Rheumatology Education without Borders - a global approach to basic instruction on the complex disease of SLE

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Background

Systemic lupus erythematosus is a complex, heterogeneous, autoimmune disease. Though it occurs worldwide, the disease is apt to be more frequent and severe in populations least able to harness the resources to facilitate optimal outcomes for affected patients.

A major part of improving outcomes in SLE involves increasing awareness of the disease and the nuances of its diagnosis and assessment, along with the principles of management. This can be accomplished through the education of medical students, primary care physicians, and the host of health professionals who are often at the frontline of medical care.

It is widely acknowledged that at various local levels, there is a dearth of rheumatologists and lupus specialists to organize and implement such instruction.

As such, a global approach to education is beneficial, brings efficiency to this issue, and maximizes the chances of successful implementation with the pooling of knowledge and effort.

The problem to be addressed is the limited knowledge of SLE amongst medical professionals in many communities and the lack of resources put to education on SLE, especially where healthcare systems are strained by competing priorities.

The strategies to be implemented are the development of educational manuscripts that target a global medical audience, yet address contextual issues.

Submitted manuscripts are intended to supplement the limited exposure to SLE topics in the undergraduate, primary care, and internal medicine post-graduate medical curricula. They can also be considered a resource for medical doctors who cannot access formal training in rheumatology but must function as "surrogate" rheumatologists in their communities or countries.

Potential themes for contributors to address:

- What medical students everywhere need to know about SLE;

- Understanding the evaluation and management of SLE- what non-rheumatologists need to know;

- Lessons learned re: case ascertainment, diagnosis, assessment, and management with instructive features that may be unique to the authors' experiences and region;

- A further discussion to highlight the potential relevance and usefulness of this information from a global perspective and any potential universal application.

Article types accepted for this collection include: Brief Research Report, Mini Review, Opinion, Original Research, Perspective, and Review.

Keywords: SLE, Medical education

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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