Background/Purpose: Multidisciplinary interaction among medical specialties allows for the sharing of experiential knowledge to provide comprehensive patient care. theMednet.org, an online platform that allows for dissemination of expert knowledge in a searchable, private, and moderated question and answer (Q&A) format hosted four multidisciplinary programs over the past two years involving its rheumatology community. 

Methods: theMednet rheumatology community includes over 1,900 practicing rheumatologists across the United States and over 30,000 physicians in twelve additional specialties. A physician editorial team at theMednet developed four programs with high yield themes pertaining to multidisciplinary topics in rheumatology. Two journal articles and two topic-focused discussions were identified. Through a partnership with journals, the articles were distributed to theMednet community with a call for questions. Study authors and content experts in multiple specialties were asked to answer questions submitted by the physician community. The Q&A was distributed to physicians in relevant specialties over 3-4 weeks via email newsletters.

Results: The ProDERM journal club was a multi-disciplinary program in rheumatology, neurology, and dermatology. The INBUILD journal club involved rheumatology and pulmonology. The hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) targeted topic included rheumatology, pediatric hematology/oncology, and adult hematology/oncology. An immune-related adverse events (IRAE) targeted topic included rheumatology, medical oncology, gynecologic oncology, dermatology, pulmonary, and neurology. A total of 24 questions were included across the four programs. Among the programs, 2,401 physicians engaged with the Q&A, resulting in 7,993 unique Q&A views and 744 poll votes. The programs reached 1,194 rheumatologists and 1,207 non-rheumatologists. There was a total of 4,576 views by rheumatologists and an additional 3,417 non-rheumatologist Q&A views. The average number of views per question was 333. Experts from multiple specialties contributed answers to each program with the exception of the PRODERM journal club in which all answers were provided by rheumatologists (5). For the remaining programs, most frequently questions were answered by rheumatologists (11), followed by adult hematology/oncology (9), pulmonology (7) and pediatric hematology/oncology (3). Question themes included approaches to disease monitoring, decisions regarding treatment choice and duration, as well as management of medication side effects. 

Conclusion: Multidisciplinary targeted topic and journal club programs on theMednet facilitate interaction among rheumatologists and physicians in multiple other specialties to allow for dissemination of knowledge, generation of new insights, and exchange of unique viewpoints. These have the potential to reach physicians across multiple specialties with the goal of providing a unique opportunity for multidisciplinary medical education. 

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