Abstract

Introduction: The COVID-19 lockdown has shown how important it is being able to educate digitally. ‘Two Peas and an Orthopod’ is a surgical education podcast series which aims to dismantle stereotypes in orthopaedics and encourage students and doctors to apply for a career in orthopaedics and surgery.  

Methods: The series comprises five episodes each approximately 30 min in length on the publicly accessible platform, Soundcloud. Episodes centre around an interview with a guest speaker addressing topical subject matter: women in orthopaedics, dealing with stress as a surgeon, getting into core surgical training and life as an orthopaedic surgeon at different career stages. These podcasts were advertised over social media to final year medical students and junior doctors from Bristol University, with subsequent feedback collected by questionnaire.  

Results: Overall, 20 feedback questionnaires were completed. Of the listeners, 95% said they found the series informative and 90% now think differently about a career in orthopaedics. Encouragingly, 100% said that ‘Two Peas and an Orthopod’ is a step in the right direction to break stereotypes in orthopaedics and surgery.  

Conclusion: This podcast series is a modern and effective method to educate others about surgery and address topical subject matter. Involving a broad range of guests in a series facilitates understanding and allows stereotypes to be challenged. The online nature of the podcasts allows flexible listening and learning which is particularly useful in the COVID-19 era.

Additional Information

This presentation was given at the SES 2020 online conference, 4 July 2020.