There is a podcast made in Toledo which is a good example of how enthusiasm for health education has led a group of nurses to focus on their profession, give voice to patients and associations, and promote good habits among citizens.
It was in December five years ago. Carmen María Gijón, a nurse at the University Hospital of Toledo, had an idea. She proposed to her classmates to do a program in Polygon Wavethe neighborhood station where she collaborated. They were encouraged to try. “We made a group that was all amateur, all effort and all volunteer.” Today the podcast is in its sixth season. Is called La Tirita, nurses on the radio.
“Professionally, we were in a bad way at the hospital then,” Carmen recalls, “and this dissemination space has reconciled us with the profession because there are very good people in the public health system who are carrying out innovative projects. And they are here, you don’t have to go looking for them outside.”
Ana Belén Molero, another of the nursing voices in this podcast, also talks about the overload of care and how much it wears out the health profession, as two of the motivations that gave rise to this project of which Miguel Ángel Muñoz, Rocío Solís are also currently part. , Saray Jiménez, Inés Aguilar, Eva Luján and Nuria Díaz. 90 programs have already been broadcast, improving the knowledge, attitudes and practices of the population in relation to health and well-being.
They left community radio in 2021 because with their rigid work shifts it was difficult for them to organize to do the program live. “It was a way to unburden ourselves a little, although we loved the live shows, but we started recording the podcast every two weeks in a rented studio in the cultural space.” Let’s put on a circus from the Toledo neighborhood of Palomarejos.” The Official College of Nursing of Toledo, which has supported this project from the beginning, bears the costs.
“We are healthcare nurses and we all left what was the old Oncology and Palliative Care on the fifth south floor, at the Virgen de la Salud Hospital. Now we are spread across other specialties, but we meet once a month to record and select topics based on what we see in our day-to-day practice.” Carmen María Gijón explains that they wanted to give more visibility to the figure of the nurse “because people place us mainly in hospitals, but we are also in residences, in institutes, in primary care centers, we are in management and also investigating. When a patient has doubts, they think above all of their doctor, but we can do a lot of health education at all stages of people’s lives.”
The program has sections with health advice and interviews with professionals and patients that can be listened to and downloaded on the Ivoox and Spotify platforms. Ana Belén says that “it has been a great learning experience for us because we have approached each one with the collaboration of specialists.”
And ninety programs have given their all to talk about many topics. From the prevention of infectious diseases to the promotion of healthy lifestyles to prevent chronic diseases. The disease of AIDS, which inaugurated the series, has been followed by topics such as multiple sclerosis, cancer, menopause, vaccination or diabetes, whose late detection causes many people to live with this disease without being aware of the consequences.
Dispelling myths and combating hoaxes
Podcasts dedicated to health and well-being make their way among listeners’ favorite trends, “but we are not better informed.” The promoter of La Tirita, Carmen, believes this, stating that “the population has much more access to health information, but not enough tools yet to know where we have to look for quality health information. Anyone can read articles or listen to audios that are not based on scientific evidence. We detect many hoaxes. Above all, false beliefs about home remedies for wounds, illnesses or pain that are believed without the slightest doubt.”
The nurse tells one of her experiences. “Last year I was actively recruiting patients susceptible to vaccination with herpes zoster and I called them by phone. There were many people who refused to be vaccinated. It is easier to hear an easy argument for you not to get vaccinated.”
They are concerned about the need to also improve communication with patients in hospitals and consultations because the information transmitted to them does not reach them well. “Perhaps because of the pressure of care they get nervous. They think about saying many things to their doctor and many of them are left out. There is a lot of information that is lost.”
Learning from patients and care experts
The La Tirita podcast invites the true protagonists of the diseases and Ana Belén Moreno says that they learn from the experiences of people who are going through any process. “We have the collaboration of Alberto Luque, a 112 nurse, and the psychologist and sexologist Lorena González, two other professionals who provide truthful and adequate information. And we ask our guests to keep in mind that the podcast is aimed at professional and general audiences.”
This group, completely self-taught, is in charge of everything: production, recording and dissemination. They are on all social networks and “super happy and grateful for the attention they receive in local media” because reaching the population is our goal and for them to see us as close health professionals who can be turned to at any time. They don’t miss the opportunity to go out with special programs and then “we ask a sound technician friend to give us a hand.” Aware of their limitations, they say that they set small goals and do not care about the statistics that the platforms report because any listening seems good to them, but “this year at Spotify we have grown a lot and the listeners give us a lot of praise.” feedback important”.
the song You can never tell, from the soundtrack of Pulp Fiction, opens this conversational podcast, which in the fourth episode of the last season is dedicated to chronic pain. “Today the program is important,” Carmen tells listeners.
He warns them that it is a complex issue and then the song plays Hemicranial of Estopa. They talk about the importance of knowing about the efficacy of the treatment given to the patient and its effectiveness. They talk about anticipatory pain and its emotional component with the idea that “If we nurses don’t talk about it… Who will?”.
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