St George’s, University of London launches FutureLearn course to support healthcare practitioners on the front line of COVID-19

19 March 2020, London, UK: St George’s, University of London has launched a new course called ‘Managing COVID-19 in General Practice’, now open for enrolment on FutureLearn.com, the leading social learning platform.

Designed for front-line clinicians, healthcare workers and professionals tackling the large volume of patients in the current COVID-19 pandemic within the UK primary care sector, and led by experts at St George’s University of London, learners will explore the epidemiology, clinical symptoms and signs, and current management of COVID-19, and follow the evolving situation in the UK. Participants will also learn how to complete a safe assessment of suspected COVID-19 cases and discover the best protocol to protect themselves and others going forward.

Teaching for the ‘Managing COVID-19 in General Practice’ course commences on 6th April and the course will run for 2 weeks, requiring about 2 hours of study per week. The course will be relevant to healthcare practitioners around the globe, though it will be based around guidance by UK public health bodies. Learners will also be encouraged to share their experiences and best practice in order to support each other.

Dr Mohammad Razai, academic clinical fellow in primary care at St George’s, University of London, said: “With a huge amount of information coming in every day with news and advice about Covid-19, it can be difficult to make sense of the information relevant for frontline clinical practice. For this course we will take participants through the most useful and up-to-date research and guidance.

 “By the end of the programme, we are hopeful that participants will have received a concise, practical and where possible, evidence-based approach to dealing with Covid-19 in primary care.”

Helen Fuller, Global Healthcare Lead at FutureLearn, said: “Supporting those working within the NHS at this difficult and testing time is imperative. As part of FutureLearn’s response to the crisis, we are working with our expert partners to ensure healthcare professionals have the necessary information and guidance they need to best treat patients whilst reducing the risks to themselves.”

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Notes to editors

About St George’s, University of London

St George’s, University of London is the UK’s specialist health university. We are shaping modern health with transformative research, expert teaching and hands-on learning.

Our three research institutes focus on biomedical and scientific discovery, advancing the prevention and treatment of disease in the fields of population health, heart disease and infection – three of the greatest challenges to global health in the 21st century.

We provide a world-class multi-professional health sciences education that equips our graduates to meet today’s healthcare needs through relevant scientific research, clinical excellence, strong interpersonal skills and team-based working. Sharing a clinical environment with a major London teaching hospital, our innovative approach to education results in well-rounded, highly skilled clinicians, scientists, and health and social care professionals.

St George’s is ranked top for graduate employability in the country in The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide as well as in the Complete University Guide, with 93.6% of St George’s graduates going straight into employment or further study. 

About FutureLearn

Here at FutureLearn, our purpose is to transform access to education. We do that by partnering with over a quarter of the world’s top universities to support over 10 million learners across the globe to develop skills and achieve their personal and professional goals. We’re a leading social learning platform founded in December 2012 by The Open University and are now jointly owned by The Open University and The SEEK Group. We use design, technology and partnerships to create enjoyable, credible and flexible short online courses and microcredentials, as well as undergraduate and postgraduate degrees. In addition to top universities, we also partner with leading organisations such as Accenture, the British Council, CIPD, Raspberry Pi and Health Education England (HEE), as well as being involved in government-backed initiatives to address skills gaps such as The Institute of Coding and the National Centre for Computing Education.