We are seeing a continual increase in the number of US patients with CKD and ESRD. The epidemic of obesity, and resultant diabetes and hypertension, has not abated and will continue to swell the ranks of patients needing care from nephrologists. Add to this the incredible improvement in the survival rate of ESRD patients over the last decade and the extended availability of medical care to the uninsured thanks to the Affordable Care Act, and we are indeed on the brink of a tidal wave of kidney patients. These facts should be a wake-up call to health policy-makers, especially in light of the shocking statistics from the most recent Medical Specialties Matching Program (MSMP)(1). For appointment year 2013, MSMP indicates that nearly a quarter of nephrology fellowship programs had unfilled positions, the worst of all medical subspecialties. Only 25 percent of positions were filled by US graduates overall and only 21 percent of clinical nephrology positions are filled by US graduates—the lowest of any medical subspecialty. Read more…

Every March National Kidney Month comes around, and every March I wonder how it is that the eighth leading cause of death in this country still hasn’t achieved the public recognition and awareness level of other killers, like heart disease, cancer, stroke and diabetes. It seems we could save so many lives and avoid so much suffering if the general public knew even the most basic information about kidney disease and its risk factors.

But the somewhat frustrating truth is that when I talk about what I do professionally with nonmedical people, I frequently hear the question, “What’s dialysis?” People generally seem to know they have kidneys and know they’re important, but have no idea why.

There’s so much health-related information available—so many conditions clamoring for funding and recognition—that it may all be too much for the modern consumer to digest.  Frankly, there are so many ribbons representing advocacy for various disease states that no one seems to know which color goes with which illness anymore. For example, the ribbon for kidney conditions is green, but so are the ribbons for bipolar disorder, celiac disease, scoliosis, cerebral palsy and Tourette syndrome, to name a few. Read more…