Clinical fellows in Nephrology participate in the management of all patients admitted to the general Nephrology service at the Ohio State University Hospitals. Routine management issues are handled by the housestaff ward team, consisting of a junior or senior resident, intern and 2 or 3 medical students.

Under the guidance of the attending physician, the Nephrology fellow assists in the management of all in-patient dialysis decisions, indications for and performance of renal biopsies and the therapy of complex renal problems. When not rotating on the in-patient services, the clinical fellow will have the opportunity to spend time on the Nephrology consultation service. In conjunction with the consult attending, the fellow will evaluate patients from other services with renal disease and learn to make appropriate diagnostic and therapeutic recommendations.

A special feature of the Nephrology inpatient services is that each service has a full-time Patient Care Resource Manager (PCRM). The role of the PCRM  is to expedite admission and discharge planning and efficient inpatient evaluation. Thus, clinical fellowship in Nephrology includes exposure to mechanisms of cost-effective health care delivery. Clinical fellows may expect to acquire the clinical experience necessary to diagnose and treat a broad range of renal and electrolyte problems.  In addition, the fellow may expect to acquire all of the technical skills necessary for:

• establishing temporary vascular access for acute hemodialysis or continuous arteriovenous hemodialysis
• performance of percutaneous native and transplant kidney biopsies