Educational Podcasts: Effect of Content Delivery Timing on Knowledge Acquisition and Retention

Michael Gottlieb; Cha-Chi Fung; Mary R C Haas; Robert Cooney; Andrew King; Jeffrey Riddell

doi:10.1097/ACM.0000000000005722

Educational Podcasts: Effect of Content Delivery Timing on Knowledge Acquisition and Retention

Acad Med. 2024 Mar 28. doi: 10.1097/ACM.0000000000005722. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Michael Gottlieb¹, Cha-Chi Fung², Mary R C Haas³, Robert Cooney⁴, Andrew King⁵, Jeffrey Riddell⁶

Affiliations

¹ M. Gottlieb is associate professor, vice chair of research, and ultrasound division director, Department of Emergency Medicine, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois; ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3276-8375.
² C.-C. Fung is vice chair, Department of Medical Education, Keck School of Medicine of USC, Los Angeles, California.
³ M. Haas is assistant professor and assistant residency program director, Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan; ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9506-5928.
⁴ R. Cooney is associate professor and the director of faculty development, Department of Emergency Medicine, Geisinger Medical Center, Danville, Pennsylvania; ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0665-0154.
⁵ A. King is associate professor and associate residency program director, Department of Emergency Medicine, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, Ohio; ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8175-2268.
⁶ J. Riddell is assistant professor, Department of Emergency Medicine, and director of medical student research, Keck School of Medicine at USC, Los Angeles, California; ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7205-4065.

PMID: 38551950
DOI: 10.1097/ACM.0000000000005722

Abstract

Purpose: This study examined whether the order of podcast content influenced knowledge acquisition and retention among emergency medicine (EM) resident physicians.

Method: This preplanned secondary analysis of 2 large, multicenter trials included a randomized, crossover trial conducted from November 2019 to June 2020 of 100 residents that compared driving and seated condition for two 30-minute podcasts and a randomized, crossover trial conducted from September 2022 to January 2023 of 95 EM residents that compared exercise with seated condition for the same two 30-minute podcasts. Each podcast contained 6 journal article reviews, with the segments recorded in forward or backward order. After completing each podcast, participants completed an initial 20-question test and a 40-question delayed recall test with separate questions. Segments were divided into 3 subgroups based on the order in which they were played (primacy group, recency group, and reference group) for assessment of recency and primacy effects. The mean scaled scores from the primacy and recency groups were compared with scores from the reference group.

Results: The study included 195 residents (390 podcasts), with 100 residents listening in the forward order and 95 residents the reverse order. No statistically significant difference was found in immediate recall scores between the primacy and reference groups (d = 0.094; 95% CI, -0.046 to 0.234) or the recency and reference groups (d = -0.041; 95% CI, -0.181 to 0.099) or in 30-day delayed recall score between the primacy and reference groups (d = -0.088; 95% CI, -0.232 to 0.056) or the recency and reference groups (d = -0.083; 95% CI, -0.227 to 0.060).

Conclusions: The order of podcast information did not significantly affect immediate knowledge acquisition or delayed knowledge retention. This finding can inform podcast creators and listeners regarding the order of content when using podcasts for learning.