Medical specialties
Nephrology Diploma
Register interest
A decision-focused diploma in nephrology: how to measure kidney function, slow chronic kidney disease (CKD), manage acute kidney injury and electrolyte emergencies, treat glomerular disease, including lupus nephritis and anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA) vasculitis, and care for people on dialysis or with a kidney transplant, anchored on current UK and international guidance with US differences explained.
Twenty-five weekly sessions across five modules take you from kidney function and CKD, through acute kidney injury, fluids and electrolytes, glomerular, systemic and inherited disease, and dialysis and transplantation, to pregnancy, prescribing and complex cases, taught live by practising specialists you can question.
- Course director
- To be announced
- Format
- 25 live weekly sessions on Zoom, in 5 modules
- Fee
- £1,200 (scholarships available)
- Dates
- Confirmed when enrolment opens
Who it is for
Senior trainees, fellows and early-career consultants in nephrology, and physicians, GPs and specialist nurses who manage kidney disease, worldwide.
The programme
25 one-hour sessions in 5 modules, each with its learning objectives. This is the draft programme: the course director reviews and refines it before enrolment opens, so session titles may change.
Module 1 · Sessions 1 to 5Kidney function and chronic kidney disease
1. Measuring kidney function and reading urine tests
- Interpret estimated glomerular filtration rate and recognise when it misleads
- Use cystatin C when a creatinine-based estimate is unreliable
- Quantify albuminuria with the albumin:creatinine ratio and act on the result
- Investigate non-visible haematuria and decide between nephrology and urology referral
2. Chronic kidney disease: staging, risk and referral
- Stage chronic kidney disease by filtration rate and albuminuria
- Estimate the 5-year risk of kidney failure with the Kidney Failure Risk Equation
- Apply national referral criteria for specialist nephrology care
- Avoid over-diagnosis of chronic kidney disease in older people
3. Slowing progression of chronic kidney disease
- Start and monitor renin-angiotensin system blockade safely
- Prescribe a sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 inhibitor for kidney protection, including sick day advice
- Select patients for finerenone using the trial evidence and national guidance
- Combine kidney-protective drugs in a stepwise plan
4. Blood pressure, diabetes and cardiovascular risk in kidney disease
- Set and justify a blood pressure target for a patient with chronic kidney disease
- Adjust glucose-lowering drugs as kidney function falls
- Prescribe lipid-lowering treatment for cardiovascular prevention in kidney disease
- Recognise the limits of cardiovascular evidence in people on dialysis
5. Complications of chronic kidney disease
- Investigate and treat anaemia of chronic kidney disease, including iron and erythropoiesis-stimulating agents
- Manage calcium, phosphate and parathyroid hormone abnormalities
- Treat chronic hyperkalaemia so that kidney-protective drugs can continue
- Decide when to correct metabolic acidosis
Module 2 · Sessions 6 to 10Acute kidney injury, fluids and electrolytes
6. Acute kidney injury: recognition and the first 24 hours
- Stage acute kidney injury and respond to an electronic alert
- Identify the cause using history, urinalysis and ultrasound
- Assess fluid status and give or withhold fluids appropriately
- Review and stop medicines that worsen kidney injury
7. Acute kidney injury: referral, dialysis and recovery
- Decide when a patient with acute kidney injury needs nephrology input
- List the indications for urgent kidney replacement therapy and weigh early against standard start
- Reduce the risk of contrast-associated kidney injury without denying needed imaging
- Plan follow-up after acute kidney injury to detect chronic kidney disease
8. Sodium and water: hyponatraemia and hypernatraemia
- Classify hyponatraemia using serum osmolality, urine sodium and volume status
- Treat severe symptomatic hyponatraemia with hypertonic saline safely
- Limit the correction rate to avoid osmotic demyelination
- Manage hypernatraemia and its causes
9. Potassium, calcium, magnesium and phosphate
- Treat acute hyperkalaemia in the right order and monitor the response
- Investigate and replace potassium, magnesium and phosphate safely
- Manage hypercalcaemia and identify its cause
- Recognise electrolyte problems caused by medicines
10. Acid-base disorders and the kidney
- Interpret an arterial or venous blood gas systematically
- Use the anion gap to narrow the cause of metabolic acidosis
- Recognise renal tubular acidosis and its causes
- Identify poisonings where extracorporeal treatment is life-saving
Module 3 · Sessions 11 to 15Glomerular, systemic and inherited kidney disease
11. Approach to glomerular disease and kidney biopsy
- Distinguish nephrotic from nephritic presentations
