Approved Instructional Resources Series: A National Initiative to Identify Quality Emergency Medicine Blog and Podcast Content for Resident Education

Abstract

Background Emergency medicine (EM) residency programs can provide up to 20% of their planned didactic experiences asynchronously through the Individualized Interactive Instruction (III) initiative. Although blogs and podcasts provide potential material for III content, programs often struggle with identifying quality online content. Objective To develop and implement a process to curate quality EM content on blogs and podcasts for resident education and III credit. Methods We developed the Approved Instructional Resources (AIR) Series on the Academic Life in Emergency Medicine website. Monthly, an editorial board identifies, peer reviews, and writes assessment questions for high-quality blog/podcast content. Eight educators rate each post using a standardized scoring instrument. Posts scoring ≥ 30 of 35 points are awarded an AIR badge and featured in the series. Enrolled residents can complete an assessment quiz for III credit. After 12 months of implementation, we report on program feasibility, enrollment rate, web analytics, and resident satisfaction scores. Results As of June 2015, 65 EM residency programs are enrolled in the AIR Series, and 2140 AIR quizzes have been completed. A total of 96% (2064 of 2140) of participants agree or strongly agree that the activity would improve their clinical competency, 98% (2098 of 2140) plan to use the AIR Series for III credit, and 97% (2077 of 2140) plan to use it again in the future. Conclusions The AIR Series is a national asynchronous EM curriculum featuring quality blogs and podcasts. It uses a national expert panel and novel scoring instrument to peer review web-based educational resources.