Mission

We strive to continually advance the nephrology training program to be better every year. Excelling in all areas of the ACGME competencies, articulated through the milestones for the nephrology subspecialty, is the core goal for graduates of our training program. We are committed to the education and competency of quality patient-centered care and safety in an environment rich in academic and scholarly activities. Upon graduation, we expect each trainee will be capable of entering an academic position or unsupervised practice of evidence-based nephrology with enthusiasm for life-long learning and professional growth.

Program Aims

The aims for the nephrology fellowship are listed below:

• Prepare fellows to become excellent independent clinicians
  • Broad clinical experience, including hospital consult service, kidney transplant inpatients, weekly outpatient continuity clinic, ambulatory clinic (consisting of experiences in the outpatient general nephrology clinic, the peritoneal dialysis clinic, the nephrology transplant clinic and outpatient hemodialysis) and a two-week pathology rotation.
• Educate fellows to appraise and publish relevant medical literature
  • Each fellow completes an independent project with faculty supervision.
  • Fellows are required to submit an abstract to a regional or national meeting, or publish the work in an acceptable journal upon graduation.
  • Monthly research meetings are scheduled to assist in formulating research hypotheses, specific goals and objectives, specific aims to satisfy the objectives and prepare protocols for IRB approval.
• Train fellows to function in a clinician educator role
  • Fellows participate in the institutional fellows as teachers seminar, emphasizing leadership, teaching as consultants, evaluation and feedback and presenting effective lectures.
  • Throughout the fellowship, fellows have the opportunity to teach the internal medicine residents that rotate on our clinical service on a monthly basis.
  • Fellows are required to give Grand Rounds and case presentations to their peers.
• Train fellows to lead patient safety and quality improvement projects to positively impact clinical outcomes
  • The program director and assistant program director train the fellows from the beginning of their fellowship, how to carry out the patient safety and quality improvement projects
  • The program director monitors progress of these initiatives at monthly fellow meetings
  • The fellows submit their data to the program director for review, and the program director demonstrates to the fellows how to analyze and present their data

Goals and Objectives

The overall goal of the nephrology fellowship program at the UF College of Medicine – Jacksonville is to provide a comprehensive experience in clinical nephrology and an in-depth research experience that will prepare them for a career in academic nephrology.

The specific objectives of the program are tightly integrated with the six key ACGME educational competencies and include:

• An emphasis on patient care through the provision of detailed and contemporary training experiences in clinical nephrology and procedures appropriate to both the in-patient and out-patient setting
• The development of medical knowledge in nephrology by integrating clinical concepts and practical training with the clinical and basic sciences through regular didactic sessions
• The facilitation of practice-based learning and improvement through a program of organized performance improvement activities and a training environment emphasizing life-long learning
• Promotion of interpersonal and communication skills and professionalism of the highest order through a training curriculum emphasizing the highest quality of patient care that is tightly integrated with the training of medical students and residents, resulting in effective information exchange and teaming with patients, their patients' families and professional associates, all while demonstrating a commitment to professionalism and an adherence to ethical principles
• Teaching and utilization of a systems-based practice approach to health care by developing an awareness of and responsiveness to the larger context and system of health care and growth as a system physician-leader

The division's faculty are dedicated to providing nephrology fellows with a broad base of clinical and research skills leading to board certification in nephrology and a productive career as a clinical or research nephrologist.