An online resource for frontline healthcare staff is launching as a formal online course, with 100% of the University's revenue from upgrades being donated to the University's PPE Fund. When the UK went into lockdown, one team realised the content on their online MSc course could be helpful for hundreds of frontline clinical staff, particularly those suddenly required to work in critical care environments they weren’t familiar with or hadn’t been trained in for some time. The resulting free online resource, COVID-19 Critical Care: Understanding and Application, went live in early April on the FutureLearn platform and has now been accessed by almost 40,000 healthcare professionals around the world. These resources were created and migrated from the online masters programme in the space of just two weeks to support those working in critical care or those new to this area of medicine. They were delivered in a way which meant learners could work through them methodically or only select the areas relevant to them. The online resource has now been adapted into a free course with optional upgrade to gain a certificate following feedback from healthcare staff that they would like to evidence their learning and subsequent skillsets. The University of Edinburgh will donate 100% of its revenue from upgrade purchases to the University's PPE fund. Donate to the University's PPE Fund The course commences on Monday 29 June 2020, lasts 6 weeks and requires just 4 hours a week of study. It covers the following topics: Deteriorating Patient Daily Practice of Critical Care COVID-19 Specifics Ventilation and Organ Support Self-care and Staff Well-being Join the course COVID-19 Critical Care: Understanding and Application An excellent tool to understand the clinical and practical implications of care during this pandemic. Current learner This was a very educational, full of good links and information. It was a course that was well worth the effort even after a busy day of work. Presentations were excellent, each one showing the time and effort put in by those involved in the making of the course. It was well put together and easy to follow, no matter if you were a doctor, trainee, nurse etc Current learner Read more about the team's experience of creating an entire suite of online resources in just two weeks Publication date 18 Jun, 2020
