Curriculum

Nephrology Fellowship Curriculum

Our fellows will rotate through transplant and nephrology consult service at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital (SNGH). The dialysis rotation will occur at the Hampton Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC), which houses one of the largest outpatient hemodialysis units in the Veterans Affairs medical system. The fellow experience will be spread out through the ambulatory continuity clinic and research rotations at Macon & Joan Brock Virginia Health Sciences at Old Dominion University and VAMC. During rotations at all sites, fellows will work with an array of respected clinical teaching and research faculty. 

Rotations

Rotations take place in monthlong blocks and include:

Year 1

• 5 months of inpatient renal consult service at SNGH
• 1 month of renal transplant service at SNGH
• 4 months of dialysis service at VAMC
• 2 months of research at VAMC

Year 2

• 4 months of inpatient renal consult service at SNGH
• 2 months of renal transplant service at SNGH
• 1 month of vascular access and renal biopsy service at VAMC
• 3 months of dialysis service at VAMC
• 2 months of research at VAMC

All fellows will be assigned a continuity clinic one half-day per week at our school and VAMC. Fellows will participate in the Nephrology Core Curriculum series. Our weekly conferences provide the basic science and clinical knowledge necessary to practice nephrology. Other educational activities include:

• a weekly rotating schedule of the nephrology journal club
• case conference
• research conference
• clinical nephrology conferences
• GME faculty and resident development courses

Research

Nephrology Fellowship has four months of research total, consisting of two 1-month block rotations in each training year. Fellows will be expected to submit an abstract to a national meeting or a case report or manuscript to a peer-reviewed journal by the end of their training. Our faculty will provide instruction on the following topics:

• basic statistical methods and their implementation
• the design and conduct of clinical studies
• instruction on preparing a proposal for IRB approval and instruction on how to write a grant
• manuscript preparation, submission, and presentation

Nephrology fellows must complete an online research methodology course that includes instructions on how to submit a proposal for IRB approval. Our research office will provide support for the fellow in biostatistics and clinical studies.

Conferences

Our weekly Nephrology Core Curriculum conference series spans two years and will cover each topic at least once during a fellow's time in the program. The curriculum content is based on, but not limited to, the American Journal of Kidney Diseases core curriculum.

The Core Curriculum series covers:

• Renal physiology
• Dialysis basic and clinical topics
• Transplantation basic and clinical topics
• Reviews of National Kidney Foundation Kidney Disease Outcomes Quality Initiative (NFK KDOQI) guidelines as they are published

The program will use the NephSAP materials for question-based topic review.

During July and August of each year, the conferences will cover the basics of nephrology, e.g. hemodialysis, hypertension, continuous renal replacement therapy. These sessions will give new trainees a solid foundation for practicing nephrology and will reinforce best practices in senior trainees.

The Nephrology fellows will also participate in the following conferences:

• Department of Medicine Grand Rounds (weekly)
• VA Medical Center Hampton Didactics - Nephrology Lecture (weekly)
• Renal Society Meeting (monthly)
• Renal Journal Club (monthly)
• Internal Medicine resident lectures - Nephrology Series (monthly)
• Internal Medicine Morbidity and Mortality Case Conference (monthly)
• Nephropathology lectures (monthly)