'How to stop a nosebleed': an assessment of the quality of epistaxis treatment advice on YouTube

Abstract

Objective: Video hosting websites are increasingly being used to disseminate health education messages. This study aimed to assess the quality of advice contained within YouTube videos on the conservative management of epistaxis.

Method: YouTube.com was searched using the phrase 'how to stop a nosebleed'. The first 50 videos were screened. Objective advice scores and subjective production quality scores were attributed by independent raters.

Results: Forty-five videos were analysed. The mean advice score was 2.0 out of 8 and the mean production quality score was 1.6 out of 3. There were no correlations between a video's advice score and its search results rank (ρ = -0.28, p = 0.068), its view count (ρ = 0.20, p = 0.19) or its number of 'likes' (ρ = 0.21, p = 0.18).

Conclusion: The quality of information on conservative epistaxis management within YouTube videos is extremely variable. A high search rank is no indication of video quality. Many videos proffer inappropriate and dangerous 'alternative' advice. We do not recommend YouTube as a source for patient information.

Keywords: Epistaxis; Internet; Patient Education.