T. L. Bettis1, C. Moses1, A. Gillis1, J. Fazendin1, B. Lindeman1, H. Chen1 1University Of Alabama at Birmingham, Division Of Breast And Endocrine Surgery, Birmingham, Alabama, USA
Introduction: With the increasing volume of online materials available to patients, more than half of surgery patients now use the internet to educate themselves about their condition and prepare for surgery. While it is not possible to ensure that all online healthcare information is completely accurate, surgeons should verify that the pathologies they treat and the operations they perform are accurately portrayed online. We examined the American Association of Endocrine Surgeons (AAES) surgeon finder profiles and compared the information provided on this site to information provided on the surgeon’s institution or employer provided clinical website. As a pilot study, AAES officers, committee chairs, and surgeons practicing in the Southeast United States (US) were examined.
Methods: All current AAES officers, committee chairs and endocrine surgeons practicing in the Southeast US were identified using the AAES website. Each surgeon’s page was accessed via the AAES Surgeon Finder. The Southeast was defined as the states of AL, AR, FL, GA, KY, LA, MS, NC, SC, TN, VA, and WV. Each AAES surgeon profile was reviewed for pathologies treated and operations performed. The pathologies included were thyroid, parathyroid, adrenal, pancreas, and GI neuroendocrine based on predefined criteria. Operations were defined as thyroidectomy, parathyroidectomy, adrenalectomy, pancreatic resection, ultrasound/biopsy (US/Bx), ablation, neck dissection and minimally invasive surgical (MIS) techniques.
Results: A total of 139 surgeons were included in the study population (9 officers, 13 committee chairs, 117 from the southeast). We found that the employer-based clinical websites reported more performed operations than the AAES surgeon finder pages, with 51.1% reporting performing thyroidectomy on clinical websites versus 18.7% on the AAES surgeon finder page (p=0.004), 44.6% versus 13.7% for parathyroidectomy (p=0.014), 41.6% versus 10.8% for adrenalectomy (p=0.03) and 51.8% versus 16.5% for MIS technique use (p=0.03). Conversely, we found that the employer-based clinical websites underrepresented treated pathologies treated when compared to their AAES surgeon finder pages with 66.9% reporting treating thyroid pathology versus 92.8% on the AAES surgeon finder pages (p<0.001), 58.3% versus 89.9% for parathyroid (p<0.001), and 49.9% versus 80.6% for adrenal (p<0.001).
Conclusion: There is a discrepancy between reported operations performed and pathologies treated on the AAES surgeon finder website and those reported on institution or employer provided clinician websites. Monitoring for quality assurance on patient targeted medical information is our responsibility as surgeons, leaders, and patient advocates. Review of the current AAES surgeon finder is needed to ensure that patients have access to accurate information when searching for an endocrine surgeon.