Clinical management of patients with COVID-19: General considerations

Course information

This course is also available in the following languages:

Македонски јазик - Shqip - Bahasa Indonesia - Nederlands - Казақ тілі - Русский

Overview: The Clinical Management of Patients with COVID-19 course series is developed for healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. The course provides crucial knowledge necessary to provide safe, effective quality patient care. Presentations address all aspects of clinical management, including facility preparation and surge planning; health worker infection prevention and control; interfacility transfer; clinical management of mild, moderate, and severely ill patients with COVID-19; special considerations for geriatric, pregnant, and pediatric patients with COVID-19; rehabilitation; and ethics and palliative care.

The course series includes video lectures and downloadable presentations that have been updated with the latest guidance and evidence. Each module contains 5-8 lectures, and each lecture includes a quiz to evaluate knowledge acquisition.

Should you be interested in learning more about other aspects of clinical management of patients with COVID-19, please refer to the following courses of the Clinical Management of Patients with COVID-19 course series:

• Clinical management of patients with COVID-19: Initial approach to the acutely ill patient
• Clinical management of patients with COVID-19: Investigations and care for mild, moderate and severe disease
• Clinical management of patients with COVID-19: Rehabilitation of patients with COVID-19

Learning objectives:

By the end of this course, participants should be able to:

• relate the way in which the COVID-19 pandemic developed and the basic characteristics of the virus;
• assist with facility pandemic preparations, including surge planning;
• describe general methods, and identify specific measures, for infection prevention and control in health workers caring for patients with COVID-19;
• use ethical principles to develop critical resource allocation considerations, for use during COVID-19;
• utilize practical tools to maintain quality of care for patients during a pandemic
• describe palliative care techniques applicable to COVID-19 care;
• identify different types of referral systems;
• explain the basic tenets of safe interfacility transfer, including use of the SBAR communication method.

Course duration: This course will take approximately 3 hours to complete.

Certificates: A Record of Achievement certificate will be available to participants who score at least 80% of the total points available across all of the quizzes. A Confirmation of Participation certificate is also available for participants who complete at least 80% of the course material. Participants who receive a Record of Achievement can also download an Open Badge for this course. Click here to learn how.

Course contents

• Module 1: Introduction to COVID-19:

  Module objectives: explain the means of transmission of COVID-19; recognize presenting signs and symptoms of COVID-19 infection; list the risk factors for severe disease; identify the clinical signs of mild, moderate, severe, and critical COVID-19; and apply the COVID-19 care pathway for patients accessing the healthcare system during the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Module 2: COVID-19 surge planning:

  Module objectives: identify the key principles of a pandemic preparedness plan; list the ‘Four S’s’ of surge planning; describe a tiered approach to capacity expansion under surge conditions; and discuss surge planning during COVID-19 under different transmission scenarios.

• Module 3: Infection prevention and control for health workers caring for patients with COVID-19:

  Module objectives: discuss the general principles of infection prevention and control (IPC) when caring for patients with COVID-19; relate how administrative and engineering controls facilitate the implementation of IPC; and describe specific measures to take in the hospital when caring for patients with COVID-19.

• Module 4: Ethical principles for optimum care during the COVID-19 pandemic:

  Module objectives: discuss the importance of pandemic and of disaster preparedness; describe how the context of triage may change during a pandemic or other disaster; explain the human rights framework and principles of equity and health; and use ethical principles to develop triage considerations to be used during a pandemic or disaster.

• Module 5: Maintaining quality care during COVID-19:

  Module objectives: recognize the importance of quality of care to support effective management of patients presenting with conditions related to COVID-19; recognize the importance of quality of care to support maintenance of routine essential health services during COVID-19 response and recovery; relate the principles of quality of care; describe how quality improvement can be applied in the COVID-19 context; and identify practical quality tools that can be applied in the context of COVID-19.

• Module 6: Palliative care for COVID-19:

  Module objectives: define palliative care; discuss when palliative care should be envisaged; give examples of basic palliative care interventions; and differentiate between palliative care and end-of-life care.

• Module 7: Transfer and handover of the acutely ill patient:

  Module objectives: describe different types of medical referral systems; develop a stepwise approach to transfer a patient; and recall and use the Situation, Background, Assessment, Recommendation (SBAR) handover tool.