS and other social media platforms, orthopedic surgeons need to utilize the popularity of their following to deliver actionable educational content and improve in categories that non-orthopedic surgeons dominate on YouTube Shorts.