Left to right: Al-Makki, Fricker and Gunderman at the American Society of Nephrology’s Kidney Week 2023 conference in November.

Three medical students in the Indiana University School of Medicine-West Lafayette and their mentor at Indiana University Health Arnett Hospital have recently published research findings that identify a key area for improvement for outpatient nephrology care for Black patients across the country.

David J. Gunderman, Gabrielle Fricker and Kasyap Kondury, students at the IU School of Medicine-West Lafayette, recently published “Impact of Race-Free eGFR on Racial Disparity in Receiving Timely Outpatient Nephrology Care” in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

Additional authors on this study are Sharon M. Moe, MD (IU School of Medicine-Indianapolis) and Akram Al-Makki, MD (IU Health Arnett) who is the principal investigator and corresponding author of the study.

Nephrology is the branch of medicine focused on the kidneys. This observational study examined racial disparities in outpatient nephrology care and found a persistent delay in receiving care for Black patients with chronic kidney disease.

“I chose to work on this project because it shows just how much more work needs to be done in improving health equity in our communities here in Indiana,” says Fricker. She, Gunderman and Kondury are part of the Graduate Medical Education program at Arnett Hospital, which allows medical students to complete all four years of medical education (med school) in Greater Lafayette.

“By highlighting how race-based metrics affect the timeliness of treatment in kidney care, our study contributes to ongoing efforts toward a more inclusive healthcare system,” says Gunderman.

Signifying the importance of their work in this area, Fricker, Gunderman and Kondury, alongside Al-Makki, were invited to present the results of their research at the American Society of Nephrology’s Kidney Week 2023 conference in early November.

“Medical education and research are pillars of IU Health’s commitment to leading the transformation of healthcare. To be asked to present at this prestigious conference is a significant achievement for these students and a testament to the importance of this study,” says Al-Makki, director of Graduate Medical Education at Arnett Hospital.

The full text of the publication can be accessed at: https://rdcu.be/dmyyf.

About six weeks ago Pastor James Ray Palmer woke up in the middle of the night with the inspiration to write an uplifting song for healthcare workers. Several years earlier a member of James’ family spent time at Methodist Hospital and James never forgot about the compassionate care that doctors, nurses, and other clinicians delivered. Shortly after composing the song in his home studio, James found himself at Methodist with an enlarged prostate that needed surgery. For the past several days he’s been playing his song to just about everyone willing to listen. “Music has been a part of our family’s ministry for a long time. I started playing the piano when I was about eight years old,’ said James. “The message of the song is very simple. I believe the key for healthcare workers is the word, compassion. Compassion is not just love, but it’s a broken heartedness kind of love. I see that in these healthcare workers that cared for me and my family. I can tell that for them, it’s more than just a job. It’s a calling. They are called, not just hired.”

Mitchel Kasznia is a relatively new nurse on Methodist Hospital’s neuro/med surg unit. “When things started to get really rough in 2020 with COVID… I was living in South Bend at the time, working as a [patient care assistant]. I saw how those nurses were responding to everything and how they were taking everything in stride,” said Mitchel. “I was just amazed and discovered that that’s what I wanted to do. I moved to Indy and here we are. It’s been almost a year on the job as a nurse for me.”