American Society of Nephrology and Home Dialysis University Expand Collaboration to Enhance Home Therapies Education for Nephrology Fellows
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Newswise — Washington, DC (March 18, 2024) —The American Society of Nephrology (ASN) and Home Dialysis University (HDU) launched a collaboration in 2023 to improve nephrology trainees’ knowledge, proficiency, and exposure to home dialysis therapies. Through the collaboration, ASN provided scholarships to 30 fellows to attend an in-person HDU fellows training course and participate in a virtual longitudinal case-based education series led by renowned experts in peritoneal and home hemodialysis. After a successful first year, ASN and HDU will continue the scholarship program this year, awarding 45 fellows the opportunity to participate in the program.
Home dialysis has been associated with lower cost and equal or better clinical outcomes than facility-based dialysis. In 2021, only 14.1% of Medicare patients receiving dialysis underwent dialysis at home. Despite the higher incidence and prevalence of kidney diseases in Black and Hispanic people when compared to non-Hispanic White people, Black and Hispanic people with kidney diseases are even less likely to be treated with home dialysis.
“The ASN HDU scholarship program, now in its second year, continues to affirm ASN’s commitment to improving access to home dialysis for all individuals with kidney diseases. Improving education and exposure to home dialysis among nephrology fellows will pave the way for a future kidney medicine workforce to ensure universal access to home dialysis and improve the care of people on dialysis” said Deidra C. Crews, MD, ScM, FASN, ASN President.
Nephrology fellows have long cited a lack of education and exposure to home hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis during training as a major educational gap. The ASN Task Force on the Future of Nephrology recommends providing additional education to close currently identified gaps in nephrology training, establishing individualized pathways to provide opportunities for fellows to explore advanced specialized care and other career goals in more depth, and prioritizing diversity, equity, and inclusion as well as promoting health care justice in all aspects of nephrology, especially fellowship training.
“I was not comfortable with managing home dialysis patients the way I was with inpatient dialysis”, said 2023 scholarship program participant Fatima Ayub, MD, University of Arkansas for medical sciences and central Arkansas veterans’ healthcare system. “The HDU scholarship program has cleared up a lot of concepts for me and enabled me to be more confident while managing these patients. I am now routinely seeing these patients in our home therapy clinics, implementing all the knowledge I am receiving from our faculty at HDU.”
In July 2021, ASN formed a Home Dialysis Steering Committee to identify and prioritize gaps in training, education, and advocacy in home dialysis. Based on recommendations from the Steering Committee, and in alignment with priorities identified by the ASN Task Force on the Future of Nephrology, ASN entered into a Cooperative Agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to establish a pilot home dialysis course for nephrology fellows that offers training from respected leaders in home dialysis, followed by a longitudinal virtual education program. Nephrology fellows can apply for an ASN travel support scholarship to attend the HDU course in Chicago, Illinois September 8-10, 2024 and participate in the next virtual longitudinal series, here.
About ASN
Since 1966, ASN has been leading the fight to prevent, treat, and cure kidney diseases throughout
the world by educating health professionals and scientists, advancing research and innovation,
communicating new knowledge and advocating for the highest quality care for patients. ASN has
nearly 22,000 members representing 141 countries. For more information, visit www.asn-online.org and follow us on Facebook, X, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
About HDU
HDU has been educating nephrology fellows and nephrologists since 1998. The HDU course is an in-person, immersive approach to home dialysis therapies education. It is taught by internationally recognized academic educators and is designed to provide in-depth training on home dialysis therapies. Participants experience didactic and small group workshops that allow for meaningful interaction with faculty.
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