Simulation and educationYouTube as a source of information on cardiopulmonary resuscitation☆
Introduction
A vital link in the sequence of events for a successful outcome for an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest is the administration of Cardiopulmonary resuscitation’ (CPR) with proper technique by a qualified bystander. It is crucial that accurate information about CPR is available readily to the general population.
The Internet has become an easily available and frequently used source of healthcare information.1 50 million Americans obtain health-related information on the Internet monthly. Freely available video broadcast sites like YouTube are popular sources of information with more than 100 million viewers daily.2, 3
Videos can be sorted by relevance, upload date, view count and rating. Ranking videos by relevance (default option) uses a complex algorithm based on view count, upload date, frequency, rating, comments, bookmarks, age of user, etc. YouTube content is dynamic and standard feeds are updated every few minutes. Search can also be limited to subject category, duration, features, etc.4, 5
Considering its popularity and ease of access, YouTube should be regarded as an important platform for sharing relevant healthcare information. However, there is a risk of dissemination of misleading information. YouTube has been evaluated in the past as a source of information on vaccination, tobacco use, breast feeding, and more recently the influenza pandemic.6, 7, 8, 9, 10 This study analyzes the source, content and quality of information about CPR in the videos uploaded on You Tube.
Section snippets
Methodology
YouTube was queried using four search terms ‘CPR’, ‘cardiopulmonary resuscitation’, ‘BLS’ and ‘basic life support’ on February 11, 2010. As the query returned too many items (for example, search term CPR returned >12,000 videos), the first 10 pages of each search term result were screened assuming that users would not look beyond the first 10 pages of a search result.
Only videos elucidating ‘adult CPR’ steps were included. Videos could be in the form of an instructional demonstration only or
Results
Of 800 videos screened (Fig. 1) 52 videos met the inclusion criteria with a mean duration of 233 (±145) s, posted a mean 1 year 118 days (±352 days) ago with a mean view count of 37 (±77) per day. Of the 52 videos, 6 videos had multiple parts and 3 were incomplete.
Only 13.5% (n = 7) videos mentioned the intended target audience at the start, i.e. general public vs health care professionals (HCP). 11.5% (n = 6) videos appeared to be intended for HCP and the rest for lay rescuers.
Majority of videos
Discussion
Although most of the steps of CPR were fairly well elucidated in the videos screened there were a number of videos omitting vital steps, performing steps incorrectly or out of sequence. Information about the technique of chest compressions and compression–ventilation ratio in particular was poor. The distinction between videos targeting lay rescuers versus HCP was unclear. CPR recommendations are different for each of these groups. Many videos incorrectly recommended lay rescuers to assess for
Limitations
- (1)
The scoring criteria for ‘viewability’ were subjective.
- (2)
Non–English language video clips were excluded.
- (3)
This study presents only a snapshot of information available on YouTube. YouTube content shifts over time.
- (4)
This study was limited to a direct YouTube search and does not account for YouTube videos viewed at other sites which embed or link videos and videos on other health information websites but not on YouTube.
Conclusions
YouTube was found to be fair source of information on CPR but as the information on this platform is not regulated, it is imperative that authoritative videos by reputed sources which in the past have been shown to be the most trusted sources by general public,10 be posted to provide easily accessible and accurate information about CPR for all.
It also has a potential role in video-assisted learning of CPR and source of information for CPR in emergencies.
Conflict of interest statement
None to declare.
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Cited by (0)
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A Spanish translated version of the abstract of this article appears as Appendix in the final online version at doi:10.1016/j.resuscitation.2010.11.015.