Duration
3 weeksWeekly study
2 hours100% online
How it works
Invasive Fungal Diseases: What the Healthcare Professional Needs to Know
Combat mycosis to improve patient care and outcomes
From candidiasis to athlete’s foot, over one billion people experience fungal infections every year (CDC). Though thousands of fungal species exist, only a few hundred are known to cause infections or diseases in humans.
As a healthcare provider, knowing the basics of these fungal pathogens and their impact on human health is essential for accurate diagnosis and effective treatment.
This three-week, clinically-focused course from the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (BSAC) will equip you with the foundational knowledge to spot, treat, manage, and prevent invasive fungal infections.
Understand different types of invasive fungal infections and diseases (IFDs)
You’ll begin this course by learning some of the common IFDs found globally. You’ll learn to recognise how each of these presents themselves and how to spot early signs in patients.
For practical application, you’ll work through four case studies covering four different IFDs – candidiasis, aspergillosis, Pneumocystis pneumonia and cryptococcal meningitis.
Diagnose and treat fungal infections
Once familiar with these infectious diseases, you’ll then focus on their diagnosis and treatment.
During this week, you’ll review the systemic antifungal treatments commonly used in clinical practice and learn about emerging antifungal agents, patient management, and dealing with treatment-related complications.
Manage antifungal resistance and stewardship
Finally, you’ll focus on essential aspects of managing fungal infections, including when therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) is required and how to interpret antifungal susceptibility testing.
You’ll also explore the challenges of antifungal resistance and gain strategies for applying stewardship to optimise treatment practices and reduce resistance.
What topics will you cover?
• Basic principles of medical mycology
• Common global invasive fungal diseases
• Diagnosis of invasive fungal diseases
• Treatment of invasive fungal diseases
• Diagnostic and antifungal stewardship
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.
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...
- Demonstrate an understanding of the basic principles of medical mycology in the context of common invasive fungal diseases (IFDs) and clinical practice
- Describe common clinical presentations of IFD of global clinical relevance, including risk factors
- Apply appropriate diagnostic tests for IFD to common clinical situations to optimise diagnosis and management and minimise inappropriate antifungal testing and prescribing
- Demonstrate an understanding of what is meant by the diagnostic terms ‘possible’, ‘probable’ and ‘proven’ IFD, and invasive fungal infection (IFI), and the relevance to and implications for clinical and research practice
- Assess current and future treatment options for common IFDs in order to choose the correct drug for the IFD being managed with awareness of potential adverse effects
- Describe the principles of empiric and diagnostic-driven (pre-emptive) approaches to managing IFD
- Summarise the required therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) and other aspects of patient and therapy monitoring during the treatment of IFD
- Apply the principles of diagnostic and antifungal stewardship to clinical practice and within your facility
- Describe the role of antifungal and resistance surveillance, including antifungal susceptibility results, in order to optimise antifungal prescribing at patient and facility levels
Who is the course for?
This course is for healthcare professionals, microbiologists, and anyone interested in diagnosing, treating, and managing fungal infections.
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 28 Jul 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 |
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
- 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
- Printed and digital certificate when you’re eligible
Limited access
Free
Sample the course materials
- Access expires 28 Jul 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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