I just completed an inpatient nephrology consult elective. I saw a large range of pathologies; however it seemed that the bulk of the income generation was from running dialysis, which gets routine after a while. In terms of income, I was at an academic center so I didn't get a good sense of what a nephrologist in private practice would make; my guess is around $300,000 and up depending on the size of the practice. There is probably less emergency work than some specialties (neurology, cardiology) but pts still need emergent dialysis from time to time so it's not like you never get called in. The nephrologists are extremely intellectual and think through physiology and differential diagnosis in a very rigorous way. Future: with diabetes/hypertension rates going up as they are, I don't think any nephrologists will be short of work in the future.
