It is anticipated that trainees will take advantage of the academic opportunities available.  Trainees are encouraged to apply for fellowships to undertake a period of research leading to a higher degree during their training.  Kidney Research UK has further information about research in nephrology.

In the Eastern Region, trainees usually undertake research based in Cambridge or Lister. 

Through the Cambridge University School of Medicine, the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research and the Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre there are excellent opportunities for translational and clinical research, focusing on the broad areas of immune-mediated renal disease and renal genetic disorders. Professors Clatworthy, Thomas and McKInney have large laboratories investigating basic and translational research into immune mediated renal disease, including vasculitis and transplantation, whilst Professor Jayne's group is more clinically focussed, leading a number of multi national clinical trials in Vasculitis. Professor Karet's leads a world renowned group investigating tubular and genetic renal disorders. There is also a large surgical research programme focussed on transplantation. There are usually at least 7 trainees undertaking a period of research in Cambridge, supported by Fellowships from Kidney Research UK, NIHR, Wellcome Trust and MRC. We are lucky to have the Addenbrookes Charitable Trust, which often supports trainees to start in research so they are well placed to obtain one of these prestigious Fellowships.

Prof Clatworthy has pioneered the mapping of human kidney's immune cell network:

Human kidney map charts our growing immune defence | Cambridge Network

Prof Nicholson has pioneered normothermic perfusion to improve renal transplant outcomes:

The Lister Hospital is linked to the University of Hertfordshire. Professor Enric Vilar is a world leader in Dialysis Research and is Head of the Centre for Health Services and Clinical Research at the University of Hertfordshire. His group is an excellent place for those trainees with a special interest in Dialysis.

• Broad general medical interest and experience
• Ability to offer consultative advice to a wide variety of different specialities (for example: intensive care, haematology, obstetrics, paediatrics) involving excellent communication skills and conscientious follow up
• A genuine interest in the management of chronic disease
• A capacity for teamworking

ARCP requirements: PLEASE DO LOOK AT THE DECISION AIDS

GIM, annually

1. ES report: If you have the same ES for Renal and GIM, only one ESR is required to cover both. Do the ESR after curriculum ratings updates/assessments otherwise these won't be pulled through to the ESR. The Generic CiPs ideally need to be rated under both Renal and IM. Your ES can supervise IM even if they don’t do Acute Unselected Take.
2. 1 MSF
3. If you are progressing in IM CiP 1, you need minimum x2 MCRs from Consultants delivering AUT.
4. 4 GIM ACATs, each with 5 patients
5. 3 SLEs (CbD/Mini CEX), by consultants supervising IM
6. Valid ALS
7. 5 Clinics in non renal speciality (can include STEC, non renal ward rounds)
8. Acute medical take: Record estimate of number of patients presenting with acute medical problems – aim for 200 a year
9. General medical inpatient work: Record number of months of experience and training in continuing ward care of patients admitted with acute medical problem
10. Simulation: record number of hours of simulation training (aim 4 hours per year)
11. GIM DPD: Record GIM CPD (20 hours per year)
12. IM CiPs : Update IM CiPs ratings every year as you will progress both Curricula every year - including during Renal Clinics/MDT/Ward activities when not doing Acute Unselected Take. You may have a year without new IM CiP 1 experience though if it’s a pure renal year.

Renal, annually

1. ES report
2. 1 MSF (12 raters including 3 consultants and a mixture of other staff (medical and non-medical)
3. 4 MCRs (excluding ES)
4. Participation in QIP – please do use the QIPAT. ST6 - Completion of quality improvement project with satisfactory QIPAT
5. Renal CPD: 70% attendance at regional training days (this can include watching presentations on Bridge). You need 100 hours of Renal CPD in total, ie a minimum 25 hours per year – this includes attendance at the weekly CUH and Lister led educational sessions.
6. Evidencing CiPs: for each CiP, you should have at least 3 different types of evidence (ACAT, miniCEX, CbD, reflection) and at least 6 pieces of evidence in total. One ACAT could be used up to 5 times. To achieve sufficient evidence, we recommend at least 1 ACAT/OPCAT a year, as well as at least 1 miniCEX, CbD and reflection.

For both:

1. Complete Summary of Clinical Activity/ Teaching Form before ARCP- this is a good option to summarise running total of AUT, NonSpecialty Clinics, CPD [Renal & IM]/Teaching. This is the the eportfolio under the assessment tab (all forms).  Other CPD evidence/logbooks can also be in library for more detail.
2. Complete updated Training Calculator before ARCP
3. Patient survey: Use the Patient Survey Forms on the eportfolio - this is similar to MSF with results visible to ES who can release summary to you. This should be done in ST5 and ST7. You need 20 responses – and then this needs to be reviewed and released by your supervisor
4. Form R : appears to be new format via TIS. Record TOOT for year being assessed only rather that whole Training time.
5. Please remember to rate yourself on the CiPs
6. If you’re an academic trainee, please remember you need an academic report.

For the pre August 2022 curriculum

We thought it would be useful to clarify the minimum requirements in terms of SLEs for passing the ARCP, as most of you are joint training in GIM and Renal concurrently, and using the Decision Aids together can be confusing:

For joint years you need a minimum of 8 SLEs [GIM 3 ACATs/1 Cbd/1 MiniCex; Renal 1 ACAT/1 Cbd/1 MiniCex]. This will allow you to obtain the minimum of 10 SLEs for GIM (with 6 ACATs) for Stage 1 GIM during ST3 and 4. By the end of ST7, you will have a total of 25 GIM SLEs, including 15 GIM ACATs. This is less than the 30/18 required for the GIM  decision aid by CCT, but we have confirmed with the GIM TPD that some of your Renal SLEs can be counted to the total.

We have also confirmed with the GIM TPD that these should be spread across your 5 years of training, so even if you have done additional GIM ACATs earlier in training, if you are doing joint training in ST7, you should complete GIM 3 ACATs/1 Cbd/1 MiniCex in that year.

This will also give you a total of 5 Renal ACATs, CbDs and MiniCexs - you should have 6 of each in total across the 5 years of training to complete the targets in the decision aid, so please try to get some extra assessments done where possible.

You should also have an MCR with at least 4 responses every year - two of these should be GIM for a joint year.

In terms of procedures, if you have been signed off at CMT and are doing them regularly, then please ask your ES to counter sign them for you about three times during training (eg lines - although you do need 6 line DOPs for the renal curriculum over the 5 years). However, for a procedure that you have not done for more than a year, you are likely to need a DOPs prior to CCT.

In terms of linking - each curriculum item usually needs 2-3 pieces of linked evidence to reach highest level sign off - on occasion a single piece of good evidence may be sufficient. The maximum numbers of linkages for a single SLE are ACAT 8; Cbd/MiniCex 2.