Use of podcasts as educational tool in a residency program in general surgery in the time of COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Background: COVID-19 pandemic altered the training of residents in surgery, reducing their opportunities to learn. Reading and analyzing scientific paper via podcasts could be an option to mitigate such problem.
Objective: The aim of this study is to evaluate residents in surgery acceptance of the use of podcasts as a new educational tool.
Material and methods: We conducted a longitudinal, analytical and exploratory study between May and December 2020. Each week, a resident was in charge of reading, analyzing and preparing a recorded presentation in the format of a podcast of an article selected by a staff physician. The residents’ experience was assessed by means of a Likert-type questionnaire designed by the investigators.
Results: A total of 37 podcasts were recorded with a total number of plays of 2091. All the residents reported that this tool encouraged the academic peer discussion, 88% responded that it generated research questions and 43% agreed that listening to the podcasts served as inspiration to perform a bibliographic search.
Conclusion: Reading and analyzing scientific papers via podcasts is well accepted and could be an additional tool for learning in atypical times.