Life as a Nephrology Professional

Exploring Innovations in Nephrology Education from Undergrad to CME

Increased prevalence and treatment modalities for kidney disease, shifts in priorities, clinical demands, and changes in funding have altered how we approach nephrology education. We are witnessing a massive shift in how education is delivered and implemented; innovative methods now exist outside the classroom and beyond the medical wards. Our focus in this episode is a journal issue of Advances in Kidney Disease and Health*, entitled Nephrology Education for the 21^st Century. The study of nephrology is already a daunting undertaking; how can we develop novel ways of teaching at all levels of higher education? Co-editors Drs. Niralee Patel and Staci Leisman join host Dr. Sam Kant to discuss and explore examples of restructured nephrology curricula and learning methods in undergraduate, graduate, fellowship, and continuing medical education spaces.

*Formerly called Advances in Chronic Kidney Disease.

GN Guidelines: 2021 NKF Kidney Disease Outcomes Quality Initiative Commentary (KDOQI)

This episode explores the 2021 NKF Kidney Disease Outcomes Quality Initiative Commentary (KDOQI) on the Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) guideline for glomerular diseases. The KDOQI commentary provides discussion on issues that are specific for implementation of the KDIGO guidelines in US healthcare settings. Tune in is as our host Dr. Natasha Dave dives into the commentary with Co-Chairs Dr. Bill Whittier, Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, and Dr. Laurence Beck, Boston Medical Center.

There and Back Again: The Journey of a Manuscript

In this episode, journey with us on an expedition filled with unexpected challenges, daunting obstacles, and arduous travels: the journey of a manuscript on its way to publication. Guiding us there and back again are the editors of Kidney Medicine, National Kidney Foundation’s open access journal focused on clinical medicine in nephrology and hypertension, which includes original research, case reports, and review articles.

 

Host: Sam Kant, MD

Guests: Daniel Weiner, MD, MS; Jenny Shen, MD, MS; David Drew, MD, MS

AJKD 40th Anniversary: The Power of Patient Engagement

This is the final episode of a series celebrating the 40th anniversary of the American Journal of Kidney Disease, an official journal of the National Kidney Foundation. AJKD is recognized worldwide as a leader in clinical nephrology content, publishing original investigations describing the latest findings related to kidney diseases, hypertension, dialysis therapies, and kidney transplantation. Join us as we discuss how the AJKD has helped bring the patient experience and patient voice to researchers and clinicians in order to enhance the quality of research ideas and improve the quality of care delivered.

 

Host: Sam Kant, MD

Guests: Harold Feldman, MD, Dena Rifkin, MD, MS & John Ortiz

Increasing Access to Home Therapies

Too many kidney patients face significant barriers to accessing lifesaving care. Research shows longer, more frequent dialysis done in the home yields better kidney health outcomes and improved quality of life for patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and end-stage renal disease (ESRD). Yet, patients do not have equal access to this treatment option. Join us as we unpack disparities in today’s kidney disease treatment paradigm and discuss the steps, we, as nephrologists, need to take to alleviate access issues and help make the options of in-home treatment a reality for more patients.

 

 

 

Advocating for Patients - AJKD Policy Podcast

In this episode, we are joined by a hardworking group of individuals who are passionate about advocating for patients with kidney disease. Our guests focus on the ways in which AJKD has communicated health policy updates in the last four decades and discuss key developments in kidney disease and health policy. They explain some of the current policy challenges facing the kidney disease community today. Furthermore, they discuss the future of slowing progression of CKD as well as shifting kidney replacement therapies from the default in-center hemodialysis to home dialysis and transplantation. Join us as we regenerate excitement for the future in advocacy.

Our guests include:

Miriam Godwin, the NKF Health Policy Director

Sharon Moe, Professor of Medicine in the Division of Nephrology and Hypertension at Indiana University and a Past President of the ASN

Bruce Robinson, Professor of Medicine at the University of Michigan and the Arbor Research Collaborative for Health

Dan Weiner, Associate Professor of Medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine and Editor-in-Chief of Kidney Medicine. Dan is a familiar friend of AJKD, having also served as Deputy Editor for ten years, and then as Policy Forum Editor for another five years.

 

Resources

• Policy Forum collection
• USRDS
• KidneyX
• NKF Advocacy Blog
• AJKD 40^th Anniversary Celebration

AJKD Educational Tools

Welcome to another episode celebrating the 40^th year of the American Journal of Kidney Diseases. This episode will focus on AJKD’s education features. We are joined by Dr. Jeff Berns, the Deputy Editor of AJKD, Professor of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and a Past President of the National Kidney Foundation, Dr. Agnes Fogo, Editor of the Atlas of Renal Pathology and Professor of Medicine at Vanderbilt University, Dr Ashgar Rastegar, Core Curriculum Editor, and Professor of Medicine and Global Health at Yale University, and Dr. Debbie Chen, former AJKD Editorial Intern and a research fellow at the University of California at San Francisco. Our guests discuss how AJKD provides education to the nephrology workforce including those who are in training. These educational tools include the Atlas of Renal Pathology, the Core Curriculum, AJKD quizzes and blog, NephMadness and the AJKD Editorial Internship. Finally, they wrap up by sharing their favorite classic paper from AJKD, which are all linked at the bottom of this episode’s description.

