225 - Plugged In: Curricular Comprehensiveness of Popular Pediatric Podcasts

Publication Number: 225.6182

Lauren Ledingham, Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, OH, United States; Benjamin Jacob, Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, OH, United States; Christopher Jamson. Chiu, Ohio State University College of Medicine, South Charleston, OH, United States

Background: Podcasts have an increasing role in medical education, with utilization at all levels of training. When compared to traditional education, podcasting offers accessibility, educational autonomy, and the ability to multitask. Yet primary utilization of podcasts may lead to knowledge gaps. Podcasts allow creators to explore a wide range of topics, which may result in uneven representation of core topics. Pediatrics has the second largest number of active podcasts, yet few studies have examined pediatric podcast reach and content diversity.

Objective: We describe curricular comprehensiveness and learner utilization of popular pediatric podcasts to inform future topics and optimize scope.

Design/Methods: We included episodes from four popular pediatric podcasts published between 01/2017 and 05/2023. Two authors (LL and BJ) categorized each episode into a pediatric board content domain (obtained from the American Board of Pediatrics, current through 10/14/2024) to assess for content skewing. Episodes were excluded if they covered >1 content domain. Given variability in host platforms, number of downloads was used interchangeably with number of listens. Primary end point was the total number of downloads or listens per episode to identify popular content domains. Secondary end point was number of downloads within the first 90 days compared to total downloads.

Results: 418 episodes were included with 4,086,680 total downloads across all episodes. The most popular content domain by both number of episodes and total number of downloads was infectious diseases. Figure 1 compares the number of episodes and total number of downloads per content domain to the exam weight (the percentage of test questions that fall within each content domain for all general pediatrics board examinations). 275/418 (65.7%) episodes had 90 day download data. 1,074,822/2,657,526 total downloads (40.4%) occurred in the first 90 days.

Conclusion(s): This is one of the first studies to describe curricular comprehensiveness of pediatric podcasts. We find podcast distribution across board domains is similar to that of the general pediatric board examination, supporting the use of podcasts as a primary tool in continuing medical education. A notable portion of downloads occurs in the first 90 days, emphasizing the importance of marketing to increase visibility at podcast release. The major limitation of this study is the use of downloads as a surrogate for unique learners, as podcasting platforms cannot yet track unique learners. Future research should continue to support podcast development to promote impact and even representation of core topics.

Figure 1
Abstract image.pdfFigure comparing number of episodes (orange) and total number of downloads (grey) per content domain to the percentage of test questions that fall within each content domain in general pediatrics board examinations (blue). We find that weight of each content domain by number of episodes and total number of downloads is similar to the exam weight.