ADDING NEW COLORS AND CHANNELS TO EDUCATION IN MEDICINE - Dr. Joel Topf

Alloutcoach

A few months ago I attended a reception at a conference sponsored by a Nephrology Journal Club (#NephJC) which I had referenced in my Amedea Pharma Blog and prior expert panel discussions because of its tremendous growth and popularity. And after meeting its co-founder, Dr. Joel Topf, a pioneer in using social media for medical education, I decided to interview him for my podcast. Dr. Joel Topf represents a model of transforming a virtual platform into a true in-person learning and development community. He has been running his blog Precious Bodily Fluids for 12 years. He co-created the longest running twitter journal club, #NephJC which connects nephrologists all around the world to discuss scientific papers twice a month. Dr. Topf has a large Twitter following and is a regular guest on the internal medicine podcast, the Curbsiders and was awarded the Robert Narins Award for innovation in medical education by the American Society of Nephrology and has given talks on the use of social media in medical education in 8 countries around the world. He makes visual abstracts for six different medical journals and organizations.

1:55 - Q1: How did this popular #NephJC journal club start? 5:46 - Journal Club based on "Flipping the Classroom" concept 6:59 - Journal Club audience is mainly physicians aged 40+ 8:20 - Structure of the NephJC Journal Club is supported by multi-channel learning with re-informcement (1. Blog Summary, 2. Visual Abstract, 3. Tweetorial, 4. Podcast, 5. Weekly Newsletter) 10:11 - Q2: How do the busy physicians find time to attend a new format of education online and find it valuable? 11:07 - Modern Form of Medical Education - Conversational Tone 13:03 - Q3: How has the use of social media changed during the pandemic over among physicians? 14:09 - Pandemic Case Study: NephJC created critical new resources for nephrologists to address concerns or rumor about ACE-inhibitors and their effect on COVID 16:00 - Started to build evidence review teams on the fly to analyze treatment guidelines, ACE evidence, etc. They built isolated webpages - COVID in dialysis, COVID in transplant, in hypertension, etc. We created an incredible resource for the community at a time when they had lots of questions. 17:02 - Pandemic resources increased NephJC website visits 10x 17:45 - Q4: Can you contrast Twitter vs other social media platforms and share success factors of building a community there? 22:40 - Q5: Was there a turning point when the #NephJC exploded? 23:16 - #NephJC started a global internship program. Interns from 35 different countries participate and are trained on writing blog articles, Tweet chats / tweetorials, virtual abstracts, podcasts. They then started many projects of their own. One of the spinoffs of the Curbsiders is the pediatricians' version called "Cribsiders". Website called "Nephpocus" - point of care ultrasound. 26:25 - Q6: Can you describe your system of multi channel communication and how it all works together? 28:41 - Q7: What is a Tweetorial and how does it work? 30:25 - Q8: What are some of the most effective formats to educate in your opinion? Do you use video on Twitter? 31:42 - Q9: How do you test the quality of the education via social media? Ian Lang quote "Teaching without testing is like cooking without tasting, reading without writing" 33:15 - Q10: How do you incorporate all of the different parts of your system together most efficiently? 35:14 - Q11: Are you pursuing any new channels or topics at #NEPHJC? 37:45 - Q12: How do you extend your education to patients? 38:25 - Comment: Lots of poor quality medical information online - patients beware! 39:23 - Need to Close the Knowledge Gap in Medicine that Increases over time despite Experience years gained 41:31 - Q13: Q: How do you think pharma companies can educate patients and physicians via social media?