Evangelia Savvidou

Conference 2024 Hot-Doc

Talk Title

The Primary Care Dialogues Podcast

Authors and Affiliations

Evangelia Savvidou1,2, Evangelos Arvanitakis1, Panagiotis Paraskevopoulos1,2, Ioannis Galiotos1, Antonia Aikaterini Mpourtzinakou1,2, Georgia Dimitriadou1, Panagiotis Stachteas1,2, Emmanouil Smyrnakis1,2

1. Laboratory of Primary Health Care, General Medicine and Health Services Research, School of Medicine, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece
2. Association for Research and Education in Clinical Skills, Thessaloniki, Greece

Abstract

The Primary Care Dialogues Podcast is the first Greek science-communication podcast that discusses issues relating to primary healthcare in Greece, aspiring to advance and promote its fundamental role in healthcare provision and make healthcare more people-centered, accessible, and sustainable. It is an initiative of an interprofessional team of young doctors, currently in residency training in General Practice/Family Medicine, Cardiology, and General Surgery, and/or in Master’s studies in Public Health & Health Policy, Primary Healthcare, and Health Services Management, and scientifically supervised by a Professor in Primary Healthcare and Medical Education. The podcast is primarily targeted at health professionals. Starting in October 2023, four episodes have been published with a total of 255 plays and an audience that expands mainly in Greece (91%), but also in the Greek-speaking population in the United States, Bulgaria, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and Sweden. All topics are approached through the lens of the biopsychosocial model of health, discussing both clinical implications and epidemiological data, as well as the social determinants of health, health inequities, sustainability aspects, and current affairs. One of the podcast’s unique characteristics is its compliance with the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) principles. A series of DEI practices are implemented: each podcast episode is accompanied by the audio transcript so it is accessible to people with hearing impairment; invited speakers come from different disciplines (health and non-health) and levels of experience; inclusive and gender-neutral language is being used whenever possible since the Greek language is gendered; a variety of examples and diverse people representations are being utilized; color-blind friendly colors have been chosen for the podcast’s brand identity; all graphics’ texts are listed separately so they can be recognized by reading apps for blind and visually impaired people; audience feedback is welcome to be provided across all the podcast’s platforms, verbally and written, nominally or anonymously; and the episodes are distributed across four social media platforms, popular with different age groups, which is reflected in the age range of the audience, which is 18–60 years old, with two peaks in the 23–27 and the 45–59 age groups. Having already created a community of 300+ people, the Primary Care Dialogues Podcast appears to have come to stay.