RESEARCH ARTICLE


Are There Any Solutions to the Problem of Declining Nephrology Enrolment? A Dialogue Between Two Practicing Nephrologists



Pierre Antoine Brown 1, Swapnil Hiremath*, 2
1 Division of Nephrology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Canada
2 Clinical Epidemiology Program, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, Canada


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Creative Commons License
© Brown and Hiremath; Licensee Bentham Open.

open-access license: This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.

* Address correspondence to this author at the Division of Nephrology, The Ottawa Hospital, Riverside Campus, 1967 Riverside Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, K1H 7W9, Canada; Tel: 613-738-8400, Ext. 82762; Fax: 613-738-8337; E-mail: shiremath@toh.on.ca


Abstract

Nephrology, the study of kidney diseases, took its birth as a separate specialty many decades ago, and has gradually more in importance, especially with the advent of renal replacement therapy and kidney transplantation. Nephrology also has a strong physiology foundation; indeed an understanding of renal physiology is crucial for dealing with electrolyte and acid-base problems that a physician commonly faces in day-to-day practice. Perhaps this is why it comes as a surprise that the interest in nephrology fellowships is declining - at least in North America. In this article, we present a dialogue between two practicing nephrologists, working at a tertiary care academic Canadian centre, on some potential solutions to this problem.

Keywords: Education, kidney, nephrology, nephrology workforce.