Do spine surgery patients research their surgeon ahead of outpatient visits?

Background: The use of social media in spine surgery is becoming increasingly prevalent as patients aim to navigate the complex system of spine surgeons, physician networks, and hospitals. The purpose of this study is to gather data via surveys administered to spine surgery clinic patients in order to assess (I) differences in how often patients who are self-referred versus those who are referred to a spine surgeon by a primary care physician (PCP) or other physician/department use social media to search the spine surgeon prior to their first clinic visit; and (II) how often these searches result in a change in behavior in terms which spine surgeon a patient chooses to see. Methods: This survey study was performed at an academic tertiary referral center's outpatient orthopedic spine clinics. Surveys were administered to all willing new patients at their first clinic visit with a spine surgeon. Results: A total of 181 surveys were collected, and 169 surveys were used for final analysis after meeting the inclusion criteria. Average patient age was 59 years (range, 24-87 years), and 86.3% were White. Most patients, whether PCP-referred or self-referred, stated that social media platforms and online search engines played no role in selecting their spine surgeon. Patients who did an online search mostly used Google and the hospital-sponsored physician profile page. One patient in the PCP-referred group requested a different spine surgeon based on their online reading, and one patient in the self-referred group did so. For patients who seek information about their surgeon, Google and the hospital-sponsored physician profile are the most visited. Conclusions: Social media platforms and online search engines overall played little to no role in selecting a spine surgeon for the vast majority of new spine clinic patients. From the patients who did use online search engines prior to their first clinic visit, Google and the hospital-sponsored physician profile were the most visited.