Introduction of Shandong provincial Institute of Nephrology

The Department of Nephropathy of the First Affiliated Hospital of Shandong First Medical University (Shandong Provincial Qianfoshan Hospital) adheres to the core values of "dedication, rigor, kindness and innovation" and the service concepts of "respecting patients, revering life, working diligently and striving for perfection". With masterly medical skills and rigorous scientific attitude, it has struggled persistently, and become a comprehensive clinical department integrating medical treatment, scientific research, medical education, health prevention and care, as a whole, and a key department of nephrology in Shandong Province.

The Department attaches importance to the construction of talent team and has a team of high-quality talents with high educational levels, reasonable structure, pioneering and innovation, and unity and cooperation. Currently, the Department has 4 chief physicians, 6 deputy chief physicians, 10 attending physicians, and 2 full-time researchers; 1 doctoral supervisor, and 4 master supervisors; 17 doctorates, and 5 masters; 1 young Taishan scholar in Shandong Province,1 leading talent in Qilu hygiene and health, and 1 outstanding youth talent in Qilu hygiene and health. As the cultivation institution for masters and doctors of Shandong University Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong First Medical University, and Weifang Medical University, and the training base for resident physicians in Shandong Province, it has cultivated a large number of qualified physicians for the nephropathy discipline of grassroot hospitals.

In order to speed up the development of the discipline, fully tap the development potential of the Department, and accelerate the refined development of specialties, the Department has established seven sub-professional groups: Integrated treatment of CKD, Hemodialysis, Peritoneal Dialysis, Vascular Access, Membranous Nephropathy, Diabetic Nephropathy, and CKD-MBD. The sub-professional groups help each other. On the premise of completing the basic clinical diagnosis and treatment tasks, each group has its own strengths in clinical research. They are introduced as follows respectively:

The Group of Integrated Treatment of CKD: The leader is the Chief Physician Wang Zunsong, who is a leading expert in Qilu hygiene and health.  Adhering to the diagnosis and treatment principles of standardization, safeness and efficiency, Wang leads the whole Department staff to keep pace with the times and learn the practical guidelines and latest progresses of various diseases. Wang not only meets the requirements of homogenization in the diagnosis and treatment of common and frequently occurring diseases in the field of nephropathy, but also solves the clinically difficult miscellaneous diseases in the field of nephropathy, and makes the discussion of clinical pathology of renal biopsy become a normalized work. Wang mainly focuses on the clinical and scientific research work of integrated treatment of chronic nephropathy, delay of the progress of chronic nephropathy, and improvement  of the prognosis of patients.

The Group of Hemodialysis: Led by the Chief Physician Wang Li, this group consists of 5 physicians and 2 full-time engineers. The Center has 93 world  advanced hemodialysis machines and 3 continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) machines. The Blood Purification Center adopts the system of information management. By the end of 2020, it had 385 patients receiving long-term maintenance dialysis, more than 50 men times/month for temporary dialysis due to dialysis complications, annual dialysis 60,000 unit times, and up-to-standard rate of various dialysis quality control indicators higher than the domestic average level. As the chair unit of blood purification of Shandong Provincial Medical Association and the chair unit of blood purification vascular access of Shandong Medical Doctor Association, it has actively organized various academic activities, established the Shandong Blood Purification Big Data Alliance, and provided the basis for the standardized management of blood purification in Shandong Province.

The Group of Vascular Access: Led by the attending physician Kong Xianglei who is the outstanding young talent in Qilu hygiene and health, this Group consists of 5 vascular access physicians and 1 laboratory technician, and has the charge nurse of hemodialysis room as the access liaison. This Group is responsible for the establishment, evaluation, monitoring, complication management and related scientific research of vascular access. With the help of the Blood Purification Vascular Access Professional Committee of Shandong Medical Doctor Association, this Group has established the Shandong Blood Purification Vascular Access Alliance. . As the center unit of the Alliance, this Group will regularly carry out the activities such as training, technology promotion, scientific research collaboration, and academic communication of vascular access relevant knowledge. The team leader Kong Xianglei is currently undertaking 1 item of National Natural Youth Fund Project on the  mechanism  of  autologous  arteriovenous  fistula  failure  (Item Number: 82000728); 1 item of Jinan Science and Technology Development Plan (Item Number:201704086); 1 item of Shandong Medical and Health Technology Development Plan (Item Number:2017WS083).

