Podcasts as an integral part of free open access medical education

Abstract

Introduction: Podcasts are audio broadcasts distributed over the internet that can be consumed through various platforms. From students to independent clinicians, the profile of medical podcast users is varied and a richer understanding of this user is essential for effective podcast development. Objective: To review the current literature on the use of podcasts as a health education tool and to understand the stages involved in preparing a medical podcast. Methods: The study is a narrative review developed through research in databases carried out at Unichristus University, in the city of Fortaleza-CE. An analysis of articles on podcasts or data on the prevalence of use, production or results of the use of podcasts for health education purposes was performed. A screening was performed by reading the abstracts and titles of 165 articles found in the Medline database, using the keywords ‘Podcasts’ and ‘medical education’, which resulted in 23 articles that met the inclusion criteria. Results: Based on the content found in the literature, the review was divided into seven categories: formats, episode duration, activities carried out while listening to a podcast, learning assessment, suggestions, developing a medical podcast and the podcast as a complementary teaching tool. Conclusion: the podcast is considered a promising medium of communication as a complementary tool to the traditional teaching methods, and educators should focus on developing evaluation processes for this technology, refining evidence-based guidelines for creating new podcasts.