Nervous system examination on YouTube

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Abstract

Background

Web 2.0 sites such as YouTube have become a useful resource for knowledge and are used by medical students as a learning resource. This study aimed at assessing videos covering the nervous system examination on YouTube.

Methods

A research of YouTube was conducted from 2 November to 2 December 2011 using the following key words “nervous system examination”, “nervous system clinical examination”, “cranial nerves examination”, “CNS examination”, “examination of cerebellum”, “balance and coordination examination”. Only relevant videos in the English language were identified and related URL recorded. For each video, the following information was collected: title, author/s, duration, number of viewers, number of posted comments, and total number of days on YouTube. Using criteria comprising content, technical authority and pedagogy parameters, videos were rated independently by three assessors and grouped into educationally useful and non-educationally useful.

Results

A total of 2240 videos were screened; 129 were found to have relevant information to nervous system examination. Analysis revealed that 61 (47%) of the videos provided useful information on the nervous system examination. These videos scored (mean ± SD, 14.9 ± 0.2) and mainly covered examination of the whole nervous system (8 videos, 13%), cranial nerves (42 videos, 69%), upper limbs (6 videos, 10%), lower limbs (3 videos, 5%), balance and co-ordination (2 videos, 3%). The other 68 (53%) videos were not useful educationally; scoring (mean ± SD, 11.1 ± 3.0). The total viewers of all videos was 2,189,434. Useful videos were viewed by 1,050,445 viewers (48% of total viewers). The total viewership per day for useful videos was 1,794.5 and for non-useful videos 1,132.0. The differences between the three assessors were insignificant (less than 0.5 for the mean and 0.3 for the SD).

Conclusions

Currently, YouTube provides an adequate resource for learning nervous system examination, which can be used by medical students. However, there were deficiencies in videos covering examination of the cerebellum and balance system. Useful videos can be used as learning resources to medical students.

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Most cited references 11

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Wikis, blogs and podcasts: a new generation of Web-based tools for virtual collaborative clinical practice and education

Maged N Kamel Boulos, Inocencio Maramba, Steve Wheeler (2006)

Background We have witnessed a rapid increase in the use of Web-based 'collaborationware' in recent years. These Web 2.0 applications, particularly wikis, blogs and podcasts, have been increasingly adopted by many online health-related professional and educational services. Because of their ease of use and rapidity of deployment, they offer the opportunity for powerful information sharing and ease of collaboration. Wikis are Web sites that can be edited by anyone who has access to them. The word 'blog' is a contraction of 'Web Log' – an online Web journal that can offer a resource rich multimedia environment. Podcasts are repositories of audio and video materials that can be "pushed" to subscribers, even without user intervention. These audio and video files can be downloaded to portable media players that can be taken anywhere, providing the potential for "anytime, anywhere" learning experiences (mobile learning). Discussion Wikis, blogs and podcasts are all relatively easy to use, which partly accounts for their proliferation. The fact that there are many free and Open Source versions of these tools may also be responsible for their explosive growth. Thus it would be relatively easy to implement any or all within a Health Professions' Educational Environment. Paradoxically, some of their disadvantages also relate to their openness and ease of use. With virtually anybody able to alter, edit or otherwise contribute to the collaborative Web pages, it can be problematic to gauge the reliability and accuracy of such resources. While arguably, the very process of collaboration leads to a Darwinian type 'survival of the fittest' content within a Web page, the veracity of these resources can be assured through careful monitoring, moderation, and operation of the collaborationware in a closed and secure digital environment. Empirical research is still needed to build our pedagogic evidence base about the different aspects of these tools in the context of medical/health education. Summary and conclusion If effectively deployed, wikis, blogs and podcasts could offer a way to enhance students', clinicians' and patients' learning experiences, and deepen levels of learners' engagement and collaboration within digital learning environments. Therefore, research should be conducted to determine the best ways to integrate these tools into existing e-Learning programmes for students, health professionals and patients, taking into account the different, but also overlapping, needs of these three audience classes and the opportunities of virtual collaboration between them. Of particular importance is research into novel integrative applications, to serve as the "glue" to bind the different forms of Web-based collaborationware synergistically in order to provide a coherent wholesome learning experience.

