Nephrology education needs assessment: Five years and a pandemic later

ABSTRACT

Background: We sought to identify how educational tools utilized in nephrology training had evolved in the past 5 years and through the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Questions about educational tools were distributed as part of ASN's annual nephrology fellow survey to 920 current adult/pediatric fellows. Results: 511 fellows participated in 2021 (56% response rate), compared with 377 fellows in 2016 (31% response rate). Fellows indicated that UpToDate was still the most used (82%) and most effective educational tool (66% rated it Very Effective);however, ASN KSAP increased in popularity (27% in 2016, 58% 2021) and was also highly rated (65% Very Effective). Use of online resource and social media increased, including both new opportunities and prior available ones such as NephJC (7% to 32%, with 46% rated Very Effective) (Figure 1). A majority of fellows (84%) rated their education as good or excellent in 2021, a percentage similar to 2016 (81%). Conclusions: Our follow-up assessment of nephrology fellows' educational tools found an increase in the adoption of online resources with similar effectiveness ratings as traditional resources. (Figure Presented).