Nephrol/ArabNephrol:
Nephrologists in a Professional Dialogue
Michele L. Hales
University of Alberta
Edmonton, AB CANADA
October 2nd & 3rd, 2003
Dubai, U.A.E.
Host Count Graph 1991 – 2003
(From July 2003)
Source: Internet Software Consortium (http://www.isc.org/)
Internet Users Worldwide
September 2002 Nua Internet Surveys
2002
World Total
605.60 million
Africa
6.31 million
Asia/Pacific
187.24 million
Europe
190.91 million
Middle East
5.12 million
Canada & USA 182.67 million
Latin America
33.35 million
2000
377.65 million
3.11 million
89.68 million
105.89 million
2.40 million
161.31 million
15.26 million
Source: http://www.nua.ie
Daily E-mail Output
Globally 31 billion e-mails sent daily in 2002
 >60
billion e-mails estimated to be sent every
day by 2006
Source: Sept. 26, 2002 IDC Research
Information Technology in the Arab World
(April 24, 2003)
Internet
Users (k) 2001
Egypt
Iran
Jordan
Kuwait
Morocco
Oman
Qatar
Saudi Arabia
Syria
Tunisia
UAE
600
1,005
234
200
400
120
40
700
60
400
976
Estimated PCs
Users per 10k Total (k) 2001 Per 100 inhab.
inhab. 2001
2001
92.95
1,000
1.55
155.57
4,500
6.97
451.56
170
3.28
879.13
272
11.96
137.13
400
1.37
457.49
85
3.24
655.74
100
16.39
313.6
1,400
6.27
36.12
270
1.63
412.37
255
2.63
3,148.39
420
13.55
Source: http://www.itu.int
Language Populations
Language
Arabic
Internet access (M)
%'age world online
pop.
2004 (est. in M)
Total pop. (M)
Net Hosts
5.5
0.9%
7
300
95
Source: Global Reach http://www.glreach.com/globstats/index.php3
A Brief History of NEPHROL

Created in October 1994

1st year membership was 355

Began as a moderated group

Legal problems/risk minimal

Birth to various offshoot groups
NEPH… E-mail Discussion Groups
NEPH… E-mail Discussion Groups
NEPHROL - general nephrology, all subjects including
renal pathology and transplantation
NEPHADMIN - for nephrology administrators
NEPHBSCI - nephrology basic science discussion
NEPHCNPT - discussions of individual clinical
nephrology cases
NEPHDEVEL - discussion of humanitarian projects
and ISN Sister Centres Program
NEPHINDIG - discussion of renal disease in
indigenous peoples
NEPHJNL - nephrology/transplantation journal club
NEPH… E-mail Discussion Groups
NEPHMIN - a stripped down version of NEPHROLDIGEST with all repetition and North American specific
content removed, designed for subscribers in developing
countries
NEPHNPPT - discussions of individual renal biopsy
cases
NEPHRONOL - Spanish - English discussion of
nephrology subjects
NEPHHIST - history of renal medicine, ISN video
legacy project interview transcripts
KFINT-L - discussion relating to the International
Federation of Kidney Foundations
NEPH… E-mail Discussion Groups
MDDIALYSIS – for US dialysis unit directors
PDIAL - peritoneal dialysis
PedNeph - paediatric nephrology (for renal healthcare
professionals)
RENALPRO – email list for nephrology professionals,
nurses technicians, dieticians, social workers,
administrators, physicians, engineers, etc.
RENALRD – a listserv primarily for those in renal
nutrition
CNSW – member listserv social workers
ARABNEPHROL - Arab - English discussion of
nephrology subjects
Patient E-mail Discussion Groups
NEPHKIDS – for parents with children with renal
disease
KIDNEYDISEASE – for adult children with renal
disease
IGAN – IgA nephropathy
NEPHROL Message Topics
CN:
HD:
PD:
HY:
TX:
NP:
PH:
IM:
BI:
CB:
AN:
ET:
Clinical nephrology
Hemodialysis
Peritoneal dialysis
Hypertension
Transplantation
Nephropathology
Physiology
Immunology
Biochemistry
Cell Biology
Anatomy
Ethics
UC:
DS:
IP:
Underdeveloped countries
Disasters
Intellectual property,
Internet publishing
TM:
Telemedicine
MT:
Meeting announcements
WWW: World Wide Web resources
CSN: Canadian Society of Neph.
LATF: Latin American Task Force
JN:
Jobs in Nephrology
JP:
Jobs in Renal Pathology
JT:
Jobs in Transplantation
GEN: Messages of a general
nature likely to be of
interest to all
NEPHROL Statistics
(from September 19, 2003)



