With over 4.5 million podcasts available globally, choosing what and when to listen can be daunting, especially when it comes to the hundreds of medical shows out there. For hospitalists, most of whom have 12- to 13-hour shifts, podcasts can quickly deliver bite-sized content on innovations, clinical updates, and case reviews without eating too much into personal time.

Which shows make the must-hear list, consistently delivering high-quality, compelling, and even humorous content?

Medscape Medical News reached out to several hospitalists to learn the shows they collectively download or listen to in real time. Three podcasts stood out as regular go-to’s. We’ve also included a few extra individual recommendations to whet your listening appetites.

No. 1: The Curbsiders

No matter who we spoke to, The Curbsiders was consistently rated as the number one podcast. Started in 2016 (and colloquially and aptly named after impromptu case or clinical discussions between physicians), Curbsiders serves up clinical pearls and practice-specific knowledge to appeal to a broad range of topics, shows, and episodes. Audiences can also access YouTube videos and subscriber content and obtain continuing medical education credits.

Meredith Trubitt, MD, MPH, a hospitalist at the Joseph Maxwell Cleland Atlanta VA Medical Center, and assistant professor at Emory School of Medicine in Atlanta, is showrunner and co-host of many Curbsiders shows. She said the podcast team had grown from three founders to roughly 70 residents and specialist hosts, a true measure of its appeal.

“Why has it been successful? In truth, I think it’s because the objective is quick and easy data delivery,” said Trubitt. “We reach a much larger audience via podcasting than writing a paper that needs to be submitted to a journal, and all the traditional ways things have been done in medicine.”

Joseph Thomas, MD, a hospitalist at Buffalo Medical Group, and clinical instructor at the University of Buffalo’s Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences in Buffalo, New York, said Curbsiders is “a great review of medical topics I may need a refresher on or if I am looking to learn something new,” he said.

Jennifer Woodard, MD, UW Health internal medicine doctor and geriatric hospitalist, and clinical assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health, concurred.

“It’s the OG of medical podcasts,” she said.

No. 2: Core IM

Though smaller and newer than The Curbsiders, Core IM provides “digestible internal medicine content” that includes interprofessional education.

“It may be a quick refresher on a condition I’m encountering,” said Thomas. “I teach residents and medical students; these podcasts also do a great job of summarizing points so I can refresh myself in order to pass on that knowledge,” he said.

Woodard and Trubitt also said they appreciate the educationally focused content offered by Core IM.

“Within medicine, I don’t know if I am a regular listener, but I occasionally listen to Core IM, which does a really great job within the education sphere,” Trubitt said.

For Woodard, their infographics are literal educational time-savers. “I use one of their infographics to teach every time I am on service,” said Woodard.

No. 3: The Clinical Problem Solvers

The Clinical Problem Solvers ranks third on our list of most listened to podcasts.

CP Solvers targets audiences especially interested in the process of clinical reasoning. The site has a broad range of offerings for a variety of specialties, ranging from weekly open and paid podcast content, diagnostic schema and illness scripts to daily case conference reviews, and YouTube recordings and Live Zooms.

Audiences can also purchase the hosts’ book, The Discipline of Diagnosis, which walks readers through 21 cases to reveal how clinical reasoning flows and applies in each situation.

Arunab Mehta, MD, a hospitalist at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, and associate professor of clinical internal medicine at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine in Cincinnati, said CP Solvers’ “Morning Report” reminded him of his time as a resident.

“Every morning, there was a case that went on for about an hour, and you would slowly gain a little bit more information from multiple people discussing the history, physical exam, and testing, and the thought process underlying decisions,” said Mehta.

Personal Picks

Aside from the universal appeal of The Curbsiders, The Clinical Problem Solvers, and Core IM, the hospitalists we spoke with mentioned several personal favorites.

Thomas said he enjoys podcasts that explore, summarize, and discuss journal articles, such as Inpatient Update, a hospitalist-centric podcast that summarizes new studies and guidelines. Last Week in Medicine covers both hospital and ICU material, said Thomas, noting this was another personal favorite.

“I have a generalist mindset; I want to know a little bit about everything and become familiar with some of the journal articles I might not have time to read,” said Thomas.

For more topical podcasts, Woodard’s favorite is Geripal, a podcast devoted to delivering geriatric, hospice, and palliative care content. As a bonus, co-host Alex Smith, MD, performs a song related to the topic being discussed at the intro and outro portions of the episode.

“It’s really for all types of physicians,” said Woodard. “It might be a little less fully hospitalist-focused, but we have older people going into the hospital all the time. You don’t necessarily need to be fellowship-trained in geriatrics for these topics to matter,” she said.

When Mehta is in the mood for something less clinical and more fun, he said he listens to Sawbones: A Marital Tour of Misguided Medicine. “It’s a mix of comedy and history of medicine, hosted by a family medicine physician and her husband, who is a comedian,” he said. (The podcast bills itself as “a tour of all the dumb, bad, gross, weird and wrong ways we’ve tried to fix people.”)

Some podcasts also excel at bringing out the human side of medicine, such as Crescendo Descrendo, which was started by one of Thomas’ friends and two of his friend’s colleagues.

“Each episode explores a different specialty in medicine and the genre of music that would be,” he said. “I’m a musician, and it’s musically nerdy and really fun for anyone in medicine who likes music.”

When asked about the genre that he believed best matched hospital medicine, Thomas paused.

“There’s a versatility to 90s pop punk, like Blink 182 or Green Day. Every now and then, they come out with a song from a different angle that you wouldn’t expect from them,” said Thomas.

“With hospital medicine, we sometimes have to come up with innovative solutions, even if you see the same condition day in and day out. Every patient is a little different.”

The same applies to podcasts.

Trubitt, Thomas, Woodard, and Mehta reported having no financial disclosures of interest. 

Liz Scherer is an independent medical and health journalist. Her favorite science-leaning podcast is Ologies.