Doctors Are Turning To YouTube To Learn How To Do Surgical Procedures (cnbc.com) 59
Some doctors say that medical students and residents are turning to YouTube to fill in gaps in their training. The video-sharing platform hosts tens of thousands of surgery-related videos, and the number keeps climbing every year. CNBC reports: CNBC found tens of thousands of videos showing a wide variety of medical procedures on the Google-owned video platform, some of them hovering around a million views. People have livestreamed giving birth and broadcast their face-lifts. One video, which shows the removal of a dense, white cataract, has gone somewhat viral and now has more than 1.7 million views. Others seem to have found crossover appeal with nonmedical viewers, such as a video from the U.K.-based group Audiology Associates showing a weirdly satisfying removal of a giant glob of earwax. Doctors are uploading these videos to market themselves or to help others in the field, and the amount is growing by leaps and bounds. Researchers in January found more than 20,000 videos related to prostate surgery alone, compared with just 500 videos in 2009.
The videos are a particular boon for doctors in training. When the University of Iowa surveyed its surgeons, including its fourth-year medical students and residents, it found that YouTube was the most-used video source for surgical preparation by far. But residents and medical students are not the only ones tuning in. Experienced doctors, like Stanford Hospital's vascular surgeon Dr. Oliver Aalami said he turned to YouTube recently ahead of a particularly difficult exposure. There's one problem with this practice that will be familiar to anybody who's searched YouTube for tips on more mundane tasks like household repairs. How can doctors tell which videos are valid and which contain bogus information? "[O]ne recent study found more than 68,000 videos associated with a common procedure known as a distal radius fracture immobilization," the report adds. "The researchers evaluated the content for their technical skill demonstrated and educational skill, and created a score. Only 16 of the videos even met basic criteria, including whether they were performed by a health-care professional or institution. Among those, the scores were mixed. In several cases, the credentials of the person performing the procedure could not be identified at all."
Other studies are finding that YouTube's algorithm is highly ranking videos where the technique isn't optimal.
The videos are a particular boon for doctors in training. When the University of Iowa surveyed its surgeons, including its fourth-year medical students and residents, it found that YouTube was the most-used video source for surgical preparation by far. But residents and medical students are not the only ones tuning in. Experienced doctors, like Stanford Hospital's vascular surgeon Dr. Oliver Aalami said he turned to YouTube recently ahead of a particularly difficult exposure. There's one problem with this practice that will be familiar to anybody who's searched YouTube for tips on more mundane tasks like household repairs. How can doctors tell which videos are valid and which contain bogus information? "[O]ne recent study found more than 68,000 videos associated with a common procedure known as a distal radius fracture immobilization," the report adds. "The researchers evaluated the content for their technical skill demonstrated and educational skill, and created a score. Only 16 of the videos even met basic criteria, including whether they were performed by a health-care professional or institution. Among those, the scores were mixed. In several cases, the credentials of the person performing the procedure could not be identified at all."
Other studies are finding that YouTube's algorithm is highly ranking videos where the technique isn't optimal.
Blood Overflow (Score:5, Informative)
Googling is how I get 90% of my job done, so I think it's pretty reasonable that doctors can take advantage of modern technology too.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Googling is how I get 90% of my job done, so I think it's pretty reasonable that doctors can take advantage of modern technology too.
Indeed. If I was going into surgery, I would much prefer someone who recently reviewed the procedure. I want to be able to see the procedure myself, so I can be an informed consumer, ask the right questions, and evaluate the doctor's competence.
TFA focuses mainly on "credentialism": Did the person making the video have the right paper qualifications, rather than whether the procedure demonstrated was technically correct. The medical establishment is a privileged guild trying to maintain their racket by
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
The problem with checking a surgeons recovery and survival rates is that it has a chilling effect on surgeons willing to take on the difficult cases, the cases where survival chances are minimal but still non-zero etc. The more that the public relies on just the statistics, the fewer surgeons there are that are willing to step outside the safe zone because they will be punished for doing so.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
The problem is, nurses cannot make diagnoses (in many countries, they legally cannot unless they are a specially trained level of nurse), so while they may give care to a given patient on their ward more often than the doctor, they may not actually know the prognosis of any given patient, or why they are not responding to treatment, or indeed if this is expected or not. All they really see is whats in-front of them - which is exactly what you get by looking at the statistics....