Membership Total:
Average Total Posts per Week:
(Approx. 5.3 posts per day)
Top 5 Recent Topics:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
Does EPO accelerate renal failure
SLED by intensive care nurses
Kidney donor
Transplant myocarditis
Outpatient HD in ARF
1405
37
ARABNEPHROL History




Created in April 2001
Current Membership is 146
The Group is Moderated by Drs. Abdulla Al
Khader and Yousef Boobes
Selected discussion are translated into English
and then transmitted to the NEPHROL
discussion group with replies translated back
to Arabic and disseminated to
ARABNEPHROL.
NEPHROL in General
An Internet discussion group like Nephrol or
ArabNephrol is at its best when discussing
important questions in the field of nephrology, the
answers to which cannot be found in existing
journals or books, and discussing uniquely
challenging patients, with the ability to instantly
consult 1500 nephrology professionals.
Subscription To Our Groups
To subscribe to Nephrol, ArabNephrol or any
of the other groups send e-mail to:
majordomo@ualberta.ca
with the message:
subscribe nephrol
subscribe arabnephrol etc.
Measurable Outcomes
Value of International On-line Discussion
Groups -

Haiti mass poisoning
- Nephrol discussion posted on HDCN
- 60 minutes interview
Measurable Outcomes – Cont’d
Turkey Earthquake (ISN DRTF)
Aug. 16, 1999 - Massive earthquake in Turkey,
DRTF deployed early; prevented many cases of
ARF. Mortality among the 400+ dialyzed patients
only 17% compared with the usual 50%.

AMA Internet Survey
 78% of physicians regularly use the Internet
 ⅔ of on-line physicians web daily; ↑ of 24% since 1997
 Primary use of the Internet by physicians:
- claims processing (83%)
- medical research information (74%)
- CME for physicians (64%)
- legal & regulatory updates/compliance information (53%)
- patient scheduling (60%)
- coding (58%)
 2001 65% of physicians >60 years using Internet,
compared with 43% in 2000; ↑ of 50%
Source: 2002 AMA Study on Physicians’ Use of the WWW
European Physicians & the Internet
(March 2003)
Physician Internet Penetration
60% of their online time:
• Addressing professional
issues
• Emailing colleagues
• Searching & reading online
journals
• Completing CME
coursework
Source: http://www.bcg.com
Conclusion
 E-mail
at the moment is an ideal communication
medium
 The computer can save time
 The Internet has become a major avenue for
health communication
 The discussions stimulated on
Nephrol/ArabNephrol should increase your
knowledge and help you improve patient
outcomes
“If physiology literally means 'the logic of life', and
pathology is 'the logic of disease', then medical
informatics is the logic of healthcare. It is the
rational study of the way we think about patients,
and the way that treatments are defined, selected
and evolved. It is the study of how medical
knowledge is created, shaped, shared and applied.
Ultimately, it is the study of how we organize
ourselves to create and run healthcare organizations.
With such a pivotal role, it is likely that in the next
century, the study of informatics will become as
fundamental to the practice of medicine as anatomy
has been to the last.”
-- Enrico Coiera, 1997