Price Karen W, Bhagtani Harsha, Abraham-Hardee Sofia, Yeager Douglas, Anandakrishnan Ramu
Clinical Affairs, Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine, Blacksburg, USA.
Pediatrics, Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine, Blacksburg, USA.
Cureus. 2025 Apr 16;17(4):e82359. doi: 10.7759/cureus.82359. eCollection 2025 Apr.
This pilot study assessed the feasibility of podcasts as a teaching tool to support medical students for the transition to clinical training. Podcasts offer a flexible educational resource for students, allowing students to listen to content on their own time. There has been an increase in the use of podcasts for medical education and evidence that it may boost academic performance, but there are few resources available for teaching the soft skills of medicine, such as time management, adaptability, and problem solving. To address this gap, four faculty members at Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine (Virginia Campus) developed a podcast series with four short (10-15 minute) episodes covering non-clinical skills, including time management, clinical rotation tips, test-taking strategies, and the transition to clinical years. Students were invited via email to voluntarily complete anonymous pre- and post-intervention surveys using a Likert scale to assess their confidence and preparedness. Since Likert-scale data is ordinal and non-parametric, and as survey responses were not matched by participant, a Mann-Whitney U test was used to analyze differences between pre- and post-intervention responses. The number of participants ranged from 6 to 12 per episode. Preliminary data showed an overall increase in average scores, rising from 3.12 to 3.67 on a 1-5 scale, with statistically significant improvements in the episodes on the transition to clinical years and time management (p < 0.05). These findings suggest that podcasts may serve as a valuable supplemental tool in medical education, though further research with larger sample sizes is needed.
这项试点研究评估了播客作为一种教学工具，支持医学生向临床培训过渡的可行性。播客为学生提供了一种灵活的教育资源，使学生能够在自己方便的时间收听内容。用于医学教育的播客使用量有所增加，并且有证据表明它可能提高学业成绩，但用于教授医学软技能（如时间管理、适应能力和解决问题能力）的资源却很少。为了填补这一空白，爱德华维阿骨科医学院（弗吉尼亚校区）的四名教员制作了一个播客系列，包含四集时长较短（10 - 15分钟）的节目，内容涵盖非临床技能，包括时间管理、临床轮转小贴士、应试策略以及向临床阶段的过渡。通过电子邮件邀请学生自愿使用李克特量表完成干预前后的匿名调查，以评估他们的信心和准备情况。由于李克特量表数据是有序且非参数的，并且由于调查回复未按参与者进行匹配，因此使用曼 - 惠特尼U检验来分析干预前后回复之间的差异。每集的参与者人数在6至12人之间。初步数据显示平均得分总体有所提高，在1 - 5分的量表上从3.12分升至3.67分，在向临床阶段过渡和时间管理的节目中取得了具有统计学意义的改善（p < 0.05）。这些发现表明，播客可能成为医学教育中有价值的补充工具，不过需要进行更大样本量的进一步研究。
