Urinary System

The unit aims to enable students to make progress towards meeting some of the learning outcomes described in 'Outcome for Graduates' (2018) relevant to 'The Doctor as a Scholar and Scientist' and 'The Doctor as a Professional'. The specific aims of this third term unit are that students should have sufficient knowledge of the macroscopic and microscopic structure of the urinary tract to understand normal function and common clinical abnormalities. Secondly, students should appreciate the role of the kidney in controlling the volume and composition of body fluid and the way in which they respond to departures from normal parameters of volume, electrolyte concentration and systemic haemodynamics. Thirdly, they should understand as much detail of renal cellular function as will allow them to appreciate the basis of relevant therapeutics, and fourthly, they should be able to describe normal micturition, the reasons for oliguria, and such common conditions as glomerulonephritis, pyelonephritis, urinary tract infection, haematuria, proteinuria and acute and chronic renal failure.