Introduction

Today, sweeping changes are occurring in health care.  Various technological advances are affecting how professional nurses clinically support and deliver patient care.  To meet these health care challenges, evaluation of current nursing curriculum content and faculty teaching strategies is happening.  The future generation of nurses must be proficient in the use and application of technology to deliver quality patient care and meet their patient’s educational needs.  Nursing programs and faculty must engage students in a technology enriched learning environment to complement current nursing practice and improve health education for patients.  Educational institutions must explore and create student opportunities that are convenient and accessible, and demonstrate the ability to incorporate technology in the learning process.  The National League for Nursing (NLN), the American Nurses Association (ANA), and the Institute of Medicine (IOM) recognize the importance of technology in nursing education.  Therefore, for the purpose of this blog, an exploration of the use of podcast technology in the delivery of nursing and patient education will occur.

The Effect of Podcast Technology on Nursing and Patient Education

In 2004, technology enabled individuals to broadcast audio files, mainly music from the Internet, onto a portable iPod device.  Soon thereafter, the creation and use of the word “podcast” became popular when persons combined portions of the words “broadcast” and “iPod” together (Kardong-Edgren & Emerson, 2010).  Podcast technology involves audio broadcasting through using a format called Really Simple Syndication (RSS) to distribute web content (Billings & Halstead, 2009).  Users download audio and video files, from various Internet sources, onto their iPod, MP3 player, personal computer, and smartphone devices.  When the podcast features a video file, this technology is considered a vodcast and it utilizes a similar RSS format for transmission.

Multiple educational settings including colleges and universities have incorporated podcast technology within course lectures.  Professors can pre-record their lectures utilizing podcast technology and encourage students to listen to the lectures in advance of class enhancing preparation or as an adjunct to lectures for study purposes. 

Health care professionals have the capacity to receive continuing education credits by way of podcast technology.  This device serves as a tool to download recordings from reputable password-protected internet sites enabling the professional to maintain competency in their specialty.  In addition, the public can increase personal knowledge on multiple health related topics via podcast technology.  Reliable sites such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Medline Plus, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) offer free podcasts on their website.   The CDC has a dedicated webpage and features past and present educational topics available for immediate podcast download or one can subscribe to podcast recordings.  Podcast technology has evolved from an iPod music player for leisure activities to a tool employed for nursing and patient education. 

Link to the Centers for Disease Control Podcasts

Link to Medline Plus

The Significance of a Podcast

The incorporation of web tools (podcasts, wikis, blogs, etc.) serves as mechanisms to augment teaching methods and offer academic support to student learners.  A podcast allows learning to occur anytime and anywhere (Lemley & Burnham, 2009).  Podcasts are one form of audio media in which recording and transmission of the human voice occurs for instructional purposes (Billings & Halstead, 2009).  This technology serves as an adjunct to education and appeals to the visual and auditory learner.  It may improve a student’s ability to remember and apply knowledge because of the ability to replay the lecture, which can effectively meet Bloom’s cognitive learning domain (Johnston, Goldsmith, Hepworth, & Lacasse, 2010). 

The Advantages of Podcast Use

The use of podcast technology is affordable, portable, popular, accessible, and efficient.  The student has the ability to repeat a pre-recorded broadcast to supplement a course lecture.  This feature adds to knowledge retention and may enable the learner to demonstrate increased proficiency in a topic (Johnston, Goldsmith, Hepworth, & Lacasse, 2010).  Many students request to record lectures during actual class time so they have the ability to listen to lecture content at other times.  Proactive instructors that record their lectures using podcasts ensure that the recording is “audible, complete, and available to all students” (Greenfield, 2011, p. 113). 

Billings & Halstead (2009) state that podcast subject matter is unable to be copied or transferred to other devices, which is a significant advantage to the content developer.  Podcasts are simple to create.  The developer needs an MP3 digital recorder and a microphone to upload content to a computer.  The podcast creator is encouraged to limit the length of the recording and partition the content into segments or topics and then post the broadcast onto a password- protected site (Greenfield, 2011).  Structuring podcasts in this way permits the listener to access specific lecture topics of interest.

