In the NEWS: NephSim as an educational tool

Nephrology education related published work is sparse. NephSim, a mobile optimized website tool with cases and interactive approach was developed in 2018. Over 24 cases have been presented and discussed in this tool. Case contents have been amazing. But what the creators of this tool now did is- validate it with a peer reviewed publication. Recently published in JGME, a med ed journal, Farouk et al showcase the NephSim tool and discuss the results of their outreach of this tool and a survey that showed high rate of satisfaction and usability.

Innovation in Nephrology education is extremely important. Case discussions leading to differential diagnosis and then pathology and diagnosis helps in creating and making a Nephrologist a better diagnostician. The NephSim project also showcases the use of website, social media platforms such as twitter and other ways to share information.

This tool can easily be replicated in other fields in internal medicine or medicine. The ease of using and doing the cases makes it very accessible and able to be transformed in all fields in medicine. The drawbacks- survey response was low but enough to make major conclusions. But like most med-ed studies, it touches the first tier of outcomes- medical knowledge (self-assessed) and not addressing other ways of medical knowledge. We hope to see using some of these tools used( perhaps in combo)- such as NephSim, Nephmadness, Whatsapp, blogs, NephJC. Etc—to change practice patterns, behaviors and ultimately effect patient outcomes.