Is it just me or does it feel like podcasts exploded in popularity recently?

They’re so popular that a larger percentage of American consumers listened to podcasts weekly than attend church or religious services weekly.

Doesn’t it feel like they came out of nowhere?

Well, these audio-powered talked shows and episodic narratives date back all the way the early 2000s and their name came about by accident. In 2004, BBC journalist Ben Hammersley penned their name in an article we wrote as a columnist for The Guardian.

The term “podcast” comes from combining the words iPod and broadcast and it used to reference audio blogs.

Although you could still consider them to be audio blogs, they’ve grown into so much more…

• Daily updates from popular news conglomerates
• Talking head commentary from sports stations
• Episodic “true crime” series
• Live radio shows
• Interviews with experts across different industries
• Serial history audio novels

Of course, these are all shows covering topics people want to know about. If you work within the medical field, you may think that people aren’t interested in learning about the intricacies of what you do on a daily basis. If you think this, you’re flat out wrong.

People search for health-related topics on some of the biggest search engines so much that many doctors consider it to be an issue that leads to inaccurate self-diagnosis.

In other words, that means people actively want to learn more about health-related topics from experts. So what better way to provide accurate medical information from experts than through one of the most popular mediums?

Well, some healthcare organizations and professionals are already making strides and publish this form of content on a weekly basis.

In fact, just a quick search on Spotify leads to endless scrolling within this category.

The problem, with typing in the search term “medical” within any of the platforms that host podcasts is that they’ll also throw in shows that aren’t related to the field.

In other words, the show’s theme isn’t healthcare-related but the episode itself is.

Here’s an example from the search above. Skip & Shannon: Undisputed is a popular daily show that airs on ESPN. Although extremely popular, it doesn’t have anything to do with the medical field other than if they talk about player injuries.

The point I’m trying to make after all of this is that it’s hard to find medical podcasts, even when you’re searching for them specifically.

Luckily, we did the research for you to save you time. So what some of the best ones?

Medical History and Diseases

Sawbones: A Marital Tour of Misguided Medicine

iTunes: 5/5 (11,815 Ratings)

Episode Frequency: 3 to 5 episodes per month

Sometimes the best way to improve something is by looking at how things happened in the past and improve upon it. That’s exactly why Sawbone: A Marital Tour of Misguided Medicine exists.

This medical podcast features Dr. Sydnee McElroy and her husband Justin McElroy as they look at “dumb, hilarious and horrifying ways we’ve tried to fix people through the years.”

Before every episode, they do disclaim that they are not giving medical advice. However, beyond the entertainment factor, it is still a good source for learning about the history of medicine and healthcare.

It’s three most popular episodes are…

1. Sawbones: Plague Medicine
2. Sawbones: The Most Dangerous Parade
3. Sawbones: CBD Oil

This Podcast Will Kill You

iTunes: 5/5 (11,456 Ratings)

Episode Frequency: 1 - 8 per month

Combining ecology and epidemiology leads to a powerful duo. That’s exactly what Erin Welsh and Erin Allmann Updyke do in This Podcast Will Kill You. Of course, the show itself isn’t deadly, however, what they cover is.

Each episode goes over a different infectious disease and its…

• History
• Biology
• How worried listeners should be

They breakdown different diseases, in an educational and understandable manner without talking down to their listeners. For ailments they aren’t experts in, they’ll bring in guest speakers who are professionals on the topic.

This Podcast Will Kill You’s most popular episodes are…

1. Ep 43 M-m-m-my Coronaviruses
2. Ep 36 Shades of Syphilis
3. COVID-19 Chapter 1: Virology

Health and Wellness

The Doctor's Farmacy with Mark Hyman, M.D.

iTunes: 4.7/5 (4,465 Ratings)

Episode Frequency: 3 per week

It doesn’t matter what area of healthcare you’re an expert within, there’s likely an audience for you. A great example of a doctor who targets a specific audience and has had success with his podcast is Mark Hyman, M.D. He hosts the show The Doctor’s Farmacy and it focuses on food’s effect on our immune system and other hot topics within the alternative medicine space.

Mark Hyman, M.D. is a best-selling author and the Head of Strategy and Innovation of the Cleveland Clinic Center for Functional Medicine. Throughout his show, he brings on other physicians to discuss things like stress, hormones, obesity, skin care, etc.

The Doctor’s Farmacy with Mark Hyman, M.D most popular episodes are…

1. Do You Have To Eat A Ketogenic Diet All Of The Time To Get Its Benefits? with Mark Sisson
2. What To Eat For Better Health
3. The Secret Power of Fasting for Longevity and Healing with Valter Longo

Nursing Podcast

iTunes: 4.5/5 (349 Ratings)

Episode Frequency: varies

After years of higher learning classes, exams and projects most healthcare professionals also need to take mandated tests to get their state licenses. One of the most infamous exams in healthcare is the NCLEX.