Re: (Score:2)
The problem is, nurses cannot make diagnoses (in many countries, they legally cannot unless they are a specially trained level of nurse), so while they may give care to a given patient on their ward more often than the doctor, they may not actually know the prognosis of any given patient, or why they are not responding to treatment, or indeed if this is expected or not. All they really see is whats in-front of them - which is exactly what you get by looking at the statistics....
While nurses can not make final diagnoses they are supposed to understand diagnoses, and should be able to do pre-diagnoses, to help triage and bring patients to the right specialist. Though it depends on country and even generation of nurses. I know many countries that have started expanding on nurse education where the newest generation have spend more years in college so they they can offload doctors more.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Are you saying you're not using the microwave to quickly charge your iphone? You're missing out!
Re: (Score:2)
"That's what you think. Go to a doctor and tell them you googled for two years and think you have..."
Dr. Google often sends people to the real doctor armed with a diagnosis. Or, especially in the US where medicine is for-profit, pharmaceutical advertising sends them in 100% convinced that they need Drug X they saw on TV for the condition they're totally sure they have all the symptoms of. The eyes will roll when the doctor suggests diagnostics and the patient refuses, demanding to be treated for what Google
Criticizing is not only easy, it's fun too. (Score:3)
"The researchers evaluated the content for their technical skill demonstrated and educational skill, and created a score"
Perhaps instead of a score they could create a solid video database so that students and professionals don't feel compelled to go to other sources.
Who's gonna pay for it? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
The British NHS has several free or cheap sources of such information for its medical professionals and students, for example the BNF, OpenAthens etc. Individual specialities have their own specialised journals and libraries which you can access through your memberships (which can run to several thousand dollars a year anyway). Most British medical universities have access to these resources as part of their courses.
These students are getting into an expensive profession - potentially huge insurance or de
Qualifications (Score:2)
While it's undoubtedly desirable that the person in the video be suitably trained, I'd have thought that the biggest factor in scoring the videos was whether the techniques shown were correct and up to date.
Like car-mechanics? (Score:5, Insightful)
Or dozens of other professions? Welcome!
I do it... (Score:5, Interesting)
Humans are highly variable in the specifics of anatomy. Medical students and early residents need as much exposure as possible to that variation - that's really one of the major purposes of a surgery residency (it doesn't take that long to learn how to cut and sew, it's about learning when and where to cut and sew, and more importantly when and where not to cut and sew, and how to manage it when things go wrong). As long as they know it's potentially suspect information, it's still good. After all, you can learn something from everyone, even if it's "never, ever do this".
So you just googled it? (Score:4, Funny)
Re: (Score:3)
You don't need special training to drive down a road you've never driven down before, just some
Re: (Score:2)
Pretty good video but was the 80s porno backing track all that necessary
Re:I do it... (Score:4, Funny)
I thought the dentist technique is to just stab the vague area until the patient screams. That sound means they found the nerve.
Re: (Score:2)
Do comments say what was wrong, like home repair? (Score:2)
Many home-repair videos on YouTube feature the "credentialed professional" making a great number of beginner-level mistakes. HOWEVER, the comments section contains people pointing out the errors/less-desireable techniques. So if you want the video and read the comments the procedure is covered pretty well. Do you see the same thing in videos you watch, useful comments?
That gets me thinking - it would be cool if there were some sort of Wikitube which allowed people to slowly build perfect instructions via
Re: (Score:2)
Also, anyone is allowed to do basic repair, and the barrier to entry is very low. Regard
Re: (Score:2)
That absolutely makes sense.
