Editor’s Note: We are just a couple months away from revealing the NephMadness 2020 bracket. If you want to organize a #NephMadnessParty for your group, set it up between March 16-April 3 and put it on your group calendar now. 

In 2018, @VCU_Nephrology planned a spectacular party for their NephMadness group bracket entry. The following year, we invited them to write a blog post about their party and announced a new prize category: Best NephMadness Party. The inaugural prize went to @IINefroUMB in 2019. Alicja Rosołowska @alunieczka writes a blog post below on their experience.

Here at II Klinika Nefrologii UMB (@IINefroUMB) in Poland, we are big fans of #medtwitter and all #nephrons. We completely agree with previous winners that #Nephmadness is a great way to learn about nephrology. Two of us (@alunieczka & @kponikwicka) had taken part individually in NephMadness 2018, and we thought that it would be a great experience to share NephMadness 2019 with the entire crew.

The idea of March Madness, the American college basketball tournament, was new to almost all of us (soccer or ski jumping is perhaps more popular in Poland). After a little bit of brainstorming, we decided to bring in our residents, students, and to also invite other nephrologists from our city and even our former boss, Prof. Michał Myśliwiec. We decided early on that we had to throw a party as we had invited so many guests.

It all started with a little surprise: an introduction to Twitter itself, and Nephmadness, by @alunieczka, with individual brackets assigned to participants afterwards. We are happy to report that all our residents joined Twitter!

Our personalized Nephmadness calendar

We devoted 30-45 minutes each day talking about a single region, with a few slides on the matchups prepared by fellows, residents, and our boss himself. (Editor’s note: we will provide a basic slide set to get you started once the bracket is revealed)

Starting early #NephMadness #IIKlinikaNefroUMB pic.twitter.com/DTL2e1TL1B

— Alicja Rosołowska (@alunieczka) March 25, 2019

Discussion and voting followed the presentation; the team with a majority of the votes won. Votes were counted by @alunieczka, the official Bracket Master and party planner. On the last day, we quickly presented the winners so that final voting could be done. We are big fans of POCUS, so naturally we selected Team New School from the Volume Assessment Region as the NephMadness champion (spoiler alert: US Hypertension Guidelines won instead).

More proof that we actually did vote #NephMadness #NephMadnessParty #IIKlinikaNefroUMB pic.twitter.com/9G4E61K8WI

— Alicja Rosołowska (@alunieczka) March 26, 2019

We spent a lot of time trying to find creative representations of all the teams of NephMadness 2019. Much attention to detail was put into nephrology-themed food and decorations. We actually learned a lot during the food planning portion; for example, buying and trying licorice candy. From the beginning, we had decided that our motto would be: “@IINefroUMB: we take our fun seriously.”

Kidney Straws and Fluid Wars self-labeled lactated Ringers and abnormal saline)

Signature cake pops by @kponikwicka and opium poppy alias raspberry juice in syringes

Exercise brownies and jello painkillers

Full party menu

Of course, the NephMadness Party wouldn’t be complete without a huge kidney cake:

Kidney Cake

Finally, we distributed party favors for everyone at the party: our intern printed small kidneys on his 3D-printer and we made them into keyrings and individually wrapped them.

Parting gifts for all #NephMadnessParty contestants #IIKlinikaNefroUMB keychain rings pic.twitter.com/D0qAvGLd0P

— Alicja Rosołowska (@alunieczka) March 26, 2019

We were extremely happy when we found out we won the Best NephMadness Party prize last year!

The ideas were simple, and we can’t say that one single item was more difficult to make than others. It was a team effort with loads of fun and laughter. We are a fairly young team and throwing a NephMadnessParty was a great opportunity for all of us to get together and spend more time with each other.

Greeting from our team to yours

To all the teams participating in 2020: remember that #NephMadness is all about team spirit and constant thought exchange, both of which are also crucially important when caring for patients. We had an amazing experience and enjoyed the fun and learning of NephMadness – we will definitely throw another party in March!

– Post prepared by Alicja Rosołowska @alunieczka, AJKDBlog Guest Contributor

See more NephMadness Parties here:

Seeing all of these smiling faces coming together and talking science is really the biggest paycheck you could every receive. Thanks to all who scheduled/hosted/baked for their #NephMadnessParty

It was amazing to see

This ⚡️ moment will inspire you👇https://t.co/0Pl9REhTYN

— Matthew Sparks, MD (@Nephro_Sparks) April 9, 2019

Check out the latest AJKD Special Collection of NephMadness articles, freely available until February 29, 2020.

For the Best NephMadnessParty Prize: Take a photo (or multiple) and tag #NephMadnessParty. We can’t wait to see all the creative ways you incorporate NephMadness into your curriculum!

 @NephMadness | #NephMadnessParty