The Nursing Podcast is a show devoted to prepping nursing students for their road to becoming an RN by giving actionable steps in digestible segments. Each episode focuses on different aspects and hardships many students face before, during, and after they’ve landed their career job.

Nursing Podcast most popular episodes are…

1. My secret tips for passing nursing school tests (11 test taking strategies for nursing school)
2. Hierarchy of O2 Delivery (ventilation, nasal cannula, cpap, bipap and more)
3. Lions Don’t Give a ****

Healthcare IT

CodeCast | Medical Billing and Coding Insights

iTunes: 4.8/5 (104 Ratings)

Frequency: 1 per week

The healthcare IT space is confusing and intricate, even though it’s one of the most important aspects of the industry that works in the background.

Enter CodeCast | Medical Billing and Coding Insights, a podcast series that shares insights to current rules and regulations of what different healthcare payers require. Each episode is short but jam-packed with helpful content about a topic that’s helpful for those in the same. It’s hosted by National Speaker and Healthcare Consultant, Auditor and Educator, Terry Fletcher. She also happens to have over 25 years of experience in the medical billing and coding space.

CodeCast | Medical Billing and Coding Insights most popular episodes are…

1. Costly CPT and ICD10 Mistakes
2. Reimbursement accuracy FAQ’s for COVID-19
3. Breaking News! CMS could revoke your Medicare billing privileges

This Week in Health IT

iTunes: 4.5/5 (40 Ratings)

Frequency: 3 per week

In order to further propel the state of Health IT, you need to understand the trade secrets and tips. To receive those, you have to find a mentor within the industry or work for decades within it until you learn them firsthand, unless of course you listen to This Week in Health IT.

Three times per week the current Chief Information Officer of St. Joseph Health, Bill Russell, sits down with an expert guest on his show to discuss personal stories in a conversational style. Its overarching goal is to share wisdom about the industry.

This Week in Health IT most popular episodes are…

1. Manoj Jhaveri on Creating Win-Win for Physician Staffing
2. Field Report: Mayo Clinic with John Halamka, MD
3. Healthcare Suffers Because Health IT is Lagging. We Can Do Better.

Healthcare Business

Healthcare Entrepreneur Academy Podcast

iTunes: 5/5 (116 Ratings)

Frequency: 1 to 2 per week

The business aspect of healthcare oftentimes gets overlooked because practice owners can hardly stay afloat with the amount of work that goes into seeing their patients. Not to mention that went they graduate from med school, most doctors aren’t familiar with that side at all.

Jason A. Duprat dissects the business side of healthcare in his weekly Healthcare Entrepreneur Academy Podcast. Each week he releases a special, solo episode called “Tactical Tuesday” where he gives insight and strategy tips. In other episodes, he brings on a special guest who works within the field so that they can share the business strategies they’ve learned along the way.

Healthcare Entrepreneur Academy Podcast most popular episodes are…

1. #79: Kati Kleber: Make Bank & Live your Dream Life
2. #013: Gene Guarino: How Investing in Real Estate and Assisted Living Delivered Sweet Success
3. #006: Tactical Tuesday: Turning a 5 Figure Loss Into a 6 Figure Success

The Business of Healthcare

iTunes: 4.6/5 (51 Ratings)

Frequency: 2 per month

Beyond hearing from the experts, the best source of information on anything comes out of universities and academia. What better way to learn about running a practice or healthcare organization than learning from a reputable, state-funded academy?

The Business of Healthcare is a twice-monthly podcast that comes from the Center for Healthcare Leadership and Management based at The University of Texas at Dallas. The show follows a theme that’s based on the center itself; bring together business leaders to discuss how to meet the challenges of the healthcare industry.

The Business of Healthcare most popular episodes are…

1. The Business of Healthcare Podcast, Episode 51: Digital Transformation in Healthcare — What to Expect in 2020 and Beyond
2. The Business of Healthcare Podcast, Episode 49: Healthcare Reform through a Financial Lens
3. The Business of Healthcare Podcast, Episode 47: The Various Flavors of Medicare for All

Medical Compliance and Cybersecurity

The Healthcare Policy Podcast

iTunes: 4/5 (53 Ratings)

Frequency: 1 per week

Beyond what to do with patients and how to run the business side of a practice comes the inner-workings. Compliance and policymaking within an organization are equally as important.

The Healthcare Policy Podcast is an independently produced show by David Introcaso that looks at the intersection between research, policy analysis and political realities. His show stresses that there are no conflicts of interest in viewpoint, which is a refreshing take.

