Abstract: FR-PO059
A Comparative View of Early Career and Established Nephrologist Perspectives
Session Information
- Educational Research
November 03, 2023 | Location: Exhibit Hall, Pennsylvania Convention Center
Abstract Time: 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Category: Educational Research
- 1000 Educational Research
Author
- Regan, Stephen, Spherix Global Insights, Exton, Pennsylvania, United States
Background
As nephrologists transition from fellowship to an established clinical practice, their perspectives change regarding areas of interest, perceived unmet needs, and approaches to treatment. This analysis of nephrology fellows, early career, and established nephrologists reveals differences in viewpoints based on tenure.
Methods
Responses were collected from established nephrologists with over 10 years in practice (n=50), new nephrologists with 2 to 5 years in practice (n=37), and current nephrology fellows (n=44) via an online survey in August 2022. Respondents were required to spend at least 70% of their professional time in a clinical setting seeing patients.
Results
Glomerular diseases are a top area of interest for nephrologists, regardless of their tenure. Nuances exist in other areas, as established and new nephrologists show a greater interest in critical care nephrology (60% new, 50% established) and hypertension (38% new, 50% established) compared to fellows (41% and 25%, respectively).
While 45% of current fellows rank dialysis/modalities within their top three areas of interest, nearly half feel unprepared to manage peritoneal dialysis patients, and this only increases to 79% for home hemodialysis patients. Interestingly, despite encouragement within the industry to transition more dialysis patients to home modalities, new and established physicians show greater interest in other topics.
Perspectives on unmet needs for new therapeutic agents to treat specific conditions also differ by tenure. AKI is perceived as having a high unmet need by 64% of established nephrologists, compared to 27% of new nephrologists and 41% of fellows. Within glomerular diseases, newer practitioners perceive a greater unmet need for IgA nephropathy (39% fellows, 41% new), while only 16% of established nephrologists share the same sentiment.
KDIGO guidelines are followed more closely by fellows, 91% of whom report that they always reference them when making treatment decisions. Established and new nephrologists instead rely more heavily on their own clinical experience.
Conclusion
As a nephrologist’s career progresses, their interests become narrower and more specialized based on clinical experience. Nephrology fellows often express more innovative views but many report feeling ill-prepared for the movement of dialysis patients to home modalities.