Facilities

The Scott & White Division of Nephrology and Hypertension has been in existence since 1973.

Dialysis Units
The Watson Wise Dialysis Unit, a modern comprehensive center located immediately adjacent to the main Scott & White Hospital and Clinic building, has been in operation since 1979, with the current center having been built and occupied in 1993. The dialysis unit is the main site for outpatient dialysis, home peritoneal dialysis training, home hemodialysis education and training, as well as patient and staff education and training. The division also has dialysis units in Killeen, Texas (a 20-minute drive from Temple) and in Round Rock, Texas (a 40-minute drive from Temple). These satellite units will serve as the main training site for administering a satellite unit, caring for satellite patients, and in the proper and most efficient way interacting with nurse practitioners or physician's assistants. The organ transplant program at Scott & White is UNOS certified and has one surgeon and two UNOS certified transplant nephrologists. Dr. Slavcheva has completed formal training in organ transplantation and she and Dr. Narayanan both hold certification in Hypertension. Dr. Narayanan is also board certified in Geriatrics.

Main Clinic Outpatient Facilities
Facilities for outpatient renal ultrasound, renal biopsy, drug infusion and catheter placement are present within the Scott & White Clinic building.

• The offices for the clinical outpatient practice are in the Desk 4A hallway that also contains a small urinalysis lab. This clinical area houses secretarial support, computer systems and a small library.
   
• The 408C conference room (at Desk 4A) and the dialysis unit conference rooms are used for didactic instruction. Senior staff offices are located at Desk 4A and each dialysis unit has separate physician and patient examination rooms. The senior staff and the fellow have wireless laptop computers that connect to the wireless node in the 4A hallway and this will be maintained in the move to 1A.
     
• The two satellite units (Killeen and Round Rock) have T-1 connections to the main campus. All three dialysis units have one computer station (with access to all Scott & White electronic resources) for each two patients on dialysis. This allows immediate access to clinical and laboratory data that are necessary for the care of the dialysis patient while the physician is on rounds.
   

Inpatient Facilities
Nephrology inpatients are hospitalized on STC-3.  The STC-3 hospital floor is within easy walking distance of the nephrology offices--about a three-minute walk that does not require the physician to leave the building. STC-3 houses the Acute Dialysis Room for in-patient hemodialysis. Hemodialysis is provided to ICU patients in the individual ICU rooms. A portable reverse osmosis/carbon filter system and the dialysis machine are taken to the patient's bedside. Peritoneal dialysis patients are housed on STC-3 and all of the STC-3 nurses have been trained to perform peritoneal dialysis.

Renal biopsies are performed in the 4A treatment room. All biopsies are done using the biopsy needle system with either ultrasound control or ultrasound guided techniques. The ultrasound machine and personnel are in the treatment room at the time of biopsy.

Tom King, Ph.D., from electron microscopy in pathology, attends all biopsies. Using a dissecting scope, Dr. King advises whether adequate renal tissue has been obtained. He prepares the specimen for light, immunofluorescence and electron microscopy. Frozen specimens are available if warranted by the clinical situation. Light microscopy is available on the day of biopsy and immunofluorescence and electron microscopy are available in 24-48 hours. A senior staff nephrologist is in attendance at all biopsies, including the initial placement of the patient for biopsy and continuing until the patient is ready for transfer to an observation area. 

Medical Library
The medical library  provides access to all major academic and literature search engines, and immediate access to all Scott & White e-journal subscriptions. Several medical and surgical reference collections and subscriptions are also available. The library also sponsors classes in the use of the medical literature and in performing searches.

This website contains URL links to major medical and nephrology sites and to the electronic fellow's booklet; medical residency and nephrology fellowship curricula; and the didactic and educational conference dates, subjects and presenters. All curriculum resources are electronically available via the division webpage.

Non-electronic curriculum resources are located in the division office at Desk 4A and in the dialysis unit. The 4A nephrology space is contiguous to the transplant clinical offices.

Research and Education
Basic science research laboratories are located in TAMU I, a basic science research facility jointly built by Texas A&M and Scott & White and maintained by Scott & White. The basic science laboratory that would be used by the program is in TAMU I and is under the direction of Dr. Donald DiPette, Chairman of Medicine at Scott & White.

A second joint-use building built by Scott & White and Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine houses the medical library, student lounges, classrooms, auditorium, dean's and associate dean's offices, and the Department of Pharmacology. All rooms have LAN access to the Scott & White Intranet.