This week we bring two resources for both physicians and nurses caring for ESRD patients.

Starting off with guidelines published in PDI - A syllabus for healthcare professionals for teaching Peritoneal Dialysis to patients and caregivers. Get it here ($wall alert).
Dr Schell presents a guide for nephrologists on communicating with the elderly on their choices regarding dialysis.

Pediatric kidneys are at risk of worsening function in the setting of non renal transplant patients. This article sets out recommendations on how one should monitor the kidney functions in children with non-renal transplants and guidelines on when to refer the patient to a pediatric nephrologist.

We all love to advice about diet and hypertension, and several studies have shown that diet does affect the BP. Coming this week is a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies looking at various kinds of dietary interventions' effect on the BP. The DASH diet still wins with the highest net effect of nearly 7/4 mmHg decrease in BP. This was published in Hypertension.

We present two brilliant essays by our newly minted interns of #NSMC (Nephrology Social Media Collective)

Benjamin Stewart wrote an essay on the the nephron number and the GFR talking about the "Super-Kidney" or the elite kidneys and what nephron endowment means to the GFR. GIve the blogpost a read on Renal Fellow Network and follow him on twitter.
Our next post was by renal transplant fellow Silvi Shah who describes the implications of pregnancy and kidney transplant in a question answer format. Again Renal Fellow Network features this blogpost.
Rounding off with my favourite topic - Home Hemodialysis - I came across this excellent essay by a Home Hemodialysis patient in Australia, who describes the econo-socio-political advantages of home hemodialysis and also talks directly to patients (peer-2-peer) about the advantages of HHD. The poem at the end is a touching reminder to all physicians on what a patient really wants for himself. Read it here.

- Nikhil Shah