Also, in your like of work it's important to not sure up - doing it right 99% of the time isn't acceptable.
my line of work is basically all about making sure people as systems don't screw up. IT systems mostly, but systems. As part of my research, I talked to good airplane mechanics and found out what they do to avoid mistakes. Airplane engines get overhauled every few hundred hours, so they are worked on a lot and there are a lot of opportunities for error. The main thing that
Ugh, I should have checked my work on the post (Score:2)
I should have checked my own writing on a couplenof sentences. That should be:
Also, in your line of work it's important to not screw up - doing it right 99% of the time isn't acceptable.
My line of work is basically all about making sure people and systems don't screw up. IT systems mostly, but systems.
Re: (Score:2)
There was an excellent BBC article [bbc.com] recently about how the best anatomy book currently in existence is the Pernkopf Topographic Anatomy of Man, which unfortunately was compiled based on the dissections of Nazi prisoners - it went out of print in 1994 after doubts were cast on its past, and its true history was revealed after research, but it remains to this day the best source of information for some things.
I mention it because you talked about difficulty in finding nerves and one of hte primary uses of this
Re: (Score:2)
As for BBC article, I doubt they reviewed Grant's Atlas of Anatomy, which is based on large numbers of dissections as well (but it's American, so...). Not to say that the one in question isn't a good piece of wo
Re: (Score:2)
So you've obviously seen this video [youtu.be] way too many times...
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:3)
Nonetheless I like the cut of your jib.
Re: (Score:2)
It says "surgical procedures" and while you have made your case I'm not sure that's on topic. If my aorta is numb and gets cut unexpectedly, I can appreciate your assistance, but your contribution is minor.
Re: (Score:2)
I'm an anesthesiologist, and I can use the same basic techniques to numb your shoulder, your arm, your hand, your foot, your ankle, your whole leg, or portions of your abdomen, just by picking which nerves I want to numb.
Anesthesiologists also rely on YouTube for the basics of surprise bill composition and deployment.
Re: (Score:2)
Turning? (Score:4, Informative)
Surgery.com (Score:2)
A decade-old but relevant...
https://biopsy.files.wordpress... [wordpress.com]
The Simpsons... (Score:2)
Simpsons predicted it (Score:5, Funny)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
Dr nick riviera (Score:5, Funny)
I'll perform any operation for $129.95!
Re: (Score:2)
..And? I'm much happier with a doctor or surgeon who realizes he or she isn't the fount of all medical knowledge in the universe. Why did we even bother inventing the internet? Wasn't it originally meant to, among other things, amplify human intellect?
I'd rather a doctor review or look at other surgeon's approaches than ignore everything. Dismiss, deny, ignore seems all too prevalent among medical people.
Let me know... (Score:2)
The Anatomy (Score:2)
Looks like LoadingReadyRun predicted this [youtu.be] over two years ago.
Re: (Score:2)
also very helpful for DIYers and hackers.... (Score:1)
Calling... (Score:2)
what would you choose? (Score:2)
Which doctor would you pick?
1 - didn't know how to do it, but looked it up on yt
2 - doesn't know how to do it, will figure it out as he goes
if you know your field well enough (you can't know everything), yt videos are mostly good enough to get the general idea or get you going. you'll also be able to spot which video's are useless and/or wrong.
I didn't realize there were gaps in training (Score:2)
That is a very interesting revelation. I thought medicine was a pretty fixed body of knowledge. Are there really situations where doctors don't have a full command of procedures they're doing?
From an outsider's perspective, I saw during college that medical school basically selected for people with science aptitude who also had a photographic memory. My assumption was that they just brain-dumped the entire profession's body of basic knowledge into medical students over 4 years, then supplemented it with res
16 out of 68,000? (Score:2)
The summary seems to want us to conclude that 99.9% of patients get their surgery done in a back alley by t
My friend has used it in the ER (Score:2)
Hello, everybody! (Score:1)