title: Nephrology education for medical students: a narrative review.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Strategies used to teach nephrology to medical students are not well studied. This study assesses the published literature on medical student education in nephrology.
  
  
  METHODS
  A review of the published literature on nephrology education for medical students was conducted on two major online search engines (PubMed and ERIC). In addition, references of the manuscripts discovered in these searches were reviewed. The empirical studies were categorized by subject within nephrology and research design.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found 26 original studies in which a method of teaching nephrology to medical students was described. The studies dated from 1977 to 2015. The focus of these nephrology teaching experiences was as follows: anatomy (6.5%), physiology (22.6%), pathophysiology (29.0%), pathology (6.5%), treatment (25.8%), and general nephrology (9.7%). The studies were also categorized into various types of research design. 6.9% had either no assessment of the educational experience or had a description too vague to categorize it; 3.4% involved a survey about the existing educational approach before a curriculum change was implemented; 55.2% used surveys or tests after an educational course was carried out; 10.3% sought feedback from students before and after the educational experience; 13.8% were case studies; and 10.3% included a randomized controlled trial. The randomized controlled trials involved teaching techniques focused on the pathophysiology of renal disease.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Rigor was lacking in most empirical studies on medical student education in nephrology. Well-designed randomized controlled studies are needed to accurately assess the effectiveness of the educational techniques introduced into medical school curricula.
authors.affiliation: a Hofstra Northwell School of Medicine , Hempstead , NY , USA ;
authors.forename: Sarah D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Bayefsky
authors.affiliation: a Hofstra Northwell School of Medicine , Hempstead , NY , USA ;|b Division of Kidney Diseases and Hypertension, Department of Medicine , North Shore University Hospital and Long Island Jewish Medical Center, Northwell Health , Great Neck , NY , USA.
authors.forename: Hitesh H
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Shah
authors.affiliation: a Hofstra Northwell School of Medicine , Hempstead , NY , USA ;|b Division of Kidney Diseases and Hypertension, Department of Medicine , North Shore University Hospital and Long Island Jewish Medical Center, Northwell Health , Great Neck , NY , USA.
authors.forename: Kenar D
authors.initials: KD
authors.lastname: Jhaveri
mesh_terms: D003479:Curriculum; D004501:Education, Medical / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D009398:Nephrology / Q000193:education*; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States
keywords: Education research; literature review; medical education; medical students; nephrology; teaching methods