NephJC as pre-gaming and pre-gaming for NephJC


As physicians, we counsel our patients on lots of things, and try to be good role models. And I’m sure no one reading this has ever been this guy:

But I want to offer two proposals on how you, nerdy nephrologist or nerdy future nephrologist, can pre-game the scientific literature.

In our fellowship program, like many others, we have a weekly journal club. Most people have a hard time with one or more of the following steps:

  • Picking an article

  • Interpreting the article

  • Conveying the importance of the article to colleagues

  • Looking smart in front of esteemed faculty members

This is where NephJC can come to the rescue. You have two options:

One: NephJC as pre-gaming for journal club

Pick an article for your journal club that NephJC is going to discuss before your journal club’s date. This approach has a number of advantages.

    • It cuts down the potential articles you would have to pick from (infinite→3-4).

    • By planning to get into the #NephJC chat, you force yourself to read the article in a timely manner

    • NephJC staffers [Ed: How big of a staff does Joshua think we have?] make a beautiful, easy-to-interpret visual abstract that you can put directly into your talk.

    • Reading/participating in the #NephJC chat lets you outsource your interpreting to world-renowned experts in the field who participate in the chat. That means fewer dense review articles to read and fewer awkward pauses when you get to the “future directions” slide at the end of your presentation.

    • If you alert your co-fellows to this plan, they too can participate in/read the NephJC chat, and look wicked smart when they come up with some great points in discussion.

Note that if you haven’t given yourself enough lead-time or a recent NephJC article strikes your fancy, you can pick an article that NephJC has discussed in the past and read the chat summary.

Two: Journal club as pre-gaming for NephJC

If you’re feeling motivated, this can be a way to do work once and get credit for it twice. Pick an article for your journal club that’s on the distant future radar for NephJC, and do the best job you can presenting the story at your journal club. And then, reach out to NephJC and see what you can do to help.

    1. Maybe it’s learning how to make a visual abstract.

    2. Maybe it’s hosting the chat.

    3. Maybe it’s playing with blocks. And then making a video of yourself playing with blocks (shameless plug: https://youtu.be/oqtjunljQAM)

You already made the slides and thought about the best way to present this information; why not get extra credit for it?

In summary: Pick a NephJC article for your journal club; you will save time, get nicer figures than you could make on your own and look smarter than you are (just kidding!).

Never drink and use Twitter. Always tweet responsibly.

Post by Joshua Waitzman
Nephrology Fellow at Northwestern University