Lessons from the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh’s trainee-led medical education podcasts

Abstract

Medical education podcasts are increasingly popular, providing high-quality, asynchronous education to listeners. Here, we describe our experience developing the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (RCPE)’s trainee-led podcasts, Clinical Conversations and Career Conversations. Both podcasts have been designed by resident doctors for resident doctors and are in high demand, approaching one-quarter of a million plays and international listenership. In this article, we explore the myriad benefits for resident doctor hosts, guest speakers and staff involved in podcast production, as well as reflecting on the challenges faced. Providing free, high-quality medical education is a core purpose of RCPE to benefit patients, physicians and healthcare systems around the world, and podcasts play a key role in this. By openly sharing our achievements, challenges and lessons learnt during our journey, we hope we may inspire others to engage in creating high-quality, accessible medical education.