Clinical Schedules

Inpatient Service

Our training program provides a comprehensive approach to inpatient nephrology consultative services. After an initial orientation that includes didactic lectures on major clinical topics, fellows start monthly rotations in one of the inpatient consultative services. These include:

• Consult Services that provide service for hospital floor and ICU patients at the University of Maryland with acute kidney injury, various acid-base and fluid/electrolyte disorders.
• VA Service provides general nephrology consultative services to patients admitted to the Baltimore Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
• Night coverage is through a night float system, which involves a fellow to cover new consults throughout all the services after hours, six nights a week.
  • Fellows on night float do not attend any daytime activities and are required to go home and rest. We make every effort to record daytime lectures and educational activities, as well as make sure important communication and information is passed along for the night float fellow to review at their convenience.
  • A call room with adequate facilities for the night float fellow is provided to use as needed.
  • The night float system allows the convenience of very little night coverage for the daytime fellows; on average, fellows have 24-hour calls every five to six weeks per calendar year.
• Transplant Nephrology Services provide comprehensive and multidisciplinary care to the organ transplant recipient, both outpatient and inpatient.
  • This experience provides exposure to most areas of transplant nephrology, from the pre-transplant evaluation of potential recipients, to complex transplant complications.

Research and Electives

The remainder of the training years will be divided between research and elective time. Electives are free-form, with time spent determined by the fellow; multiple experiences are possible in a half-month elective block.

Elective activities include, but are not limited to:

• Renal Pathology
• Home Dialysis (PD + HHD)
• Interventional Nephrology
• Apheresis
• Subspecialty Nephrology Clinics (Polycystic Kidney Diseases; Glomerulonephritis, Onco-Nephrology, Stones, Hypertension, Pregnancy Care, and others)
• Pediatric Nephrology
• Advanced Extracorporeal Therapies (ECMO, MARS)
• Medical Toxicology
• Critical Care
  

Outpatient Service

Fellows attend once-a-week outpatient clinics throughout their two years of training where they follow their own panel of patients, allowing for adequate continuity of care. They see patients with various pathologies including CKD, GNs, and learn to arrange dialysis for patients heading toward ESRD.

In addition, second-year fellows have a weekly dialysis clinic at the Parkview IDF unit on Mondays, during which they manage chronic hemodialysis patients and peritoneal dialysis patients. This is protected time for the fellows so they can focus on their ESRD outpatient experience.

Schedule

We strictly adhere to ACGME work hour rules in all clinical and elective rotations for the fellows. We take this VERY seriously. Trainee wellness and work-life balance is important to us.