The Healthcare Policy Podcast most popular episodes are…

1. Professor Ruqaiijah Yearby Discusses Structural Racism in Health Care (July 8th)
2. ProMedica's CEO, Randy Oostra, Discusses the Need for a Congressionally Created National Health Care Reform Commission (June 23rd)
3. Interviewer as Interviewee: David Introcaso Answers Listeners' Questions (June 17th) (Part II)

Healthcare Information Security Podcast

iTunes: 4.5/5 (11 Ratings)

Frequency: 2 per week

Cybersecurity within healthcare is a huge problem and is usually directly related to an organization’s compliance environment. In other words, they suffer and/or grow together.

To help get a grasp on the cybersecurity aspects within the medical space, HealthcareInfoSecurity.com created the Healthcare Information Security Podcast.

The show looks at the many challenges the medical industry faces with their information security and explores how people, processes and technologies interplay within an organization’s system with interviews of experts in the field.

Healthcare Information Security Podcast most popular episodes are…

1. Analysis: COVID-19 Contact-Tracing Privacy Issues
2. The Changing Role of DPOs
3. Healthcare Cybersecurity Info Sharing Resource Unveiled

Honorable Mentions

There are so many great medical podcasts out there that we can’t break all of them down. Below is a list of additional shows you should follow and listen to.

• Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris (4.8/5, 65,753 Ratings)
• The Peter Attia Drive (4.8/5, 3.7k Ratings)
• Ben Greenfield Fitness (4.7/5, 3,594 Ratings)
• Therapy for Black Girls (4.8/5, 3,241 Ratings)
• The Curbsiders Internal Medicine Podcast (4.8/5, 1.9k Ratings)
• Broken Brain with Dhru Purohit (4.7/5, 1,735 Ratings)
• Nutrition Facts with Dr. Greger (4.8/5, 1,718 Ratings)
• CLEANING UP THE MENTAL MESS with Dr. Caroline Leaf (4.8/5, 1,700 Ratings)
• The ZDoggMD Show (4.9/5, 1,570 Ratings)
• The Savvy Psychologist's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Mental Health (4.6/5, 1,506 Ratings)
• Intermittent Fasting Stories (4.7/5, 1,206 Ratings)
• The Anxiety Coaches Podcast (4.5/5, 1,205 Ratings)
• Behind The Knife (4.9/5, 971 Ratings)
• TED Talks Health (4/5, 657 Ratings)
• TED Talks Science and Medicine (4.1/5, 591 Ratings)
• Docs Outside The Box (4.9/5, 386 Ratings)
• Straight A Nursing (4.8/5, 385 Ratings)
• Bedside Rounds (4.8/5, 296 Ratings)
• Straight Talk MD (4.8/5, 240 Ratings)
• The Short Coat (4.7/5, 231 Ratings)
• 2 Docs Talk (4.4/5, 224 Ratings)
• NEJM This Week — Audio Summaries (4.3/5, 185 Ratings)
• Good Nurse Bad Nurse (406/5, 175 Ratings)
• Legends of Surgery (4.7/5, 167 Ratings)
• The Hippocratic Hustle (4.8/5, 109 Ratings)
• Your Next Shift: A Nursing Career Podcast (4.7/5, 97 Ratings)
• The Working Nurse Podcast (4.6/5, 93 Ratings)
• Outcomes Rocket (4.8/5, 90 Ratings)
• Healthcare Happy Hour (4.9/5, 83 Ratings)
• Healthcare Triage Podcast (4.8/5, 72 Ratings)
• Everyday Emergency (4.9/5, 71 Ratings)
• Digital Health Today (4.8/5 65 Ratings)
• JAMA Medical News: Interviews and Summaries (4.5/5, 46 Ratings)
• Help Me With HIPAA (5/5, 45 Ratings)
• Second Opinion (4.5/5, 45 Ratings)
• Medtech Talk (4.5/5, 28 Ratings)
• HFMA's Voices in Healthcare Finance (4/5, 26 Ratings)
• GeekWire Health Tech (4.9/5, 25 Ratings)
• Ten Talk Tuesdays (4.8/5, 24 Ratings)
• Talking Healthcare (5/5, 23 Ratings)
• The BMJ Podcast (4.5/5, 21 Ratings)
• The 10 Minute Healthcare Marketing Podcast (4.9/5, 18 Ratings)
• Healthcare is Hard (4.5/5, 19 Ratings)
• The #HCBiz Show! (4.7/5, 15 Ratings)
• Patient Convert Podcast (5/5, 16 Ratings)
• The New Normal: Conversations About the Future of Healthcare (5/5, 12 Ratings)
• Perspectives on Health and Tech (4.4/5, 9 Ratings)
• HIPAA Talk (5/5, 10 Ratings)
• HIPAA Critical (5/5, 7 Ratings)
• The Big Unlock (5/5, 4 Ratings)