Students for the Prevention of Kidney Disease (SPKD), a Medical Student Service Group at IUSM, had the pleasure of volunteering with the National Kidney Foundation – Indiana (NKF-I) at the Too Sweet for Your Own Good Diabetes conference with the Minority Health Coalition of Marion County in Indianapolis on November 11th, 2018. The event consisted of screening about 50 people for hypertension, proteinuria, elevated BMI, and blood glucose. Results and risk factors are synthesized by a clinician and discussed with the person being screened. Screening for renal dysfunction is needed as early stage kidney disease is silent, and the two leading causes of end-stage renal disease in adults are diabetes and hypertension.
I am passionate about kidney screenings because it is an opportunity to encourage people at risk for early-stage kidney disease to follow up with their doctor and make lifestyle modifications. At the Too Sweet screening, medical students measured blood glucose while engaging with the patients and learning more about them. Students offered counseling regarding risk factors and lifestyle modifications to those patients determined to be at a higher risk for kidney disease.
At this screening, I did the urinalysis which involved measuring the Protein/ Cr ratio as a measure of albuminuria and proteinuria -important to assess kidney injury. The concentrating power of the kidney was notable with the shades of yellow. I learned more about the practical aspects of the urinalysis: from gross observation to the importance of proper sample collection to avoid false positives and negatives.
Additionally, we had the pleasure of connecting different IUSM campuses with local NKF-I screenings. Medical students in Terre Haute volunteered at the IUSM Student Health Fair in Terre Haute on October 20th, 2018 with NKF-I. Medical students in Evansville volunteered at the ECHO Community Health Fair with NKF-I in Evansville, Indiana on November 3rd, 2018.
Want to learn more? Contact SPKD@iupui.edu for more details and to be added to the mailing list.
Written by the SPKD leadership- Sarah Lipp, Adrian Orozco, and Julian Dilley
IUSM medical students volunteering at kidney screenings
Volunteers at IUSM-Terre Haute (left to right: Emma Eckrote, MS1, Kate Bigelow, MS1, Katie Boyer, MS1, Reese Miller, MS1, Quinton Thompson, MS1; Not pictured Austin Gaby, MS1 and Justin Kryshak, MS1).
Volunteers at IUSM- Indianapolis (left to right: Pooja Pandita, MS1, Shreeya Raman, MS3, JD Damrath, MSTP- Research, Sarah Lipp, MSTP-Research, Alexander Hayden, MS3).
Volunteers at IUSM -Evansville (Left to right: Jay Lynch, MS1, Sharlé Newman, MS2, Kate Havard, MS2, Sofía Dueño, MS2, Bojun Chen, MS1; Not pictured Chris Jenks, MS2, Marissa Bruce, MS2, and Mumtaz Munshi, MS2).
