De podcast als aanvullend leermiddel voor huisartsen in opleiding: een prospectieve, kwantitatieve studie naar aanvaardbaarheid en verandering in zelfervaren competentieniveau

Podcasts as an additional educational tool for general practitioners in training: a prospective, quantitative study into acceptability and change in self-perceived competency level. Goal: To explore the acceptance for podcasts as an educational tool for general practitioners (GPs) in training and explore their impact on self-perceived competence. Method: We produced two episodes of a podcast, one about diabetes and one about COPD. GPs in training filled in a questionnaire before and after listening to an episode of their choice. The questionnaire evaluated the level of acceptance of this podcast as an educational tool and the self-perceived competence of the participants concerning several typical and distinctive professional activities of a GP. Results of the questionnaire were grouped per episode and analyzed with SPSS. Finally, we created an information sheet to support future podcast producers. Results: Participants were GPs in training at Flemish universities with a median age of 26 years old. Twenty-four participants completed the questionnaires completely or partially. The level of acceptance for podcasts as an additional educational tool with the participants was already high at the start of this study, but rose to 89-100% after listening to our podcast. Self-perceived competence also improved for most of the distinctive professional activities of a GP, but was not statistically significant. Conclusion: Podcasts as an educational tool are well accepted and may influence self-perceived competence of GPs in training in a positive way. Our result was obtained with a small group of participants, mostly not significant and our criteria/endpoints were subjective. To confirm the results, we need a bigger group of participants in a comparative study with a control group and somehow more objective criteria.