Health care practitioners eagerly adopt new technologies to keep up with the medical literature. Now publishers are posting free downloadable sound files on the web that can be streamed (played on a computer without being copied to your computer), or downloaded to a CD or MP3 player. You can also subscribe to podcasts, which are regular free downloads of new files.
For those sites offering real-time streaming, like this example from the Journal of Medical Practice Management's SoundPractice, choose the Play link to play an article using your computer's RealPlayer, Windows Media Player or Quicktime software. Choosing the Download link would save the file to your hard drive, or to a recordable CD, MP3 player or iPod.
Podcasting
The site also offers the option to subscribe to a podcast, an Internet channel like an audio magazine that regularly downloads new sound files. You then select the articles you'd like to hear.
Subscribing to Podcasts
To receive podcasts, you first need to download a piece of software to manage your files: a podcast receiver. Two free examples are Juice (formerly ipodder) and iTunes.
- Juice - works with Windows XP, Mac OSX and Linus
- iTunes - works with Macintosh and and Windows XP or 2000 computers
Once this software is installed on your computer, you can copy and paste the URL of the podcast feed you want to receive into the list of “subscribed” services in your receiver. At specified intervals, the receiver will check the podcast web site for new files and download them to your hard drive. When you sync your device to your computer, the files will be transferred.
What's available?
Look to see if your favorite information provider has added a podcast feed, or use podcast directories like Podcast.Net to see what's available. Some trusted providers include:
AccessMedicine:
A JEFFLINE database of reference books and materials, AccessMedicine now offers a weekly download of updates from Harrison's or Hurst's the Heart, or audio lectures from Harrison's Grand Rounds. Choose the link from the AccessMedicine homepage.
Nature:
Weekly highlights from news and articles published in Nature, including interviews and analysis. Has podcasts back to October 2005
New England Journal of Medicine:
Provides two different podcasts: NEJM this week and interviews that supplement articles published in NEJM.
SoundPractice:
Produced by the Journal of Medical Practice Management, podcasts focus on the business and practice of medicine. Some examples: Becoming a Better Delegator, Premises Liability, Workplace Violence
Profile America:
A daily, 60-second feature that uses interesting vignettes from key events, observances or commemorations for that day to highlight information collected by the Census Bureau
Here at Jefferson, Rod Murray, Director of Application and Web Services, has posted Rod's Pulse Podcast, full of information about podcasts and the Blackboard Content System. The Department of Emergency Medicine has begun hosting free Emergency Medicine lectures from residency programs around the country, which can be subscribed to through iTunes.
To learn more about new technologies, consider attending the AISR workshop on Scholarly Communication and Collaboration -- Online Options. This workshop will explore three electronic options for research and publication to help Jeffersonians improve scholarly communication and collaboration. Speakers will present three topics: an introduction to blogs and blogging; a demonstration of the RefShare feature of Refworks; and the use of the Jefferson Digital Commons for publishing, archiving, and sharing Jefferson-produced scholarship.
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