Lo Torto Federico, Mori Francesco Rocco, Bruno Edoardo, Giacomini Giorgio, Turriziani Gianmarco, Firmani Guido, Marcasciano Marco, Ribuffo Diego
Department of Surgery ''P.Valdoni'' - Unit of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Policlinico Umberto I, Giovanni Maria Lancisi Street, 2, Rome 00161, Italy.
Department of Experimental and clinical medicine - Unit of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Università Magna Graecia di Catanzaro, Tommaso Campanella street, 115, Catanzaro 88100, Italy.
JPRAS Open. 2023 Sep 1;38:117-123. doi: 10.1016/j.jpra.2023.08.008. eCollection 2023 Dec.
An ever-increasing number of patients are using the Internet to learn about medical conditions. This study aimed to evaluate the quality of Internet-based patient information on gender reassignment surgery for people who suffer from gender dysphoria. Twenty websites identified using Google and Yahoo search engines were selected and evaluated based on the modified Ensuring Quality Information for Patients (EQIP) instrument (36 items). The EQIP tool comprises 36 questions to which the answer can be "yes" or "no". The final score for each website can be between 0 and 36. An overall score of 26 or above was considered high, because it co-related to the 72nd percentile. The average of the scores turned out to be 22.5 points, lower than our target; 7 (35%) sites were rated higher than the average and 13 (65%) were rated lower. The assessment of the websites included in the study showed a lack of information about the sequence of the medical procedures, perioperative criticalities and qualitative risks and side-effects descriptions. The overall quality of published information on gender reassignment surgery is very low. We believe that the Internet should not be used as the main source of medical information, and physicians should maintain the leadership in guiding patients affected by gender dysphoria. Level of Evidence: Level IV, case study.
越来越多的患者通过互联网了解医疗状况。本研究旨在评估互联网上为性别焦虑症患者提供的性别重置手术相关患者信息的质量。通过谷歌和雅虎搜索引擎确定了20个网站,并根据改良的《确保患者获得优质信息》(EQIP)工具(36项)进行评估。EQIP工具包含36个问题,答案可以是“是”或“否”。每个网站的最终得分在0到36之间。总分26分及以上被认为是高分,因为它与第72百分位数相关。结果得分平均为22.5分,低于我们的目标;7个(35%)网站评分高于平均分,13个(65%)网站评分低于平均分。对纳入研究的网站的评估显示,缺乏关于医疗程序顺序、围手术期关键情况以及定性风险和副作用描述的信息。关于性别重置手术的已发布信息的整体质量非常低。我们认为,互联网不应被用作医疗信息的主要来源,医生应在指导受性别焦虑症影响的患者方面保持主导地位。证据水平:IV级,病例研究。