What makes podcasts special is not only intrinsic but cultural. The first generation of podcasters consists mainly of evidence-based medicine loving progressive doctors willing to cite evidence or actively debate practices which haven’t been or can’t be studied. Moreover, podcast listening can be as passive or active as the listener needs.

At the extreme end, genuine mentorship is possible. By his own account, I interact with Minh Le Cong in Australia (Pre-Hospital and Retrieval Medicine podcast creator) more often than some of his residents do! David Newman (SmartEM) is one of my closest mentors, and yet, as of this writing, I’ve still never worked a shift with him.

As Marshall McLuhan famously said, the medium is the message. And the message is that excellent medical education is no longer the privilege of a few; it is now only one click away and free to us all. Podcasts are becoming as essential as (but should not entirely replace) other indispensable learning modes such as books, journals, lectures, conferences, and blogs. For a list of great podcasts, check out my growing list at http://academiclifeinem.blogspot.com

Dr. Faust is an EM resident at Mount Sinai Hospital, New York, and tweets about #FOAMed and classical music @JeremyFaust