- Request the serology that matches the presentation
- Assess the indications and bleeding risk of a kidney biopsy
- Interpret a kidney biopsy report with the pathologist
12. IgA nephropathy, minimal change disease and focal segmental glomerulosclerosis
- Estimate the risk of progression in IgA nephropathy
- Build supportive care before immunosuppression
- Select patients for disease-specific treatment in IgA nephropathy
- Manage steroid-sensitive and steroid-resistant nephrotic syndrome in adults
13. Membranous nephropathy and the complications of nephrotic syndrome
- Diagnose membranous nephropathy using anti-PLA2R antibody testing
- Decide when to start immunosuppression and choose the regimen
- Assess thrombotic risk and decide on prophylactic anticoagulation
- Manage oedema, lipids and infection risk in nephrotic syndrome
14. Lupus nephritis and ANCA-associated vasculitis
- Recognise kidney involvement in lupus and vasculitis and arrange an urgent biopsy
- Choose induction treatment for lupus nephritis by biopsy class
- Plan induction and maintenance for ANCA-associated vasculitis with kidney involvement
- Monitor for relapse, infection and treatment toxicity
15. Polycystic kidney disease and genetic kidney disease
- Diagnose autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease and estimate the risk of progression
- Select patients for disease-modifying treatment
- Decide when genetic testing will change management
- Counsel families about inheritance and screening
Module 4 · Sessions 16 to 20Kidney replacement therapy and transplantation
16. Preparing for kidney failure
- Discuss treatment options for kidney failure with patients and families
- Offer conservative kidney management as a positive choice
- Time access creation and pre-emptive transplant listing
- Begin advance care planning early
17. Haemodialysis
- Assess dialysis adequacy and adjust the prescription
- Recognise and manage vascular access complications
- Weigh the evidence for haemodiafiltration against standard haemodialysis
- Manage common emergencies in patients on haemodialysis
18. Peritoneal dialysis and home therapies
- Select patients who will do well on peritoneal dialysis
- Diagnose and treat peritoneal dialysis peritonitis
- Recognise ultrafiltration failure and adjust the prescription
- Support patients to dialyse at home
19. Kidney transplantation: assessment and donation
- Refer suitable patients for transplant assessment at the right time
- Assess medical fitness and identify contraindications to transplantation
- Explain living donation and donor assessment
- Describe how immunological risk is judged before transplantation
20. Caring for the kidney transplant recipient
- Monitor immunosuppression and avoid dangerous drug interactions
- Recognise and investigate suspected rejection
- Prevent and manage opportunistic infection after transplantation
- Plan cancer, cardiovascular and bone health surveillance in transplant recipients
Module 5 · Sessions 21 to 25Special situations and practice
21. Kidney disease in pregnancy
- Counsel women with kidney disease before pregnancy
- Switch to medicines that are safe in pregnancy
- Distinguish pre-eclampsia from progression of kidney disease
- Manage pregnancy in women on dialysis or with a transplant with the obstetric team
22. Prescribing in kidney disease
- Adjust drug doses for kidney function using the right estimate
- Identify and avoid nephrotoxic medicines
- Give clear sick day advice for medicines that affect the kidney
- Choose anticoagulants and antibiotics safely in advanced kidney disease
23. Kidney stones and urinary tract obstruction
- Investigate a recurrent stone former
- Prescribe dietary and drug prevention by stone type
- Recognise urinary tract obstruction as a cause of kidney injury
- Decide on urgent decompression with the urology team
24. The kidney in heart failure, liver disease and cancer
- Manage diuretic resistance and kidney function in heart failure
- Diagnose hepatorenal syndrome and start treatment with the liver team
- Recognise myeloma-related kidney disease and arrange urgent treatment
- Identify kidney toxicity from cancer treatment and adjust therapy with oncology
25. Complex case decisions and running a kidney service
- Apply the course to complex cases in a panel discussion
- Use registry and audit data to improve a kidney service
- Run advice and guidance and virtual clinics safely
- Build a personal plan for continuing development in nephrology
What the diploma includes
- 25 live sessions on Zoom, one evening a week, with recordings for the weeks you miss.
- Practising specialists teaching live, so you can put your questions to them.
- Weekly MCQs and a final written assessment.
- A digital certificate carrying your final classification.
Lead or teach the Nephrology Diploma
We are looking for a course director and faculty from the specialty. Sessions are one hour in the UK evening, live on Zoom, and paid.