High-yield reading for students rotating with Andy
Audience: Students rotating with Andy on the nephrology service. This is the focused high-yield track — six things to get through your rotation. For the full PA curriculum with 4-week schedule, see UDPA PA Curriculum. For the comprehensive integration map, see Full Curriculum.
Start here. The Primer is the quick-start foundation — 28 chapters covering the day-to-day nephrology you will see in clinic and on the wards.
All 28 chapters. Read in order if you are new, or skip to what you need. Emphasize Chapters 1–5 (anatomy, physiology, lab, urinalysis, imaging) and Chapter 6 (AKI).
Andy's "three pillars unlock 95% of nephrology" philosophy. Start with these three modules before touching any disease topic — they are the diagnostic grammar you will use every day.
Basic metabolic panel layout. How to read sodium, potassium, chloride, bicarbonate, BUN, and creatinine as a cluster — not as isolated numbers.
The ultimate skeleton key. Dipstick, microscopy, urine chemistry. Covered in depth in Track 3 below.
Ultrasound first. When to CT. What the anatomy tells you about obstruction, stones, cysts, masses, and chronicity.
The highest-yield clinical skill for any rotator. A good UA interpretation beats a head CT for localizing kidney pathology. Work through all four sub-modules.
Specific gravity, pH, blood, protein, glucose, ketones, leukocytes, nitrites. What each pad actually tells you — and the common false-positives/negatives.
Casts (hyaline, granular, RBC, WBC, waxy), cells (RBC morphology, WBCs, tubular cells), crystals, organisms. How to read a fresh urine.
Putting the UA together with FeNa, serum labs, and clinical context. The diagnostic reasoning for AKI, glomerular disease, UTI vs contamination.
Evidence-based evaluation — debunking outdated tests, when to treat asymptomatic bacteriuria, antibiotic selection.
AKI is the single most common reason you will be called about a kidney problem. Learn the workup, the KDIGO framework, and the drug-induced patterns you will see weekly.
Pre-renal / intrinsic / post-renal. KDIGO staging (stage 1 / 2 / 3). Emergency recognition. Urine indices. When to dialyze.
Why serum creatinine alone misleads. Cystatin C. When eGFR equations fail. Muscle mass, drug dosing, and the difference between "kidney injury" and "worsening number."
The outpatient AKI pattern you will see most. NSAIDs, PPIs, antibiotics, contrast, RAAS + diuretic triple whammy.
Myoglobinuric AKI — common enough in ED/trauma/gym settings to be worth its own module.
Oncology-adjacent AKI. Prevention, recognition, treatment.
CI-AKI risk stratification, prevention, and the myth-vs-evidence updates.
The heart-kidney connection is where you will spend most of your rotation. Understand the syndrome, the four-pillar GDMT, and the diuretic/volume physics of edema.
The integrated syndrome. 50% of HF patients have CKD; 40% of CKD patients develop HF. Four-pillar GDMT — SGLT2i, ARNI, MRA, beta blocker. Evolutionary context.
Preserved-EF heart failure when the kidney tells the story the echo misses. Diagnosis, workup, and the trials that changed practice.
Andy's advanced reviews on cardiorenal physiology and the clinical decisions when guidelines conflict.
Diuretic escalation done right. ADVOR trial data (46% better decongestion with acetazolamide + loop), 5 pharmacologic targets, 2- and 3-agent combinations.
Trace fluid from leg interstitium through veins, IVC, right heart, left heart, kidneys, urine. Every disruption is a different pathophysiology and a different treatment.
Covered in the Edema module above — which patients are at highest risk for diuretic-induced AKI, and how to recognize the circulation bottleneck before it becomes renal failure.
Eleven podcasts totaling 4.6 hours. Great for commute / gym / laundry. Aligned with this rotator track — listen to the starred ones during Week 1–2 of your rotation.
Podcast index page — pick by topic.
Two episodes (overview + clinical review) — aligns with Track 5.
Pairs with the Edema module above.
The two electrolyte emergencies every rotator gets asked about. Do these before your first call shift.
Pairs with Track 4 (AKI Evaluation) drug-induced module.
The remaining 5 podcasts — listen opportunistically as each topic comes up in your cases.
Primer Chapters 1–6. Skeleton Key (BMP + UA + Imaging). Two cardiorenal podcasts.
UA interpretation deep-dive (all 4 sub-modules). AKI overview + creatinine/GFR. Start keeping a running UA/BMP log from your cases.
Drug-induced AKI modules. Cardiorenal disease module. Edema module. Sequential Nephron Blockade mastery.
Podcasts on commute. HFpEF Roundtable as time permits. Revisit UA interpretation after each case.
The full four-tier pathway — Primer → Lectures → Mastery → Handouts, plus 30 cases and a 4-week schedule. For PA students doing the full UDPA sequence.
Audience-scoped nephrology for Doctor of Physical Therapy students — 5 lectures + 6 handouts + 5 cases.
Comprehensive four-tier view of every topic across every teaching modality.