Evolution of Tele-education in nephrology in Egypt before and during coronavirus disease 2019 era: a journey of 15 years of experience

The birth of distance learning courses in nephrology was set up in Mansoura (Mansoura Nephrology Club) in 2005. This activity was endorsed by the Egyptian Society of Nephrology and Renal Transplantation (ESNT) in early 2006. Tele-education was restricted to sharing presentations and the facilities to ask the experts. All questions and answers were uploaded to the website. The year 2012 witnessed a revolution in the ESNT continuous medical education chapter to include outreach programs followed by the ESNT virtual academy takeoff, with evolving experience through the following years, including enormous amounts of presentations, conferences, assignments, quizzes, as well as the full curriculum of Mansoura Nephrology Doctorate degree. More than 28 000 users from all continents and countries use this service on a daily basis. From May 2019, the ESNT activated online webinars to ensure interactive teaching that extended to a real Tele-medicine and teleconsultation to improve nephrology practice. In coronavirus disease 2019 era, where social distancing has become a necessity, the ESNT in collaboration with the international nephrology experts adopted a very active international distance nephrology education. A total number of 4596 lectures as well as links to 1850 videos are free of charges for all nephrologists all over the world, making ESNT virtual academy one of the largest open-source nephrology educational facilities.