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During the congress, E-Posters will be accessible to all participants on the congress website 24/7, as well as in the E-poster stations in the congress center.
Preparing your E-Poster
Please review the E-Poster format requirements carefully when preparing your E-Poster. Should your E-Poster not meet the mentioned requirements, it may not be displayed as described above.
E-Poster Submission Deadline
Please prepare and upload your E-Poster no later than March 14, 2026 11.59PM CET. After this date, you will no longer be able to prepare and upload your E-poster and it will not be displayed and accessible on the congress website.
Please follow the instructions below to input your abstract title.
Abstract titles should be brief and reflect the content of the abstract.
Resident interest in nephrology has declined, leaving over half of fellowship positions in the USA unfilled. The factors driving this trend remain unclear. This study aimed to evaluate perspectives on residents’ career decision-making, comparing views of nephrology program directors (PDs) versus residents.
We previously designed and published a national survey assessing residents’ perceptions of nephrology. Using the same questions, we developed a new 40-item web-based survey, which was distributed to 169 nephrology program directors (PDs) across the United States. The survey included multiple-choice, yes/no, and open-ended questions. Responses from PDs were then compared with those from residents.
Of the 169 PDs surveyed, 46 (27%) responded. Among 680 internal medicine residents surveyed, 184 (27%) responded.
1. Timing of Specialty Choice: Among residents, 45% reported deciding on their fellowship choice during medical school, 25% during PGY1, and 21% during PGY2. In contrast, PDs believed that only 18% of residents make this decision in medical school, while the rest made that decision during residency.
2. Exposure: Only 34% of residents reported that a nephrology rotation was mandatory, and 47% indicated their nephrology rotation occurred during PGY1. PDs appeared aware of this gap, with 50% reporting that the amount of nephrology rotations was inadequate.
3. Deterrents: Residents identified the top deterrents to pursuing nephrology as inadequate financial compensation (49%), a difficult patient population (28%), high job stress (24.5%), and poor work-life balance (18%). PDs cited the same factors, though with different emphasis: inadequate financial compensation (68%), poor work-life balance (64%), high job stress (36%), and difficult patient population (27%). The results are summarized in table 1.
PDs seem to be aware of the factors deterring residents from pursuing nephrology and the limited nephrology exposure residents receive. However, they tend to overemphasize residency as the primary period for career decision-making and may underappreciate the influence of the early medical school years. These findings suggest that strengthening early and meaningful exposure to nephrology could help counter declining interest in the specialty.
