Invasive Fungal Diseases: What the Healthcare Professional Needs to Know
Explore invasive fungal infections and gain the skills to diagnose, treat, and prevent them in your healthcare practice.
Duration
3 weeksWeekly study
3 hours100% online
How it works
Invasive Fungal Diseases: What the Healthcare Professional Needs to Know
Combat mycosis to improve patient care and outcomes
From candidiasis to athlete’s foot, over one billion people experience fungal infections every year (CDC). Though thousands of fungal species exist, only a few hundred are known to cause infections or diseases in humans.
As a healthcare provider, knowing the basics of these fungal pathogens and their impact on human health is essential for accurate diagnosis and effective treatment.
This three-week, clinically-focused course from the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (BSAC) will equip you with the foundational knowledge to spot, treat, manage, and prevent invasive fungal diseases.
Understand different types of invasive fungal infections and diseases (IFDs)
You’ll begin this course by learning some of the common IFDs found globally. You’ll learn to recognise how each of these presents themselves and how to spot early signs in patients.
For practical application, you’ll work through four case studies covering four different IFDs – candidiasis, aspergillosis, Pneumocystis pneumonia and cryptococcal meningitis.
Diagnose and treat fungal infections
Once familiar with these infectious diseases, you’ll then focus on their diagnosis and treatment.
During this week, you’ll review the systemic antifungal treatments commonly used in clinical practice and learn about emerging antifungal agents, patient management, and dealing with treatment-related complications.
Manage antifungal resistance and stewardship
Finally, you’ll focus on essential aspects of managing fungal infections, including when therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) is required and how to interpret antifungal susceptibility testing.
You’ll also explore the challenges of antifungal resistance and gain strategies for applying stewardship to optimise treatment practices and reduce resistance.
Syllabus
Week 1
Introduction to invasive fungal diseases
Introduction to the course
Welcome to the week one! In this first activity, we will introduce you to the key concepts of this course, and your educator team.
What are IFDs?
In this activity, we'll explore invasive fungal diseases (IFDs), highlighting the common IFDs across the globe.
Clinical presentation of key IFDs
Activity 3 explores the manifestations of four key IFDs - aspergillosis, candidiasis, Pneumocystis jirovecii, and cryptococcal meningitis - in clinical settings.
Diagnosing IFDs
In the final activity in week 1, we will learn about diagnostic methods for IFDs.
Week 2
Diagnosing and treating invasive fungal diseases
Continuation of cases - diagnosing the key IFDs
Continuing with our previous case studies, this activity will focus on how our four key IFDs are diagnosed.
Treating IFDs and continuation of cases
As we continue to follow our four clinical cases, this activity explores how these key infections are treated.
New antifungal agents, outpatient care and monitoring
In the final activity of week two, we consider new antifungal agents and their use in clinical practice, as well as continuing management and monitoring of IFDs.
Week 3
Antifungal and Diagnostic Stewardship
Monitoring and support
Welcome to the third and final week of this course. As we begin to consider antifungal resistance, this activity will introduce monitoring methods.
Antifungal resistance and susceptibility testing
As we introduce the concept of antifungal resistance, this activity explores the interpretation of antifungal susceptibility testing and its application in clinical practice.
Antifungal stewardship (AFS)
Having introduced the concept of antifungal resistance, this section focuses on the principles of antifungal stewardship, investigating how they may be implemented to minimise inappropriate use and improve patient outcomes.
Diagnostic stewardship
In this activity, we introduce the topic of diagnostic stewardship, with a particular focus on test turnaround time and the impacts this has on clinical practice.
End of course
We have arrived at the final activity of this course. Please take the end-of-week quiz to reinforce your learning before considering how you could apply the knowledge you have gained moving forward.
When would you like to start?
Start straight away and join a global classroom of learners. If the course hasn’t started yet you’ll see the future date listed below.
Learning on this course
On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.
What will you achieve?
By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...
- Demonstrate an understanding of the basic principles of medical mycology in the context of common invasive fungal diseases (IFDs) and clinical practice
- Describe common clinical presentations of IFD of global clinical relevance, including risk factors
- Apply appropriate diagnostic tests for IFD to common clinical situations to optimise diagnosis and management and minimise inappropriate antifungal testing and prescribing
- Demonstrate an understanding of what is meant by the diagnostic terms ‘possible’, ‘probable’ and ‘proven’ IFD, and invasive fungal infection (IFI), and the relevance to and implications for clinical and research practice
- Assess current and future treatment options for common IFDs in order to choose the correct drug for the IFD being managed with awareness of potential adverse effects
- Describe the principles of empiric and diagnostic-driven (pre-emptive) approaches to managing IFD
- Summarise the required therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) and other aspects of patient and therapy monitoring during the treatment of IFD
- Apply the principles of diagnostic and antifungal stewardship to clinical practice and within your facility
- Describe the role of antifungal and resistance surveillance, including antifungal susceptibility results, in order to optimise antifungal prescribing at patient and facility levels
Who is the course for?
This course is for healthcare professionals, microbiologists, and anyone interested in diagnosing, treating, and managing fungal infections, but is predominantly for those earlier in their experience of managing fungal infections.
Who will you learn with?
Hi. I am Professor of Infection at Hull York Medical School (HYMS), University of York and an honorary consultant in infectious diseases at Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, UK.
Who developed the course?
BSAC
Founded in 1971, the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy is committed to addressing the growing threat of drug resistant infections around the world.
Endorsers and supporters
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Cancel for free anytime |
Ways to learn
Choose the best way to learn for you!
Buy this course
$109/one-off payment
Fulfill your current learning need
- Access to this course
- Learn at your own pace
- Discuss your learning in comments
- Printed and digital certificate when you’re eligible
Subscribe & save
$349.99 for one year
Automatically renews
Develop skills to further your career
- Access to this course
- Access to 1,000+ courses
- Learn at your own pace
- Discuss your learning in comments
- Digital certificate when you're eligible
Cancel for free anytime
Start learning today
Free
Try this course - with limits
- Limited to 3 weeks
Find out more about certificates, Unlimited or buying a course (Upgrades) | |||
Find out more about certificates, Unlimited or buying a course (Upgrades)
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