Integrated Multidisciplinary Care in Nephrology: Clinical Practice and Healthcare Perspectives

Dear Colleagues,

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) and acute kidney injury remain major global health challenges, associated with high morbidity, mortality, and substantial healthcare utilization. Contemporary nephrology increasingly relies on integrated, multidisciplinary, and patient-centered care models that span prevention, early detection, chronic disease management, kidney replacement therapies, transplantation, and supportive/palliative care.

Aligned with the scope of Healthcare, this Special Issue will specifically emphasize healthcare delivery and system-level implications, including care pathways across hospital and community settings, workforce organization and advanced nursing practice, quality and safety improvement, patient education and shared decision-making, and measurable impacts on clinical outcomes, patient-reported outcomes (PROMs), experience, and sustainability. In addition, the Special Issue will consider how digital health, telemedicine, and artificial intelligence can support equitable access to nephrology services and optimized long-term care coordination.

This Special Issue is open to submissions from the wider international community. We welcome original research, qualitative and mixed-methods studies, service evaluations, and high-quality reviews that contribute to improving care processes and outcomes for people living with kidney disease.

Themes and Topics

1. Integrated Care Delivery and Care Pathways:

• Multidisciplinary care models; hospital–community integration; transitional care; implementation science; service evaluation; equity and access.

2. Kidney Replacement Therapies and Vascular Access:

• Hemodialysis safety/quality; vascular access pathways; peritoneal dialysis and home therapies; CRRT in acute/critical care.

3. Transplantation and Life-Course Nephrology:

• Clinical/organizational aspects of transplantation; psychosocial outcomes; pediatric CKD; transition from pediatric to adult services.

4. Supportive and Palliative Nephrology:

• Symptom management; end-of-life decision-making; communication, counselling, narrative medicine; shared decision-making.

5. Nutrition, Self-Management, and Digital Innovation:

• Nutritional management; patient education; digital health/telemedicine; AI-supported decision tools; remote monitoring.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following: systematic reviews; narrative reviews; scoping reviews; integrative reviews; qualitative, quantitative, or mixed-methods research; clinical pathways; and protocols and healthcare service evaluations are welcome.

All submissions will undergo independent peer review in accordance with the journal’s editorial policies. Any manuscript submitted by the Guest Editors or involving potential conflicts of interest will be handled independently by the Academic Editor/Editorial Office to ensure transparent and unbiased evaluation.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Stefano Mancin
Dr. Sara Morales Palomares
Dr. Marco Sguanci
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Healthcare is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.