Dialysis of the Obese Patient: Meeting Needs for a Growing Epidemic.

Increasing population obesity and associated metabolic consequences has led to increased number of obese patients with chronic kidney disease and end-stage renal disease. While obesity is associated with increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, obese dialysis patients present a seeming paradox for survival benefit, given other acute intervening illnesses for those on dialysis with loss of lean body mass overtime. Challenges remain in providing adequate renal replacement options and therapy for this growing segment of obese patients on dialysis which are discussed in this article.

'WhatsApp'ening in nephrology training.

Background: Teaching methods in most residency and fellowship programs have not yet addressed the challenges of rapid dissemination of new scientific information. Our Northwell nephrology fellowship program used the smartphone application WhatsApp to facilitate nephrology education. A qualitative study was conducted to explore perceptions of nephrology fellows and faculty using WhatsApp as a teaching tool.