St George’s experts launch online course to support primary care workers dealing with coronavirus

Published: 19 March 2020

A new online course called ‘Managing COVID-19 in General Practice’, led by St George’s primary care experts is now open for enrolment on the social learning platform FutureLearn.com. 

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, learners will explore the epidemiology, clinical symptoms and signs, and current management of Covid-19. The course will follow the evolving situation in the UK and latest guidance.  

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. 

The course will be run by St George’s academics, including: Dr Mohammad Razai, academic clinical fellow in primary care; Pippa Oakeshott, professor of general practice from the Population Health Research Institute; as well as Dr Shamez Ladhani, paediatric infectious diseases consultant at St George’s Hospital, and a consultant epidemiologist at Public Health England. 

Teaching for the ‘Managing COVID-19 in General Practice’ course will begin on 6th April and runs for 2 weeks, with about 2 hours of study required 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 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.”

The latest guidance for St George’s staff and students on coronavirus can be found on the university website.