Welcome to the course
We are delighted to welcome you, a global community of healthcare workers, to the course. Over the next four weeks we hope to introduce to you the key concepts behind perioperative medicine and describe how you can make a difference to patient outcomes.
Each week you will have the opportunity to read articles about key topics, listen to interviews with our expert faculty and most importantly hear from patients about their experiences of the perioperative pathway.
This course has been developed in association with and formally endorsed by the Royal College of Anaesthetists (RCoA) and also endorsed by the World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists (WFSA).
Four weeks, four themes
Each week we will explore a different theme within perioperative medicine.
This Week we will explore why a change to the traditional model of surgical care is needed and introduce perioperative medicine as a concept.
In Week 2 we will introduce the need for patient-centred care and demonstrate practical shared decision-making. We will then discuss preoperative risk assessment and explore online tools to help risk stratify patients. We will finish the week by looking at why outcome measures are important and the RCoA PQIP project.
In Week 3 we will outline the need for protocols in both elective and emergency surgery. We will explore the evidence base behind the enhanced recovery programme and outline ideas to ensure both healthcare workers and patients engage with it. We will then introduce some of the major quality improvement programmes being undertaken to improve outcomes after emergency surgery.
In Week 4 we will concentrate on the challenges of providing perioperative care to elderly patients and introduce a model of care that is improving outcomes. We will also examine the economic difficulties of rising healthcare costs and how perioperative medicine may contribute a solution to this. New to the September 2020 run, we also explore the challenges of offering surgery now that COVID 19 is endemic.
Spanish Translation
EN: Welcome to all our Spanish speakers from across the globe. Spanish translation will be available for all steps as a PDF in the ‘Downloads’ area of each page, along with subtitles for each video. There are learner polls throughout the course – these will also be available in Spanish. For some key diagrams and links, you will be referred to the ‘live page’ of the course – this is the interactive web page (in English) for the corresponding step on the FutureLearn website. All numbered references in the Spanish text will also be found in the ‘References’ section at the bottom of the live page – these are live links that will take you to each reference online.
ES: Damos la bienvenida a los hablantes de español de todo el mundo. Habrá una traducción al español de todos los pasos disponible en formato PDF en la sección «Descargas» de cada página, además de subtítulos para cada grabación. Las encuestas para estudiantes también estarán disponibles en español a lo largo del curso. En el caso de algunos diagramas y enlaces, se le animará a que consulte la «página en vivo» del curso, es decir, la página web interactiva (en inglés) y el paso que corresponda dentro del sitio web de FutureLearn. Todas las referencias numeradas del texto en español podrán encontrarse también en la sección «Referencias» situada en la parte de abajo de la página en vivo. Estos enlaces directos le llevarán a cada referencia en línea.
Learning from each other
Already in the opening discussions we have seen contributions from healthcare workers from across the globe. We hope, with this wealth of experience and knowledge, that the comments area of each step will be a valuable place for you to share your experience and ask and answer questions, so that we learn from each other as well as from the content in the course.
If you have already begun to contribute, other learners may have replied to you. You will receive notifications of any new ‘Replies’ in the top right of the page. You can ‘like’ comments if you agree with what’s been said or if you have found something particularly interesting. You can also filter the comments by ‘Most liked’, and ‘Follow’ those individuals who are of particular interest to you.
Upgrading this course
There is the option to upgrade to gain extra benefits from the course. When you upgrade you will get unlimited access to the course for as long as it exists on FutureLearn, so you can move through the course as quickly or slowly as you wish. You will also be able to access a Certificate of Achievement when you meet the criteria. Healthcare professionals might find the the Certificate of Achievement for this course useful for providing evidence of Continuing Professional Development (CPD), or commitment to their career.
Meet the team
You might like to follow members of the course team to highlight their participation in course discussions, and can do so by following the links on their names below.
Lead Educators: Dr Abigail Whiteman and Dr Katie Samuel
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