NEPHROLOGY SYMPOSIUM at UC-Davis in Sacramento on October 5,2018

We are very pleased to invite you and your colleagues to our inaugural Northern California Nephrology Continuing Education Symposium in Sacramento on October 5, 2018! The goal for our all-day symposium is to reach out to our community of Northern California nephrologists, dialysis health care providers, as well as interested patients and families, with the latest advances in the care of people with chronic kidney disease. This year’s symposium will focus on home dialysis therapies as well as current controversies in nephrology.

The morning program will be devoted to dialysis in the home, and our speakers will address updates in home hemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis, and incremental dialysis for patients with residual renal function. Home dialysis has been a great success for many of our patients, providing them with increased independence and control of their own health. Home dialysis can allow people with end stage kidney disease the flexibility and freedom to enjoy a fuller life. We have been providing home hemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis, incremental dialysis and optimal start therapies at UC Davis for quite some time, and we would like to share our experiences with our nephrologist colleagues, nurses, dieticians and social workers, as well as interested kidney patients and families, throughout the Northern California community.

During the buffet lunch, Dr. William Fissell from Vanderbilt University will give a talk about a potentially huge advance in the care of chronic kidney disease: the implantable artificial kidney. In the afternoon, there will be multiple lectures from various experts in our field, including a discussion by Dr. Glenn Chertow from Stanford with the intriguing title: “Is Contrast Nephropathy Real or Not?”

We have also included a number of breakout sessions in the conference covering topics of great clinical significance, including the use of mindfulness-based approaches in optimizing care for dialysis patients. Mindfulness techniques have been shown to help improve patient quality of life and well-being. Another discussion will address the cultural aspects of patient care. A third breakout session will focus on end-of-life issues as they relate to patients with end stage kidney disease, including tips on how to help guide patients and families through difficult decisions regarding whether to forgo or discontinue dialysis.

Other breakout sessions will include a discussion of the nuts and bolts of optimizing home hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis as well as a discussion on transitional care dialysis. The Division of Nephrology at UC Davis looks forward to hosting this inaugural educational program and we invite our friends and colleagues in the nephrology and dialysis care community to attend this exciting event. Continuing education credits will be available for physicians, nurses, physician assistants, pharmacists, and dieticians. This will be wonderful time for to reconnect with your friends as well as get updates in dialysis and nephrology care. We look forward to seeing you all at the Sacramento Hilton on Friday, October 5!