Blog — NephJC

Need any more evidence that #NephJC rocks?

You may have seen the evidence pyramid before, with animal studies and case reports at the bottom, and systematic reviews on the top. 

Well, an interesting paper was published a few days ago, in the Journal of Medical Internet Research. Go ahead, click on that link and check it out. 

It is a systematic review of all twitter-based journal clubs (and they seem to have captured all that were existing at that time). They have then examined the impact of these journals clubs using many different metrics. Interestingly, the one that immediately stands out is in table 2:

Table 2 from Roberts et al, http://www.jmir.org/2015/4/e103/

Table 2 from Roberts et al, http://www.jmir.org/2015/4/e103/

There's only one journal club with over a million impressions. Take a bow, all of you who have ever participated in a #NephJC chat!

The paper does make for interesting reading, apart from what we mention above. Some of the analyses agrees with our thoughts after the first dozen #nephJC chats. 

Tonight's #Act4Kidneys Chat. Join us at 9 PM EDT

The chat begins at 9PM EDT, in just an hour. The topics will be:

  • Topic Zero: What is an advocacy day? What can law makers do to help kidney patients and the field of nephrology?
     
  • Topic one: 20 million Americans have kidney disease. The NIH spends only $29/patient. This is low compared to heart disease and cancer. Why is that?
     
  • Topic two: One of the primary asks of #Act4Kidneys is The 21st Century Cures. What is this? What will this do for patients? What will this do for investigators.
     
  • Topic three: The other ask for the "CKD Improvement in Research and Innovation Act" what is this and what will it do for our patients.
     
  • If we are not going to the hill this week, what can we do to support these initiatives. Should we throw money at anyone? Call people? 

From the ASN Advocacy and Public Policy page:

On Thursday, April 23 in Washington, DC, dozens of ASN members are heading to Capitol Hill to talk with Congress about important policies related to kidney patient health and kidney research.

Join their ASN Kidney Health Advocacy Day efforts by asking your members of Congress to support newly introduced kidney legislation – the Chronic Kidney Disease Improvement in Research and Treatment Act of 2015 (H.R. 1130, S. 598).

This bill will address key needs for patients with kidney disease: eliminating barriers to transplantation, improving our understanding of kidney failure in minority populations, and investing in life-saving kidney research.

Join ASN in calling on Congress to support this important, bipartisan bill now. Click here to send a message to your members of Congress asking them to sign onto this vital legislation.

click the image to down load the 21 page house version of the bill.

click the image to down load the 21 page house version of the bill.

Here is the House Committee on Energy and Commerce website about the 21st century cures.


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