Rare disease 101: an online resource teaching on over 7000 rare diseases in one short course

Background An estimated 3.5 million people in the UK live with a rare disease however due to the rarity of each individual condition this is not currently reflected in mainstream medical education. As a result, common features of living with a rare condition include diagnostic delay, poor coordination of health and social care and lack of access to specialist care and treatment. This is well documented in reports published by patient advocacy groups collating the patient experience and has been highlighted by the Department of Health and Social Care in its UK Rare Diseases Framework. One of the four priority areas outlined in this policy published in 2021 is 'increasing awareness amongst healthcare professionals'. Medics4RareDiseases (M4RD), a charity based in the UK, has proposed a disease-agnostic approach to educating doctors about rare disease, focusing on the common challenges experienced across this heterogeneous collection of conditions, rather than on the minutiae of each of the > 7000 rare conditions. A literature search using MEDLINE, PubMed Central and Bookshelf confirmed a lack of broad rare disease teaching in medical literature; none of the 10 final resources identified focused on the topic as a whole. Results To address this, M4RD created the course 'Rare Disease 101'. It is accessed online using a learning management system that is free, contains interactive lessons, hosts a discussion board and is easily updated. In the 29 months since going live, 942 individuals have registered with 204 having completed the course; early feedback from 33 respondents was unanimously positive (all participants rated at least good (76%: excellent)) demonstrating that both clinicians and patients can benefit from broad rare disease education. The course is freely available to all at https://learn.m4rd.org/. Conclusions Disease-agnostic training about rare disease as a large patient population, focusing on its unique profile of unmet needs, is required. Rare Disease 101 provides a pragmatic approach to an educational challenge that leads to poor patient outcomes. Early results suggest that the educational programme is well-received but further evaluation and assessment is needed.