Podcasting in Medicine: The Current Content by Emergency Medicine Subspecialty

Abstract

Background Podcasts and their use in medical education, particularly emergency medicine (EM), are growing and becoming more popular. Many podcasts focus on EM, but the number of podcasts on each EM subspecialty remains unknown. Therefore, the goal of this study was to ascertain the number of podcasts available by EM subspecialty and collect the basic characteristics of each podcast. Methods We conducted a Google-based, investigational study of EM podcasts by subspecialty from July 2019 to January 2020. Search terms included "podcasts in ____", where the EM subspecialties of Toxicology, Ultrasound, Wilderness Medicine, Emergency Medicine Services, Medical Education, and Simulation were inserted to identify podcasts. Results Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and Medical Education subspecialties have the most active podcasts. Toxicology and EMS have the most inactive podcasts, while Medical Education and Simulation were the only subspecialties found to not have any identified inactive podcasts. Conclusions The use of podcasts in EM has been increasing overall, but physicians in specific subspecialties, such as EMS and Medical Education, have access to a larger number of podcasts specific to their subspecialty than others. There is an opportunity for experts in Toxicology, Simulation, and Ultrasound to create podcast content.

Pediatric Emergency Medicine Podcasts: Current Status

“…This is especially true when comparing the number of active PEM podcasts to the number of active general EM podcasts, which are currently over 30 and growing [2]. But these findings align with the numbers and length of other EM specialty podcasts currently produced and available [9]. Given the expanding field of PEM, coupled with the fact that PEM plays a decent role in most EM residencies, we believe that there is a growing need for more PEM education, some of which can be provided via podcasts.…”

“…While many authors have looked at how to best use podcasts in medical education and the role they play in clinical care, few have attempted to catalog the availability of medical content in various specialties. One previous study outlined podcasts available in mainstream specialties, while another evaluated the major subspecialties within emergency medicine that did not include pediatric emergency medicine (PEM) [ 9 ]. This paper aimed to evaluate the podcasts currently available in the subspecialty of PEM.…”

Podcasts as an integral part of free open access medical education

“…According to Little et al, podcasts are digital audio files made available on the Internet for download to a computer or mobile device, usually available in episodes. Patrick et al define them as episodic digital audio recordings used to communicate knowledge through the use of files that were downloaded and distributed online 4,5,12 .…”

“…According to Little et al, in 2019, there were 200 medical podcasts available online, covering 19 specialties and a total of 13,839 episodes 4,5 .…”

Podcasts as emerging tool for medical education: a critical perspective

“…[1][2][3] There have been many studies conducted in the past to know its impact on medical education but in lack of strong guidelines and evidence, proper integration of this technology and methodology still needs to be worked upon. [4][5][6][7][8][9][10] Podcasts are defined as digital audio/video files uploaded as a series of topics and can be downloaded from the internet on mobile app/ media. 3,4,[11][12][13][14][15] Historically, it's evident that education has been modernized with touch of technology, as by end of 1970s, computer was in, since then, colors of tech and trend have made education modes diversified and versatile and much more useful for the masses, we still cannot ignore the growing demands of education system as time advances and Podcast is surely another learning enhancement tool!…”