The clinical curriculum is designed to provide a robust exposure to all aspects of nephrology, and to prepare fellows to function as high quality, independent nephrologists following fellowship. Flexibility is built into the curriculum in order to tailor the fellowship experience to the career interest of each fellow.
The Fellowship Years
First year fellows divide their inpatient time among the three nephrology services:
- Consult
- Transplant
- VAMC
Fellows also attend an outpatient longitudinal general nephrology continuity clinic. In addition to the clinical rotations, fellows participate in an educational curriculum that includes didactic sessions, hands on experiential sessions, and interactive conferences. During the first year, trainees participate in a week long clinical research symposium on campus which provides a comprehensive overview on important topics pertaining to clinical research. Our first year fellows also are invited to attend the National Kidney Foundation Spring Clinical Meeting, with the costs of transportation, lodging, and registration covered by our program.
The second year curriculum has been tailored to provide flexibility and allow fellows to pursue specific areas of interest within nephrology. Second year fellows spend six months rotating through the three inpatient services, and have six months of elective time which is designed to align with fellows’ interest. During these six months, fellows will also participate in an outpatient dialysis curriculum where fellows (under the supervision of an attending faculty) will follow a group of 6-10 dialysis patients longitudinally, and become comfortably managing patients in an outpatient dialysis center. Trainees will also be immersed in the home hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis clinics in order to gain familiarity and comfort in managing patients on home modalities. Fellows will continue the half day per week continuity clinic.
The elective time is designed to best fit the needs and interest of the fellow. This time is routinely used to design and conduct clinical research projects, QI projects, or other scholarly activities. Several recent fellows have used elective time to develop expertise in the area of interventional nephrology and achieved procedural certification. Elective options also include clinical emphasis in transplantation, home dialysis, hypertension, renal pathology, or other interests a fellow may want to pursue.
In order to optimize work/life balance for our fellows, our call schedule has been designed to allow fellows to be free from all clinical duties for 3 out of every 4 weekends. We incorporate residents into the call schedule, allowing fellows to only cover evening call approximately 1 night per week.