Listen Up: A Systematic Review of the Utilization and Efficacy of Podcasts for Medical Education

Background Podcasts are increasingly utilized in medical education due to ease of use and ability for remote and asynchronous learning. Despite their uptake and learner satisfaction, literature regarding their efficacy is limited, and no prior systematic review has evaluated educational outcomes or the methodological quality of published literature. We conducted a systematic review to evaluate the use of podcasts by physicians and physician trainees to evaluate (1) trends in audio podcast utilization and research over time, (2) podcast uptake within differing medical specialties, (3) the methodological quality of published research, and (4) the evidence supporting podcasts as an efficacious learning modality. Methods A systematic PRISMA search was conducted by a medical librarian for studies regarding podcasting and medical education. Studies without full text English language availability were excluded. Review papers, opinion pieces, manuscripts focused on patients or non-physician healthcare professionals, as well as those which described an educational method which included non-audio interventions were excluded. COVIDENCE software was used for manuscript evaluation and data extraction. Abstract and text screening was performed by three authors with consensus required for inclusion. The Medical Education Research Study Quality Instrument (MERSQI) was used for quality and bias assessment. Results Following de-duplification, 1,140 studies underwent screening, and after abstract and full text screening, 149 were ultimately included, of which 66% were published between 2020-2023. We noted three themes in the literature: (1) description of podcast utilization and uptake, (2) podcast topics or availability, and (3) evaluation of podcasts as an educational modality. The number of publications and citations steadily increased over the study period with rapid acceleration noted after 2020. In aggregate, 66% of trainees were utilizing podcasts, with increasing percentages seen in the post-2020 literature (75%). Evaluation of the number of podcast episodes available in each medical specialty demonstrated between 63 and 4,406 episodes. The largest number of manuscripts concerned podcasts focused on emergency medicine trainees or medical students. Assessment of included studies by Kirkpatrick level highlighted that, of studies including an educational intervention, few studies investigated higher-order educational outcomes with the majority (45 [75%]) evaluating only listener satisfaction. The average MERSQI score was 7.2, consistent with low educational quality. Of nine studies which compared podcasts to traditional educational modalities, four (44.4%) found them to be “as efficacious”, while five (55.5%) found them to be “superior”. Conclusions Podcasts are increasingly utilized in medical education, and the rate of publication has escalated in the post-COVID pandemic period. However, the efficacy of podcasts is unclear based on current literature with the majority of studies reporting only Kirkpatrick 1 outcomes. Additional rigorous research is required to evaluate podcasts as an educational modality for medical trainees, especially in surgical disciplines that are underrepresented in the published literature.