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YouTube as a source of information on the H1N1 influenza pandemic.

Ambarish Pandey, Nivedita Patni, Mansher Singh … (2010)

The ongoing H1N1 influenza pandemic has created a significant amount of health concern. Adequate dissemination of correct information about H1N1 influenza could help in decreasing the disease spread and associated anxiety in the population. This study aims to examine the effective use of the popular Internet video site YouTube as an information source during the initial phase of the H1N1 outbreak. YouTube was searched on June 26, 2009, using the keywords swine flu, H1N1 influenza, and influenza for videos uploaded in the past 3 months containing relevant information about the disease. The videos were classified as useful, misleading, or as news updates based on the kind of information contained. Total viewership, number of days since upload, total duration of videos, and source of upload were noted. A total of 142 videos had relevant information about H1N1 influenza. In all, 61.3% of videos had useful information about the disease, whereas 23% were misleading. Total viewership share of useful videos was 70.5%, whereas that of misleading videos was 17.5%, with no significant difference in viewership/day. The CDC contributed about 12% of the useful videos, with a significant viewership share of 47%. No significant differences were seen in viewership/day for useful videos based on the kind of information they contained. YouTube has a substantial amount of useful information about H1N1 influenza. A source-based preference is seen among the viewers, and CDC-uploaded videos are being used in an increasing proportion as a source of authentic information about the disease. Copyright (c) 2010 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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YouTube as source of prostate cancer information.

Peter Steinberg, Shaun E L Wason, Joshua M Stern … (2010)

Patients can search the Internet for prostate cancer information, and YouTube is a popular Web site that they may consult. We analyzed the prostate cancer videos on YouTube for information content and the presence of bias. YouTube was searched for videos about prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing, radiotherapy, and surgery for prostate cancer. The included videos were in English and <10 minutes long. Two physician viewers watched each video and assigned a score for information content (excellent, fair, poor) and bias (for, against, neutral, or balanced). A third viewer arbitrated any discrepancies. The kappa statistic was used to measure interobserver variability, and Pearson's test was used to assess correlation. A total of 14 PSA videos, 5 radiotherapy videos, and 32 surgery videos were analyzed. The PSA testing videos averaged 1480 +/- 2196 views and 146 +/- 174 s long and had an average viewer rating of 3.1 +/- 2.1 (viewer rating scale 0-5). The surgery videos averaged 2044 +/- 3740 views and 172 +/- 122 s long and had an average viewer rating of scored 3 +/- 2.2. The radiotherapy videos averaged 287 +/- 255 views and 97 +/- 45 s long and had a score of 1.8 +/- 2.5. The information content was fair or poor for 73% of all videos. The bias for surgery, radiotherapy, or PSA testing was present in 69% of videos; 0% of videos were biased against treatment or PSA testing. The interobserver variability was well above than expected by chance alone. The results of our study have shown that although some videos are robust sources of information, given the preponderance of modest and unbalanced information among reviewed videos, YouTube is an inadequate source of prostate cancer information for patients. 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Author and article information

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): BMC Med Educ

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): BMC Med Educ

Title: BMC Medical Education

Publisher: BioMed Central

ISSN (Electronic): 1472-6920

Publication date Collection: 2012

Publication date (Electronic): 22 December 2012

Volume: 12

Page: 126

Affiliations

[1 ]Professor Medical Education and Chair of Curriculum Development & Research Unit, College of Medicine, King Saud University, P O Box 2925, Riyadh, 11461, Saudi Arabia

[2 ]Department of Medical Education, College of Medicine, College of Medicine, King Saud University, P O Box 2925, Riyadh, 11461, Saudi Arabia

Article

Publisher ID: 1472-6920-12-126

DOI: 10.1186/1472-6920-12-126

PMC ID: 3548753

PubMed ID: 23259768

SO-VID: 9a6fbba2-728d-48b4-af3f-7cd4d43b356f

License:

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Nervous system examination on YouTube

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Journal of Medical Education Research

Most cited references 11

Wikis, blogs and podcasts: a new generation of Web-based tools for virtual collaborative clinical practice and education

YouTube as a source of information on the H1N1 influenza pandemic.

YouTube as source of prostate cancer information.

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