Educational value assessment of YouTube surgical videos of tension-free vaginal tape obturator (TVT-O) and trans-obturator vaginal tape (TOT)

BACKGROUND: YouTube, as a widely used video website around the world, contains a large number of surgical teaching videos, providing a good platform for doctors to learn surgery, but its content and quality are uneven. Tension-free vaginal tape obturator (TVT-O) and trans-obturator vaginal tape (TOT) are common surgical methods for the treatment of stress urinary incontinence (SUI), and there are many videos on YouTube teaching these procedures. We aimed to assess the educational value of surgical videos of TVT-O and TOT on YouTube. METHODS: A comprehensive search was conducted for “tension-free vaginal tape obturator” and “trans-obturator vaginal tape” on YouTube on August 22. After referring to LAParoscopic surgery Video Educational GuidelineS (LAP-VEGaS) and previous studies, we developed a checklist containing 5 major items and 18 minor items. SPSS 26 was applied to data and correlation analysis. RESULTS: A total of 36 videos were assessed. The average number of days available was 1,956.6 days (range, 190–4,152 days) and the average length was 9.7 min (range, 1.8–73.6 min, SD: 13.65). Video definition is divided into high, moderate and low, accounting for 22%, 36% and 42% respectively. The average score of the included videos was 7.39 (range, 3–16, SD: 3.57). The correlation analysis indicated that the video quality score has a certain correlation with the length of the video, but has no significant correlation with other factors and there was no significant correlation between audience likes and other factors. CONCLUSIONS: On YouTube, we still lack high educational value videos about TVT-O and TOT, and the existing videos are deficient in the explanation of critical steps, the key points of patients’ perioperative management, and the application of auxiliary teaching tools. This further indicates the importance of improving educational videos of surgery, and an authoritative checklist for urologic surgery.