Students report other benefits of podcast technology including: the ability to pay attention and listen to a classroom lecture and not worry about taking detailed notes, not missing instructor explanations on topics, and a decreased need for peer tutors (Greenfield, 2011).

In addition, technology that is able to fit in the palm of one’s hand and functions to develop knowledge of more complex technologies, prepares the nursing student to meet the challenges of the health care environment.

The Disadvantages of Podcast Use

Much debate is evident in the literature concerning the incorporation of podcast technology into college lectures and its affect on student grades.  Some sources report that student grades have increased in a positive manner, whereas, others indicate either a negative trend or no change at all.  Speculation exists that perhaps the change in grade average is due to the student’s preferred learning style (Johnston, Goldsmith, Hepworth, & Lacasse, 2010).

The literature cites that use of podcasts when performing tasks; for example, such as commuting, housework, and exercise, may cause distractions, reduce actual learning, and negatively affect grade performance (Johnston, Goldsmith, Hepworth, & Lacasse, 2010). 

Institutions must consider the cost of technology, technical support, software and hardware requirements and computer compatibility if students are required to utilize podcasts.  Students and parents may incur this cost through tuition price increases (Benjamin & Ostrow, 2008).  Furthermore, faculty must be amenable to and demonstrate proficiency in podcast technology to enhance student education.

Professional Standards and Competencies Related to the Use of Podcast Technology

The NLN and the ANA strongly endorse the inclusion of technology within nursing education.  Neither the NLN nor ANA; however, address the explicit use of podcast technology within nursing curriculum.  The IOM Report does identify that podcast technology is a viable option for faculty to include within classes.

 

The publication, The Scope of Practice for Academic Nurse Educators (2007), conveys, “to further advance nursing education, new models of…nursing education must emerge [including]…delivery via video…television, and the web” (National League for Nursing, 2007, p. 2, 5).  The NLN Core Competencies of Nurse Educators state that the nurse educator “uses information technologies skillfully to support the teaching-learning process” (National League for Nursing, 2007, p. 16).  Furthermore, nurse educators must engage in scholarship through the dissemination of “nursing and teaching knowledge to a variety of audiences through various means” (National League for Nursing, 2007, p. 23).

The NLN Position Paper, Preparing the Next Generation of Nurses to Practice in a Technology-Rich Environment: An Informatics Agenda, “advocates for support of faculty development initiatives and innovative educational programs that address informatics preparation” (NLN Board of Governors, 2008, p. 2).

The publication, Nursing Professional Development: Scope and Standards of Practice, recognizes the dynamic and complex nature of nursing practice related to the “increased use of technology throughout the healthcare (sp?) environments” (American Nurses Association, 2010, p. 1).  Due to society’s immersion in technology, the learning environment has changed requiring the nurse educator to display expertise in the development and delivery of new teaching and learning methods for their students.  Education methods must not be limited to one approach; therefore, the nurse professional development specialist must explore technological options (American Nurses Association, 2010).


 

The Institute of Medicine (IOM) Report has numerous recommendations for improving the health care of the nation.  One vital section of this report focuses upon nursing education and the health professions specific core competency of informatics to educate nurses of today and future nurses.  Nursing curricula must incorporate “informatics; apply it to reduction of errors, management of knowledge and information, decision-making, and communication” (Finkelman & Kenner, 2009, p. 25).  To address this requirement, nurse faculty must integrate multiple technologies within the curriculum.  This publication is the only one that specifically addresses the use of podcast technology.

Conclusion

To attain excellence in nursing education there must be faculty commitment to a curriculum that demonstrates flexibility and is a reflection of current societal trends (National League for Nursing, 2007).  Teaching and learning strategies must exhibit creativity through the effective use of technology to achieve enhanced student learning (National League for Nursing, 2007).  Therefore, to meet the changing health care environment, nurse educators may wish to consider the advantages of podcasts and incorporate this device into their curriculum.  Incorporating this initiative into current teaching strategies strives to meet the learning and instructional needs of students and ultimately enhance patient care.