Ten tips to teach learners to love nephrology (and recruit the next generation)

Shortages in the nephrology workforce contribute to a vicious cycle of increasing workload, trainee burnout and further loss of interest from learners. This situation applies not just to medical students but also to learners in allied health professions, such as nursing staff, dialysis technicians and renal pharmacists. As a medical specialty, nephrology is in constant competition with other specialties to attract future talent. Fortunately, our field has no shortage of qualities that we can highlight for learners. Nephrologists typically enjoy strong relationships with their teams and with their long-term patients in a way that is unusual outside primary care. The rich history of our specialty can be used to fascinate learners, because nephrologists have always been avid users and developers of technology. This interest in and around this topic often sparks interesting discussions that showcase the renal community as proactive, dynamic and forward-thinking. More recently, nephrology has also experienced unprecedented innovation and breakthrough discoveries in research, which invigorates us in our quest to generate interest and attract talent. Learners can be involved in research and career events can be used to showcase our specialty to learners who are already interested. Such events are also opportunities to build relationships with our future workforce, provide mentorship and give learners confidence that they have found an area of medicine that will provide not just employment but life-long inspiration. Our 10 tips do not require huge infrastructure, nor investment or policy change. We hope that they will inspire nephrologists worldwide to use their own creativity, renew interest in our specialty and recruit the next generation of enthusiastic nephrologists and teams.