• University of Edinburgh
  • Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh logo

COVID-19 Critical Care: Understanding and Application

4.8 (438 reviews)

Learn the principles and practice of critical care to treat and care for critically ill patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.

53,252 enrolled on this course

Two medical staff looking at health data in a hospital.

  • Duration

    6 weeks

  • Weekly study

    4 hours
Overview
Requirements
Educators
Learner reviews
Try it
More courses

Other courses you might like

This course isn't running right now. We can email you when it starts again, or check out these other courses you might like.

University of Groningen & University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG)
New

Cancer Fundamentals: Introduction to Basic and Clinical Oncology

3 weeks

3 hrs per week

Included in Unlimited

Find out more
Dublin City University
New

PRIDE at Home - Platinum Rainbow Guidance for Home Care

3 weeks

4 hrs per week

Included in Unlimited

Find out more
Universiti Malaya
New

Paediatric Health Essentials: Understanding Common Childhood Illnesses

2 weeks

2 hrs per week

Included in Unlimited

Find out more

Browse more in Healthcare & Medicine and Psychology & Mental Health

Coronavirus · Disease Outbreak Prevention
View all courses

Find the right course for you

See your personalised recommendations based on your interests and goals.

Get started

Learn to manage critical care patients whilst protecting yourself and your peers

“One of the essential qualities of the clinician is interest in humanity: the secret of the care of the patient is in caring for the patient”
Francis W. Peabody, Harvard Medical School 1925

This course focuses on the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, but you will find key clinical updates from May/June 2021 in Week 4. The course remains open for you to use the resources and complete if you wish, but will no longer be facilitated. We hope you find the information useful.

Understanding critical care

You will learn the daily practice for frontline clinical staff supporting critical care patients with and without COVID-19, and how to apply ventilation and organ support principles to the care of a critically ill coronavirus patient.

Discover how to recognise, assess and manage deteriorating patients on the ward, and watch videos that demonstrate effective situation management in COVID-19 critical care.

Learn the fundamentals of COVID-19 and ventilation support

We provide information on a number of checklists, resources and guidelines being produced specifically for COVID-19 in order to assist healthcare teams with their clinical management and decision making.

In addition, we provide an overview of the basic principles of Ventilation and Organ Support. It will cover the pathophysiology of sepsis and ARDS, mechanical ventilation, shock, sepsis and septic shock, acute kidney injury, and haemofiltration. This will support a range of staff members, including those new to critical care.

The importance of staff well-being

It is important to recognise that we need to care for ourselves in order to care for our patients, relatives and colleagues. The final part of the course explores how our emotions impact our well-being and provides you with resources to support you at this time.

Download video: standard or HD

Skip to 0 minutes and 4 seconds Learn the principles and practice of critical care with

Skip to 0 minutes and 7 seconds our short online course ‘COVID-19 Critical Care: Understanding and Application’ from the University of Edinburgh and Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. Designed to meet the urgent needs of frontline health workers during the pandemic, this course enables you to refresh your knowledge and upskill in critical care at your own pace. You will gain access to key resources, video demonstrations, and practical advice to help you care for critically ill patients, as well as develop techniques for managing your own and others’ well-being. As a learner who is working full time and has a busy family life, having that self-paced learning is crucial. And I can still go back now and access that content and apply it to practice.

Skip to 0 minutes and 57 seconds 50,000 learners around the world have already benefitted from the support provided by this short online course in COVID-19 critical care. Enrol today.

What topics will you cover?

• Deteriorating Patient
• Daily Practice of Critical Care
• COVID-19 Specifics
• Ventilation and Organ Support
• Self-care and Staff Well-being

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...

  • Apply the current and evolving principles of Personal Protective Practices in the care of COVID-19 patients
  • Apply evidence-based principles of advanced organ support and monitoring to the COVID-19 critically ill patient
  • Apply evidence-based daily practices to care of the critically ill patient
  • Develop a range of specialised self-caring practices, including being present, self-kindness, compassionate listening, soles of the feet, walk a mile in their moccasins
  • Reflect critically on the complex elements required to achieve both self-awareness and self compassion in a high tension environment

Who is the course for?

This course has been designed for frontline clinical staff who are caring for critically ill patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This includes a wide range of healthcare professionals in acute care, from many different clinical speciality backgrounds.

You may have some previous critical care experience or none.

The information will support those refreshing critical care knowledge and skills, newly qualified doctors, those who are upskilling, and those returning to acute clinical services during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Who will you learn with?

Graham Nimmo

MSc in Critical Care Programme Lead for Professional Development, Physician, Intensivist, Past President Scottish Intensive Care Society and a Founding Fellow of the Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine

Olga Paterson

Olga is the Programme Administrator for the MSc in Critical Care, Linguist, Specialist in Translation/Interpreting (Russian, French and English languages)

Lindsay Rutherford

Lindsay is the MSc Critical Care programme academic co-ordinator and an Anaesthesia Associate within NHS Lothian. She is Senior Tutor for Postgraduate Taught for the Deanery of Clinical Sciences.

Dorothy Armstrong

Dorothy is Honorary Nurse Consultant, Honorary Fellow at the University of Edinburgh, Lead Adviser to Scotland's Ombudsman and Director DA Professional.

David Griffith

MSc in Critical Care Programme Director, Reader and Honorary Consultant in Critical Care and Anaesthesia. University of Edinburgh and NHS Lothian.

Who developed the course?

The University of Edinburgh

Founded in 1583, the University of Edinburgh is one of the world’s top universities and is globally recognised for research, innovation and high-quality teaching.

Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh

The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh has been enabling doctors to pursue their careers in specialist internal medicine through medical examinations, education and training, since 1681.

Learning on FutureLearn

Your learning, your rules

  • Courses are split into weeks, activities, and steps to help you keep track of your learning
  • Learn through a mix of bite-sized videos, long- and short-form articles, audio, and practical activities
  • Stay motivated by using the Progress page to keep track of your step completion and assessment scores

Join a global classroom

  • Experience the power of social learning, and get inspired by an international network of learners
  • Share ideas with your peers and course educators on every step of the course
  • Join the conversation by reading, @ing, liking, bookmarking, and replying to comments from others

Map your progress

  • As you work through the course, use notifications and the Progress page to guide your learning
  • Whenever you’re ready, mark each step as complete, you’re in control
  • Complete 90% of course steps and all of the assessments to earn your certificate

Want to know more about learning on FutureLearn? Using FutureLearn

Learner reviews

Learner reviews cannot be loaded due to your cookie settings. Please and refresh the page to view this content.

Get a taste of this course

Find out what this course is like by previewing some of the course steps before you join:

1.1
video

Introduction from Graham Nimmo

6.2
video

Introduction to Caring Human Factors

Do you know someone who'd love this course? Tell them about it...