Overview: 

The first course of the Clinical Management of Patients with COVID-19 course series covers General Considerations. This course gives background on the pandemic and discusses facility operations and preparation, referral systems and interfacility transfer, infection prevention and control, and the role for palliative care for patients. This course also includes discussion of the ethical issues arising during COVID-19 care, including the principles of allocating critical care resources. Overall, this course addresses COVID-19 pandemic preparedness, at all levels of healthcare provision.

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;
• describe the human rights framework, equity and health;
• 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.