The Group of Peritoneal Dialysis : Led by the deputy chief physician Zhang Lei, this Group consists of  2 peritoneal dialysis physicians and 1 full-time nurse. This Group has 2 automated peritoneal dialysis machines, a complete peritoneal dialysis operation room in the ward, and a peritoneal dialysis outpatient clinic to provide patients with peritoneal dialysis adequacy check, nutritional evaluation, peritoneal dialysis prescription adjustment, outlet nursing and diet guidance, and so on. More than 150 patients are currently being followed up regularly. In 2018, this Group was the Provincial first to carry out percutaneous peritoneal dialysis catheter placement. So far, it has completed 90 cases of this type of surgery with both the quantity and quality advancing in Shandong Province. The Department has established a complete peridialysis patient education and training system and a follow-up management system for peritoneal dialysis patients. The Department has actively carried out clinical research work relevant with peritoneal dialysis, and  completed 1 item of phase IV clinical trial of domestic peritoneal dialysis solution.

The Group of Membranous Nephropathy: The leader is the chief physician Xu Dongmei, who is the Institute of Nephrology and the Director of the Department of Nephrology. This Group consists of 4 physicians, 1 full-time laboratory technician, and several graduate students.The main research direction is the study on pathogenesis of membranous nephropathy. This topic group has currently undertaken the membranous nephropathy direction topics including: 1 item of National Natural General Project (Item Number:81970615); 1 item of National Natural Youth Project (Item Number:81600552); 1 item of Shandong Provincial Natural Scientific Fund General Project (Item Number: ZR2019MH038); 1 item of Scientific and Technological Tackling Project in Shandong Province (2013GSF11818); and 1 item  of Jinan Scientific and Technological Development Plan Project (Item Number:201503002). At the same time, this Group has led a multicenter, open, and randomized control experiment on the efficacy and safety evaluation of  monotherapy using tacrolimus in adult podocyte disease (Registration Number: ChiCTR1800020243). This Group has made the in-depth study on potential cascade amplification effects of autoantibodies in membranous nephropathy, pathogenesis and thrombotic complications, etc, and proposed the constructive suggestions on the diagnosis and treatment schemes of membranous nephropathy.

The Group of Diabetic Nephrology: Led by the chief physician Liu Yipeng who is a Taishan youth scholar, this Group consists of 2 physicians, 1 full-time laboratory technician, and several graduate students. With the main research direction as the study on pathogenesis of diabetic nephropathy, this topic group has currently undertaken the diabetic nephropathy topics including: 1 item of National Natural Youth Project (Item Number: 81500555), 1 item of Taishan Scholar Project (Item Number: tsqn201812143), 1 item of General Project of Shandong Medical and Health Technology Development Plan (Item Number: 2015WSB04020), 1 item of Potential Team Project of "Academic Improvement Plan" of Shandong First Medical University (Item Number: 2019QL012), 1 item of Talent Project of "Academic Improvement Plan" of Shandong First Medical University (Item Number: 2019RC013). This Group has made the in-depth research on the molecular biological mechanism of podocyte damage in diabetic nephropathy, which has important theoretical significance and potential clinical application values.

The Group of CKD-MBD : Led by the attending physician Jia Xiaoyan, this Group consists of 3 physicians. With the research direction as the pathogenesis and prevention of CKD-MBD, this Group has established a long-term follow-up cohort of CKD-MBD patients receiving maintenance hemodialysis; jointly established multiple displine team (MDT) to treat secondary hyperparathyroidism with doctors from the Thyroid Surgery Department, Ultrasound Department, and Nuclear Medicine Department, established the long-term follow-up cohort people and biological sample liabrary for uremia secondary parathyroidectomy, and engaged in the study on relevant pathogenesis. The Group member physician Wei Kai has currently undertaken 1 item of National Natural Youth Project on CKD-MBD (Item Number: 82004088). This Group has established the relevant follow-up cohort, summarized the epidemiological characteristics of CKD-MBD, and explored the prevention and treatment of relevant complications as well as potential prediction and intervention targets of CKD-MBD.

Besides deepening the construction of the sub-professional direction, the whole Department of Nephropathy has also strived to increase its academic influence. In the 2016-2019 annual scientific and technological value evaluation of Chinese hospitals released by the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, it was selected as the top 100 Chinese hospitals for four consecutive years. It has established good cooperative relationships with the leading institutions in the domestic and foreign nephropathy fields such as: Department of Nephrology, Massachusetts General Hospital Affiliated to Harvard Medical School; Institute of Nephropathy, Peking University First Hospital; Department of Nephropathy, Peking Union Medical College Hospital; Department of Nephropathy, Shanghai Huashan Hospital; et al. It has sent physicians out for further study sought guidance from well-known professors, and conducted mutual support in clinical multi-center researches. It has owned an independent laboratory and a complete biological specimen library, and laid a solid foundation for clinical scientific researches. The team has made accumulative scientific research initiation of more than 20 items, including 5 items of National Natural Scientific Fund, 10 items of the Provincial and Ministerial Level Initiation, and 3 items of the Departmental Level Initiation, and had accumulative scientific research funding of more than RMB 3 million. The team has also successfully gained 2 patents for utility models, and published more than 80 academic papers in domestic and foreign core journals including more than 40 SCI inclusion papers