Research led by the University of New South Wales has found “large proportions” of online advertising for orthopaedic surgeons non-compliant, with “only one-quarter” of surgeons compliant with guidelines.
“As patients increasingly rely on online health information, it is important that surgeons recognise that misleading information on their websites can have serious implications for informed patient decisions.”
Orthopaedic surgeons are clinicians specialised in both surgical and non-surgical treatment of bones, joints, ligaments, and tendons, such as knee and hip joint implants and treatment.
Eighty-one clinicians with public details were randomly selected from the Australian Orthopaedic Association (AOA) database and 59 surgeons were found through top Google search results by searching the profession with a the name of a major Australian city.
The study found the majority of surgeons in both groups were non-compliant across the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) and AOA guidelines.
Further, surgeons found through top search results were more prevalent for non-compliance than members from the AOA.
In total, the team found over 60 percent of the AOA sample were “non-compliant” in at least one AHPRA guidelines and or AOA guidelines. For clinicians found through Google, 81 percent were non-compliant with AHPRA guidelines and 78 percent with AOA guidelines.
Of concern, the team found that less than one-quarter of surgeons (20 out of 81) in the AOA sample group and only seven out of 59 surgeons in the top Google search results were compliant for both AHRA and AOA guidelines in their online advertising.
The primary area of non-compliance in online media was in the use of deceptive, misleading or “superior performance” claims; taking up the majority of non-compliance across both groups.
Non-compliance of giving testimonies was also significant across both groups with over half of the Google sample using testimonies in their marketing.
Additionally, the team noted that the majority of surgeons who were non-compliant for referencing commercial products (51 percent of non-compliance) also failed to disclose commercial relationships (46 percent of non-compliance).
With many surgeons having financial links with the industry, non-disclosure of commercial relationships could lead them to prefer certain products and “potentially compromise patient care.”
This was especially significant in clinicians making misleading claims on superiority of robotic surgery over standard surgery with 14 percent of AOA members and 29 percent of surgeons in the Google sample making these claims, despite the AOA specifically advising members not to do so.
“Increasing patient demand for specific treatments can lead to inappropriate use of health care resources and adoption of novel technologies of still uncertain efficacy,” the team wrote.
“Patients are most likely to visit the webpages linked with the top ten search results,” and view advertising that employ more aggressive marketing strategies, the team noted.
“Our findings suggest surgeons must take greater care with the information they publish online, and that the AHPRA and AOA must undertake further steps to enforce compliance with their advertising guidelines.”
