Conclusions: The differing advice identified in the literature results in confusion as to when patients should be referred to a nephrologist. Nephrologists, an already strained human resource, must prioritize requests for consultation using an undefined and no doubt inconsistent metric. Standardized, diagnosis-neutral criteria would benefit both primary care providers and nephrologists.
PMID: 20540033 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: Journal of Nephrology)