By Chris Blevins, BSCJ, AAS-ST, CST, CNA
Growth of a Podcast
Once upon a time, a girl and her dislike of PowerPoint group presentations decided to venture into the world of podcasting. Who knew that less than four years later, this little project would reach over 8.4K downloads, in three countries, and provide a team project that students look forward to each semester.
Origin Story
The Scrub Life – A Podcast for, and About, Surgical Technology, began as a capstone project for surgical technology program seniors during their final semester. Each cohort of students became a podcast season and each group’s recording became an episode within that season. As you all know, surgery is a team sport. It is imperative that we teach students how to function in stressful environments with people who they may not know. I want them to come up with a plan, be organized, critically think through an outcome, execute, and have fun doing it. Not too much to ask…
In an effort to get creative, I thought (in my best James Earl Jones voice), “build a podcast and they will come”. Who am I kidding? Of course they’ll come because I’m going to make it an assignment. With the help of my amazing colleagues, students’ smartphones, and a platform called Anchor, The Scrub Life was born. By the way, if you don’t hear TLC’s “No Scrubs” lyrics by now, I’m not sure we can be friends…
Where Do We Go Next?
Those who know me, know that I’ll share anything we do to help students learn. Why? Surgery happens everywhere. Your graduates may be operating on me or my family one day. Also, if I preach being a patient advoc