title: [The perception of nephrologists by other healthcare professionals and patients].
abstract: From the interviews we conducted to develop this research, much information could be gained about how nephrologists are seen by other actors in the Italian healthcare system. The article reports these perceptions as useful clues in addressing research activities, even though they were not drawn from a full and representative survey. On many topics we observed concordant opinions among those interacting with nephrologists: CEOs of hospitals and local healthcare services, other specialists, nurses, and patients. An issue common to CEOs, general practitioners and patients is the need to shift the intervention of nephrology to primary care, while at present it is mainly confined to the hospital. The aim of this change would be to delay the start of dialysis and provide care according to a more appropriate model. Future steps could be to measure the effective gain and outcome of the early refererral of kidney patients to nephrologists. The relationship with nephrologists is central in dialyzed patients' experience and the doctor tends to become the focal point in all their accesses to medical care. Other specialists generally regard the competence of nephrologists as strong and pervasive, as it is needed at some stage by nearly all other specializations. Nurses state that their relationship with nephrologists has been reinforced by the more specialized training courses as well as specific training on the job, although a new formal professional profile for nephrology nurses has not yet been defined.
authors.affiliation: Università di Firenze, Centro Universitario di Studi in Amministrazione Sanitaria (CUSAS), Firenze. elena.rebora@unifi.it
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Rebora
mesh_terms: D001290:Attitude; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D006801:Humans; D009398:Nephrology; D010361:Patients