Evaluating YouTube as a source of patient information for pediatric tracheostomy care

Objectives: To evaluate YouTube's usefulness as a source of information concerning pediatric tracheostomy care.Materials and methods: On August 10, 2022, the top 50 YouTube search results for "pediatric tracheostomy care" were displayed. Each video was evaluated by a jury of three otolaryngologists with at least 2 years of professional experience in pediatric otolaryngology using DISCERN, scoring system of Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), and the Global Quality Score (GQS).Results: After exclusion criteria 24 videos were evaluated. Fifteen of the evaluated videos were produced by health professionals, and the other nine videos were produced by independent users. The average duration of the videos were 337.5 s, varying between 82 s and 1364 s. The average Discern score of videos produced by health professionals was 38.9 & PLUSMN; 13, compared to 36.6 & PLUSMN; 14 for independent users. The mean JAMA score was 1.04 & PLUSMN; 0.68 for health professionals and 1.11 & PLUSMN; 0.94 for independent users. The GQS score was 2.82 & PLUSMN; 0.73 for health professionals and 3.19 & PLUSMN; 0.84 for independent users. There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups for Discern, JAMA, and GQS scoring.Conclusion: YouTube does not seem to be a good option for parents to get useful information about pediatric tracheostomy care at this time. Health professionals should provide websites with high-quality materials to improve awareness of pediatric tracheostomy care.