The reliability of “Heimlich maneuver” videos on YouTube

The aim of our cross-sectional study was to evaluate the reliability of videos uploaded on YouTube demonstrating the Heimlich maneuver. We searched for the terms “Heimlich maneuver”, “abdominal thrust”, “abdominal thrust maneuver”, “foreign body airway obstruction”, or “subdiaphragmatic abdominal thrusts” to find videos uploaded on YouTube from 2020 to 2023. We analyzed the source of the upload, the time duration, the viewership, and the use of mannequins or performance on humans or neither. Of the 1,008 videos uploaded, 106 videos met the inclusion criteria. The median score for the included videos was 2.5. There was no statistical difference in the scores between the professional videos compared to non-professional videos. However, videos uploaded by professionals had a higher viewership and median score than those uploaded by non-medical sources (median scores 3 and 2, respectively). The results of our study indicate that the videos uploaded by medical professionals were viewed more frequently than unidentified sources, although they were not comparatively more reliable.