HEALTH TECH
SHIV GAGLANI
Physician, Teach Thyself
(To Code)
The Case of Nephrology on Demand
W
hile the health tech devices and apps
that we cover are more often than not
the brainchildren of physicians, rarely
do we meet doctors who also had the computer
science or engineering skills to build their own. A
professor at the East Carolina University School of
Medicine, Tejas Desai, MD, did just that to create
his iTunes App, Nephrology on Demand (NOD).
We had the chance to speak with him about NOD
and how he created it. We were also able to use
the app ourselves, and we can recommend it for
those who want to brush up on nephrology or apply the useful clinical guidelines and calculators.
Can you describe how you, as a clinician,
managed to produce NOD?
I’ve always enjoyed logical thinking; it’s one of the
main reasons why I chose a career in nephrology.
Computer programming is a lot like nephrology
in that both rely heavily on logical thinking to
reach a desired outcome. With the help of online
programming courses, I learned how to program
in Objective-C in 15-minute intervals. Similar to
interval training, “interval studying” was the best
way to manage a busy practice, the education
of my fellows (I’m the fellowship director of a
Nephrology Fellowship Program), and family life.
Four years of interval studying led to the final
product: Nephrology On-Demand Plus.
What is the problem that
Nephrology on Demand solves?
Nephrology is one of the more difficult
disciplines in medicine to understand.
It relies less on memorization and
Tejas Desai, MD
recall and more on logical thinking
in order to make successful diagnoses. In clinical
practice, a practitioner must also be adept at
performing mathematical calculations to accurately
assess various aspects of kidney function (more
than just eGFR). Nephrology On-Demand Plus
(NOD+) helps practitioners (of any level) perform
the necessary mathemat