Duration
5 weeksWeekly study
4 hours100% online
How it works
A Multidisciplinary Approach to Paediatric Perioperative Medicine
Improve paediatrics with a multidisciplinary approach to perioperative medicine
Surgery can be an overwhelming experience for any patient, let alone a child. However providing compassionate and individualised perioperative paediatric care ensures comfort, manages well-being, and helps optimise patient outcomes.
This five-week course from the University College London (UCL) takes a multidisciplinary approach and applies it to paediatric care, helping healthcare professionals make young patients and their families feel supported throughout their perioperative journey.
Gain essential preoperative planning strategies
A child’s journey to surgery includes careful preoperative planning and tailored postoperative management. On this course, you’ll gain tools and expert insights to deliver successful patient outcomes.
First, you’ll understand an adolescent surgical patient’s unique anatomical, physiological, psychological and social needs.
This will help aid in your completion of preoperative assessments and assist with communicating risks and consent to their guardians.
Support your medical team during paediatric surgery and postoperative recovery
Next, you’ll focus on surgical best practices like safe anaesthesia administration and adolescent airway management.
During the course you’ll equip yourself with the tools to oversee postoperative care by identifying complications, aiding with analgesia and pain management, and responding to emergencies.
Make a difference in specialised paediatric medicine
This course also offers additional training in specialised areas of paediatric care, including trauma, neonatal, cardiac, neuro, and transplant surgery.
By the end of this course, you’ll feel confident in your ability to navigate the complexities of paediatric perioperative care, ensuring optimal outcomes for young patients and their families.
Syllabus
Week 1
Introduction
Welcome
Meet our course creators
Introducing the child
Understanding anatomical, physiological and emotional needs of the paediatric patient.
Introducing anaesthetic equipment
An introduction to the basis of anaesthetic equipment and airway management.
Different age categories
Exploring the physical and psychological differences between neonates, infants, toddlers, children and adolescents.
Special considerations in children
Discussing children with extra needs.
Final considerations and summary
Takeaway messages and testing your knowledge from week 1.
Week 2
Pre-operative
Preoperative assessment
Delving into the world of preoperative assessment and the unique areas in paediatric practice.
Perioperative anxiety
Understanding and identifying perioperative anxiolysis and ways to prevent and tackle the matter.
Consent
Consent in children, challenges and what it is all about.
Following the child through to theatres
In this section we follow the child through the beginning of their perioperative journey.
Meet the team and the environment
Meet the key players in the theatre team, understanding human factors and preparing the environment for the child requiring intervention.
Final considerations and summary
Takeaway messages and testing your knowledge from week 2.
Week 3
Intra-operative
Induction and maintenance of anaesthesia
Induction and maintenance of anaesthesia. In this section we discuss inhalation and total intravenous anaesthesia techniques and understanding their respective benefits and risks.
The paediatric airway
Understanding the paediatric airway. We explore basic to advanced airway techniques.
Drugs, regional anaesthesia and intra-operative emergencies
Here we discuss anaesthetic drugs, regional anaesthesia and anaesthetic emergencies.
Paediatric surgery
We discuss elective and emergency surgery. Here we meet the surgeons and they tell us their experiences.
Final considerations and summary
Takeaway messages and testing your knowledge from week 3.
Week 4
Post-operative
Recovery
Meet our recovery team and the importance of training. What determines daycase vs inpatient stay.
Recovery issues
Recovery problems and finding solutions.
Analgesia
Exploring the analgesic ladder, acute vs chronic pain.
Surgical complications
We discuss surgical complications, the surgeons perceptive, and the psychological impact it has on the child. We discuss rehabilitation and introduce the idea of transitioning from paediatric to adult services.
Remote site
Exploring remote site anaesthesia and its challenges.
Final considerations and summary
Takeaway messages and testing your knowledge from week 4.
Week 5
Special circumstances
ED & Trauma
We explore emergency medicine and trauma in the paediatric patient.
The Neonate
Understanding the neonatal anatomical and physiological differences. We look at emergency situations for the neonate, anaesthesia and surgical considerations for this patient group.
Cardiac surgery
We discuss cardiac conditions in the child and anaesthetic management for this patient subgroup.
Neurosurgery
Understanding children with neurological conditions. We look at children subjected to head trauma and discuss neurosurgical emergencies.
Transplant surgery
Considerations of children after transplant surgery.
Final considerations and summary
Takeaway messages and testing your knowledge from week 5.
When would you like to start?
Start straight away and join a global classroom of learners. If the course hasn’t started yet you’ll see the future date listed below.
Available now
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...
- Improve your understanding of paediatric perioperative medicine
- Explore the subtleties and nuances of the paediatric patient and how to care for them appropriately
- Assess your knowledge of paediatric perioperative care before and after completion of the course
- Collaborate with a multidisciplinary team to understand the complexities of the paediatric perioperative journey
- Compare your current practices in paediatric perioperative management and take away learning points from this course to improve your practice
- Debate with other learners about current practices and ways to improve care
- Develop your understanding in paediatric perioperative medicine and the journey of the child. Find ways to improve overall safety and positive patient outcomes
- Demonstrate learning through quizzes and tests throughout the course
- Model new learning in your own institutes
- Evaluate areas of preoperative, intraoperative and postoperative management of the paediatric patient
- Modify patient experiences and safety through this course
- Reflect on your own experiences and what you can take from this course when managing a paediatric patient
- Summarise the journey of a child through hospital including the special areas we discuss in the final week
Who is the course for?
This intermediate-level course is designed for healthcare professionals interested in expanding their perioperative expertise.
It may also be helpful for parents of paediatric patients hoping to be better informed of their child’s perioperative journey.
Who will you learn with?
Ways to learn | Buy this course | Subscribe & save | Limited access |
---|---|---|---|
Choose the best way to learn for you! | $109/one-off payment | $244.99 for a whole year Automatically renews | Free |
Fulfill your current learning need | Develop skills to further your career | Sample the course materials | |
Access to this course | tick | tick | Access expires 13 Mar 2025 |
Access to 1,000+ courses | cross | tick | cross |
Learn at your own pace | tick | tick | cross |
Discuss your learning in comments | tick | tick | tick |
Tests to check your learning | tick | tick | cross |
Certificate when you're eligible | Printed and digital | Digital only | cross |
Cancel for free anytime |
Ways to learn
Choose the best way to learn for you!
Subscribe & save
$244.99 for a whole year
Automatically renews
Develop skills to further your career
- Access to this course
- Access to 1,000+ courses
- Learn at your own pace
- Discuss your learning in comments
- Tests to boost your learning
- Digital certificate when you're eligible
Cancel for free anytime
Buy this course
$109/one-off payment
Fulfill your current learning need
- Access to this course
- Learn at your own pace
- Discuss your learning in comments
- Tests to boost your learning
- Printed and digital certificate when you’re eligible
Limited access
Free
Sample the course materials
- Access expires 13 Mar 2025
Find out more about certificates, Unlimited or buying a course (Upgrades) Sale price available until 3 March 2025 at 23:59 (UTC). T&Cs apply. |
Find out more about certificates, Unlimited or buying a course (Upgrades)
Sale price available until 3 March 2025 at 23:59 (UTC). T&Cs apply.
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
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