The Division of Pediatric Nephrology divides its rotational service into month-long blocks.
Our inpatient Pediatric Nephrology Service, which is staffed by pediatric residents, is quite active with over 170 admissions per year. In addition, we see over 130 consults from various other inpatient services including the neonatal and pediatric intensive care units. We conduct over 2,000 outpatient clinic visits annually. We have an extensive referral base not only within the State of Iowa, but also from southern Minnesota, southwestern Wisconsin, western Illinois, eastern Nebraska, and northern Missouri. Patients come from across the USA and internationally to receive care in our Rare Renal Disease Clinic (Carla Nester, M.D.), which specializes in the care of patients with atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome and C3 glomerulopathy.
We have an independent pediatric dialysis unit which provides peritoneal dialysis and hemodialysis to pediatric patients. The unit is fully staffed with dietician and social work support to meet the complex needs of our pediatric patients. Our pediatric dialysis nurses are skilled at fistula development and access. Fellows are expected to co-manage dialysis patients with staff and rotate in the dialysis unit during fellowship training.
Our division is fully accredited as a pediatric kidney transplant center. Fellows are expected to actively participate in the management of kidney transplant recipients and can rotate with the adult and surgical transplant teams during their second/third years of fellowships. We also enjoy an excellent, friendly relationship with our transplant surgery division.
Fellows perform or are directly involved in a diverse number of procedures. All procedures are supervised by faculty. These include:
- Percutaneous kidney biopsy (native and transplant)
- The assistance of pediatric anesthesia is available for kidney biopsies. In high risk or critically ill patients, general anesthesia is utilized. We perform more than 30 kidney biopsies per year on pediatric patients.
- Acute and chronic dialysis therapies (hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis)
- Continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) as standalone therapy and in line with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO)