PGDip

Renal Medicine

Delivered with our collaborative partner Diploma MSc, the course is specifically designed for healthcare professionals frequently seeing patients displaying symptoms of kidney disease who aren’t renal specialists.

How to apply

Key Course Details

  • Start Date

    March

  • Location

    Online

Fees

  • Start Date

    September

  • Location

    Online

Fees

The course content has a clinical focus. It’s designed based on extensive research with primary care practitioners, is highly relevant, and includes the latest developments in renal medicine.

Designed For

Kidney disease is encountered frequently both in primary and secondary care by the non-kidney specialist, so healthcare professionals on the front line need to be equipped with the skills and knowledge.

In Partnership With

  • Learna | Diploma MSc

Career Paths

  • Kidney Specialist 
  • Healthcare Professional

Skills taught

  • Clinical Skills 
  • Research

Module Overview

The Renal Medicine Postgraduate Diploma will equip current healthcare professionals with the skills and knowledge to deal with renal patients confidently and effectively. The course will include six modules, each of six weeks' duration, studied in one calendar year, entirely online.

Recognising Acute Kidney Injury and Chronic Kidney Disease
Equipping you with the knowledge and skills to be able to confidently diagnose and initiate management of patients with acute kidney injury (AKI) and chronic kidney disease (CKD).

Managing Acute Kidney Injury
Providing you with the knowledge and skills to be able to confidently manage AKI patients and understand when referral to secondary care is appropriate and necessary.

Managing Chronic Kidney Disease
Helping you to confidently manage CKD patients and understand when referral to secondary care is appropriate and necessary.

Systemic Conditions Impacting the Kidneys
Giving you a comprehensive understanding of systemic disease on the kidney and how to provide evidence-based care for these complex conditions.

Dialysis and Transplant Patients in Primary Care
Enabling you to confidently manage general medical and surgical problems in the dialysis and transplant patient from a primary care perspective.

Living with Kidney Disease
Equipping you with the skills and knowledge to provide patient-centred care that empowers them to access healthcare advice and treatment options pertinent to their circumstances and helping them to make informed decisions that maximises their quality of life.

In partnership with

Entry Requirements

Typical qualification requirements:

To secure your place on the course, applicants will typically hold a first degree or equivalent (including international qualifications) in a relevant professional healthcare field, such as a medical or nursing degree. Registered healthcare professionals without these recognised qualifications will be considered on an individual basis and a wide range of prior experience may be taken into account.

In some cases, applicants may be asked to submit a piece of work for assessment in order to confirm that they are able to work comfortably at postgraduate level, and demonstrate the requisite clinical and professional knowledge.

 

International applications welcomed:

We welcome international applications with equivalent qualifications of our entry requirements. For more details related to your country of residence please view our dedicated country pages.

English language requirements

Proficiency in the English Language is also essential to completing our courses. If English is NOT your first language, we ask for proof of competency during the application process. We are able to accept an IELTS overall score of 6.0 (with a minimum of 5.5 for each band) or an equivalent qualification.

Contextual offers

We may make you a lower offer based on a range of factors, including your background (where you live and the school or college that you attended, for example), your experiences and individual circumstances (as a care leaver, for example). This is referred to as a contextual offer, and we receive data from UCAS to support us in making these decisions.

USW prides itself on its student experience and we support our students to achieve their goals and become a successful graduate. This approach helps us to support students who have the potential to succeed and who may have faced barriers that make it more difficult to access university.

 

We're here to help

Whether you a have a question about your course, fees and funding, the application process or anything else, there are plenty of ways you can get in touch, and we'd love to talk to you. You can contact our friendly admissions team by phone, email or chat to us online.

 

Fees and Funding

Additional Costs

As a student of USW, you’ll have access to lots of free resources to support your study and learning, such as textbooks, publications, online journals, laptops, and plenty of remote-access resources. Whilst in most cases these resources are more than sufficient in supporting you with completing your course, additional costs, both obligatory and optional, may be required or requested for the likes of travel, memberships, experience days, stationery, printing, or equipment. 

University Quality Assurance

At USW, we regularly review our courses in response to changing patterns of employment and skills demand to ensure we offer learning designed to reflect today’s student needs and tomorrow’s employer demands.

If during a review process course content is significantly changed, we’ll write to inform you and talk you through the changes for the coming year. But whatever the outcome, we aim to equip our students with the skillset and the mindset to succeed whatever tomorrow may bring. Your future, future-proofed.

Course Highlights

How you’ll learn

You’ll do a combination of individual and group projects, and you’ll have a reflective practice portfolio to help you consider how what you’re learning on the course can be translated into everyday work and practice.

Once you have secured your place on the course, you will be invited to an Online Induction Day Webinar.

Teaching staff

You will be taught by Richard Smith, Consultant Nephrologist and Associate Medical Director for Research and Innovation at Ipswich Hospital who is the course director.

You’ll have the support of a dedicated team who will help you with any challenges you may face - from help with navigating our online learning platform to advice on what you need to do to pass the course and meet deadlines.

 

Facilities

The course is delivered via Moodle – our virtual learning platform. You will be given full guidance on how to make the most of Moodle, including the discussion forums and the social forum. You will also have access to all of the University’s learning materials including online journals and publications.

Careers and Employability

Possible career paths

In clinical practice, kidney or renal disease is encountered frequently by the non-kidney specialist, both in primary and secondary care, especially as it is as a complication of common conditions, such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Therefore, healthcare professionals on the front line, including primary care and specialist units, need to be equipped with the skills and knowledge to deal with potential nephrology patients confidently and effectively. The course will provide you with this ability and knowledge.

How to apply

If you're ready to apply for this course, the next step is to complete your application through our delivery partner, Learna Ltd. While this course is validated by the University of South Wales, all applications are processed directly by Learna. Please visit the Learna website, where you’ll find detailed instructions on how to apply, including the required documentation and key deadlines. By applying through Learna, you'll be taking the first step toward joining a flexible and high-quality learning experience designed to fit around your commitments.

Learna website