title: eLearning among Canadian anesthesia residents: a survey of podcast use and content needs.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Podcasts are increasingly being used in medical education. In this study, we conducted a survey of Canadian anesthesia residents to better delineate the content needs, format preferences, and usage patterns among anesthesia residents.
  
  
  METHODS
  10/16 Canadian anesthesia program directors, representing 443/659 Canadian anesthesia residents, allowed their residents to be included in the study. 169/659 (24%) residents responded to our survey. A 17-item survey tool developed by the investigators was distributed by email eliciting information on patterns of podcast use, preferred content, preferred format, and podcast adjuncts perceived to increase knowledge retention.
  
  
  RESULTS
  60% (91/151) had used medical podcasts with 67% of these users spending up to 1 hour per week on podcasts. 72.3% of respondents selected 'ability to review materials whenever I want' was selected by the majority of respondents (72%) as the reason they found podcasts to be valuable. No clear preference was shown for audio, video, or slidecast podcasts. Physiology (88%) and pharmacology (87%) were the most requested basic science topics while regional anesthesia (84%), intensive care (79%) and crisis resource management (86%) were the most requested for procedural, clinical and professional topics respectively. Respondents stated they would most likely view podcasts that contained procedural skills, journal article summaries and case presentations and that were between 5-15 minutes in duration A significantly greater proportion of senior residents (81%) requested podcasts on 'pediatric anesthesia' compared to junior residents 57% (P = 0.007).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The majority of respondents are using podcasts. Anesthesia residents have preferred podcast content, types, length and format that educators should be cognizant of when developing and providing podcasts.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesia and Pain Medicine, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada. clyde.matava@sickkids.ca
authors.forename: Clyde T
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: Matava
authors.forename: Derek
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rosen
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Siu
authors.forename: Dylan M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Bould
mesh_terms: D000776:Anesthesiology / Q000193:education*; D002170:Canada; D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007396:Internship and Residency / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D020380:Needs Assessment; D013997:Time Factors; D057211:Webcasts as Topic / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*