In the News: Nephrology training in the Pandemic Survey by ASN

 A survey done of renal fellows training during the pandemic has now been published.

The link is here https://data.asn-online.org/reports/fs_21/

Some key take home messages of this overall positive survey on our field.

1. Over 80% of fellows felt their program had successfully maintained education and conferences via video and over 80% felt that they were ready for independent practice. 

2. Over 80% of fellows saw patients virtually as outpatients and a small number during the inpatient rotations.

3. Burnout was high though during the pandemic ( women more than men)

4. Overall employment perceptions improved from years prior

5. More fellows RECOMMENDED nephrology as a field this time around( the silver lining of the pandemic)

6. Where are fellows going?  Nearly 90% start a clinical position, and 2% or so did general internal medicine. Remaining were industry, other fields and joint fields with nephrology

7. Median starting salary was 200,000 US$. Interestingly, IMGs got a higher base pay compared to USMGs. NO difference in female vs male salaries( a big win for Nephrology)

8.  Income guarantees ( by far ) was the most common incentive for the job they took, followed by MOC and CME support, signing bonuses, career development resources. 

9. Most fellows chose nephrology during residency. Sadly only 6% want to do a career in research. 

10.  And on a final note, during their training, only 14% placed dialysis catheters and did renal biopsies. This speaks volumes and perhaps its time we move on from this unfortunate loss of skills. Let's focus on training our fellows on knowledge and improving therapeutics.