What question did this study set out to answer?

The aim is to summarize the educational scope of pediatric critical care podcasts by evaluating episode content and popularity.

March 26, 2026

1270: The Educational Scope of Pediatric Critical Care Podcasts

Key Points

The aim is to summarize the educational scope of pediatric critical care podcasts by evaluating episode content and popularity.
Analyzed 838 podcast episodes from six pediatric critical care podcasts.
Categorized episodes according to the American Board of Pediatrics content outline.
Compared expected downloads to observed downloads using a Wilcoxon rank-sum test.
Cardiovascular and Respiratory Systems were the most covered content areas with 134 and 125 episodes respectively.
Toxicology, Clinical Ethics, and Pharmacology were the least covered areas.
Total analyzed downloads reached 5,468,849 across 749 episodes, showing varying popularity among podcasts.

Abstract

Introduction: Medical podcasts have become a cornerstone of adult emergency medicine and critical care since the early 2000s. Pediatric Critical Care Medicine (PCCM) has followed suit, with the publication of the Society of Critical Care Medicine Podcast (2005), OPENPediatrics (2013), PicPod (2018), Pediatrica Intensiva (2020), PICU Doc On Call (2021), and PedsCrit (2021). We aimed to summarize the educational scope of these podcasts by quantifying the number of episodes and their relative popularity in each PCCM content area outlined by the American Board of Pediatrics (ABP). Methods: Episodes from six PCCM podcasts were assigned to one of the content areas in the ABP Pediatric Critical Care Medicine Content Outline. Episodes of the SCCM podcast that did not include a pediatric topic or host were excluded. Downloads per episode were obtained for five podcasts. The expected downloads for each ABP content area were calculated based on the percentage of total episodes covering the topic, and a Wilcoxon rank-sum test was used to compare this to the observed downloads. Results: Of the 838 episodes analyzed, Cardiovascular System and Respiratory System were the most frequently covered ABP content areas, accounting for 134 (16.0%) and 125 (14.9%) episodes. Toxicology (8 episodes, 1%), Clinical Ethics (4 episodes, 0.5%), and Pharmacology (4 episodes, 0.5%) were the least covered ABP content areas. A total of 5,468,849 downloads from 749 episodes were analyzed. The SCCM podcast had the highest median episode downloads (51,613, IQR 36,874 to 59,092), followed by Pediatrica Intensiva (2,209, IQR 1,911 to 2,675), PedsCrit (2,067, IQR 1,650 to 2,488), PICU Doc On Call (1,714, IQR 1,404 to 1,933), and OPENPediatrics (762, IQR 563 to 1,348). The observed and expected downloads for each ABP content area were equivalent (test statistic 14.5, p = 0.63). Conclusions: Medical podcasts are a popular resource in pediatric critical care. PCCM podcast producers accurately assess the demand for episodes, resulting in agreement between the expected and observed downloads in each ABP content area. As a result, several ABP content areas are well covered while others remain under-covered. More content is needed to address Toxicology, Clinical Ethics, and Pharmacology.

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Cite This Study

Shanklin et al. (Sun,) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/69c4cc75fdc3bde448917b69 https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1097/01.ccm.0001187076.66563.9b

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