 

 

Resources and links:

• Atlas of Renal Pathology
• Core Curriculum
• Reviews
• Quizzes
• AJKDBlog.org
• Editorial Internship – Apply by April 30!
• NKF Professional Membership

Our guest’s favorite articles:

• Pathologic Classification of Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis: A Working Proposal (2004) Vivette D D'Agati, Agnes B Fogo, Jan A Bruijn, and J.Charles Jennette, MD
• Clinical Epidemiology of Cardiovascular Disease in Chronic Renal Disease (1998) Robert N. Foley, Patrick S. Parfrey, and Mark J. Sarnak
• Management of Acute Kidney Injury: Core Curriculum 2018 Peter K. Moore, Raymond K. Hsu, and Kathleen D. Liu
• Principles of Kidney Pharmacotherapy for the Nephrologist: Core Curriculum 2021 Sheryl F. Vondracek, Isaac Teitelbaum, and Tyree H. Kiser

KDOQI CKD Guidelines 20th Anniversary

This podcast will celebrate the 20^th anniversary of the very first clinical practice guideline for CKD which included recommendations for CKD classification and staging. We are joined by Dr. Kerry Willis, Chief Scientific Officer of the NKF, Dr. Andy Levey Professor of Medicine at Tufts Medical Center and Joe Coresh, Professor of Epidemiology at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and Mike Rocco, Chair of KDOQI and Professor of Medicine at Wake Forest Medical Center.   The original workgroup for the CKD guideline published in 2002 in AJKD was chaired by Dr. Andy Levey and Dr. Coresh from Johns Hopkins for the adult section of the guideline and by Dr. Rob Portman for the Pediatric portion. This guideline had a profound impact on the clinical care of both adults and children with kidney disease and it also was a major catalyst for CKD research. The published guideline was cited by 3,500 journal articles and now has over 20 accompanying editorials.  In 2012, the guideline was updated by the KDIGO and the classification stage was altered to include information on urine albumin excretion. But overall, the CKD staging system basically remains and in this podcast, we talk about how the guideline influenced clinical care, research and even policy.

Happy 40th Anniversary AJKD!

On this episode, our guests discuss how AJKD has pursued and met objectives over the past 40 years. Specifically, we will discuss how the AJKD has not only influenced the care of patients with kidney disease but helped NKF support its mission. We will discuss how AJKD helped to shape kidney disease research and clinical care and help grow patient centered care.

We are joined by four outstanding colleagues and speakers who will share their thoughts and experiences with AJKD and its impact on clinical care, research, education, and policy. 

Guests:

1. Kerry Willis-Chief Scientific Officer of the National Kidney Foundation 
2. Paul Palevsky, the current President of the National Kidney Foundation 
3. Sylvia Rosas, the president-elect of the NKF
4. Harold Feldman, Editor-in-Chief of AJKD

Other 40th Anniversary materials:

1. AJKD at 40: The Boston Era—Years 25-35 (2007-2016) Editorial by Daniel E. Weiner and Andrew S. Levey
2. Celebrating 4 Decades of AJKD Editorial by Harold I. Feldman, Jeffrey S. Berns, Laura M. Dember, and Nijsje M. Dorman
3. 40th Anniversary Special Collection: CKD 
4. 40^th Anniversary Special Collection: Kidney Transplantation
5. July 2021 Table of Contents
6. July 1981 Table of Contents
7. KDOQI Guidelines
8. A Unifying Approach for GFR Estimation: Recommendations of the NKF-ASN Task Force on Reassessing the Inclusion of Race in Diagnosing Kidney Disease

Removing Race from Kidney Disease Diagnosis

Over the past year and a half, the NKF and ASN have been leading the effort to develop race-free eGFR test results while maintaining the accuracy of the test. The NKF-ASN Task Force on Reassessing the Inclusion of Race in Diagnosing Kidney Diseases has recently released its final report that recommends a new, race-free approach to estimate eGFR. In this collaborative episode with the ASN, the Task Force discusses how they approached the work and what efforts are being made to ensure the new equation is implemented as quickly as possible. Our guests, Dr. Cynthia Delgado, Dr. Lesley Inker, Dr. Joe Vassalotti and Tod Ibrahim discuss the goals of the Task Force and how the healthcare team came together to come up with a solution that better served kidney patients. They discuss the implications for patients, how clinicians and researchers can adopt these new guidelines, and what resources are available for both patients and the medical community to learn more.

 

Developed in accordance with the Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration (CKD-EPI) and recommended by the National Kidney Foundation and American Society of Nephrology Task Force Reassessing the Inclusion of Race in Diagnosing Kidney Diseases, the new app is available for free by visiting the NKF website. 

 

If you enjoyed this episode, please follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podbean or wherever you listen to your podcasts. Have ideas for future episodes? Email us at nkfpodcast@kidney.org or tweet us @NKF_Nephpros. Thank you for tuning in!