What are our patients asking Google about acromioclavicular joint injuries?—frequently asked online questions and the quality of online resources

Background

Management of acromioclavicular (AC) joint injuries has been an ongoing source of debate, with over 150 variations of surgery described in the literature. Without a consensus on surgical technique, patients are seeking answers to common questions through internet resources. This study investigates the most common online patient questions pertaining to AC joint injuries and the quality of the websites providing information.

Hypothesis

1) Question topics will pertain to surgical indications, pain management, and success of surgery and 2) the quality and transparency of online information are largely heterogenous.

Methods

Three AC joint search queries were entered into the Google Web Search. Questions under the “People also ask” tab were expanded in order and 100 results for each query were included (300 total). Questions were categorized based on Rothwell’s classification. Websites were categorized by source. Website quality was evaluated by the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Benchmark Criteria.

Results

Most questions fell into the Rothwell Fact category (48.0%). The most common question topics were surgical indications (28.0%), timeline of recovery (13.0%), and diagnosis/evaluation (12.0%). The least common question topics were anatomy/function (3.3%), evaluation of surgery (3.3%), injury comparison (1.0%), and cost (1.0%). The most common websites were medical practice (44.0%), academic (22.3%), and single surgeon personal (12.3%). The average JAMA score for all websites was 1.0 ± 1.3. Government websites had the highest JAMA score (4.0 ± 0.0) and constituted 45.8% of all websites with a score of 4/4. PubMed articles constituted 63.6% (7/11) of government website. Comparatively, medical practice websites had the lowest JAMA score (0.3 ± 0.7, range [0-3]).

Conclusion

Online patient AC joint injury questions pertain to surgical indications, timeline of recovery, and diagnosis/evaluation. Government websites and PubMed articles provide the highest-quality sources of reliable, up-to-date information but constitute the smallest proportion of resources. In contrast, medical practice represents the most visited websites, however, recorded the lowest quality score. Physicians should utilize this information to answer frequently asked questions, guide patient expectations, and help provide and identify reliable online resources.