{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,8]],"date-time":"2026-09-08T21:15:04Z","timestamp":1788902104766,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":24,"publisher":"Wiley","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,1,30]],"date-time":"2023-01-30T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1675036800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/termsAndConditions#vor"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["onlinelibrary.wiley.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["ANZ Journal of Surgery"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2023,3]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title><jats:sec><jats:title>Background<\/jats:title><jats:p>The most common general surgical emergency operations are laparoscopic appendicectomy, laparoscopic cholecystectomy, hernia repair, hemorrhoidectomy and colectomy. Patients commonly perform an internet search for more information prior to undergoing surgery, which can lead to an inappropriate understanding of their procedure. The aim is to assess the quality of information available on three of the most used search engines.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title><jats:p>A search was conducted on<jats:ext-link xmlns:xlink=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/1999\/xlink\" xlink:href=\"http:\/\/google.com\">Google.com<\/jats:ext-link>,<jats:ext-link xmlns:xlink=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/1999\/xlink\" xlink:href=\"http:\/\/bing.com\">Bing.com<\/jats:ext-link>and<jats:ext-link xmlns:xlink=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/1999\/xlink\" xlink:href=\"http:\/\/yahoo.com\">Yahoo.com<\/jats:ext-link>using the terms related to laparoscopic appendicectomy, laparoscopic cholecystectomy, hemorrhoidectomy, hernia repair and colectomy. First 20 results from each search engine were collected for evaluation. Results were excluded if they were sponsored, duplicates, academic publications, advertisements, forums, audiovisual tools, social media or any non\u2010English information. Included results were assessed for reliability using DISCERN and JAMA benchmark score. Readability was assessed using Flesch Reading Ease (FRE) Score and Simple Measure of Gobbledygook (SMOG).<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results<\/jats:title><jats:p>Hundred and ninety\u2010seven websites were analysed, 44.7% were published by institutions, 34.5% by health websites and 20.8% by independent surgeons. Mean DISCERN scores for Institutions was 54.6\u2009\u00b1\u200911.3, independent surgeons 45.9\u2009\u00b1\u200911.4 and health websites 58.7\u2009\u00b1\u200910.3. Mean JAMA score for Institutions was 1.0\u2009\u00b1\u20091.0, independent surgeons 0.1\u2009\u00b1\u20090.4 and health websites 1.7\u2009\u00b1\u20091.1. FRE scores for institutions was 51.6\u2009\u00b1\u200910.3, independent surgeons 40.9\u2009\u00b1\u200910.2, and health websites 45.7\u2009\u00b1\u200912.3. SMOG scores were 9.8\u2009\u00b1\u20091.5 for institutions, 11.4\u2009\u00b1\u20091.6 for independent surgeons and 10.6\u2009\u00b1\u20091.7 for health websites.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title><jats:p>Health information on common general surgical procedures found on search engines are generally fair to good quality but still above the suggested reading level of the population. Information on surgical procedures should be written at recommended reading level of 13\u201314\u2009years old.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1111\/ans.18289","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,1,30]],"date-time":"2023-01-30T18:44:57Z","timestamp":1675104297000},"page":"590-596","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":8,"title":["Dr Google \u2013 assessing the reliability and readability of information on general surgical procedures found via search engines"],"prefix":"10.1111","volume":"93","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5873-7863","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Raziqah","family":"Ramli","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Medicine University of New South Wales Sydney New South Wales Australia"},{"name":"School of Clinical Sciences University of Edinburgh Edinburgh UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3375-4568","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Maxwell Andrew","family":"Jambor","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Medicine University of New South Wales Sydney New South Wales Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6044-4610","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Chia Yew","family":"Kong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Clinical Sciences University of Edinburgh Edinburgh UK"},{"name":"School of Medicine University of Glasgow Glasgow UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"311","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,1,30]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_2_9_2_1","unstructured":"Admitted patient care 2019\u201320 \u2010 Australian hospital statistics.2019."},{"key":"e_1_2_9_3_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s00268-021-06189-y"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_4_1","first-page":"339","article-title":"Effect of internet use on patient's surgical outcomes","volume":"92","author":"Danquah G","year":"2007","journal-title":"Int. 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