Massive Open Online Course - MOOC

Urgent and Emergency Care for Children will be running for the second time from the 6th March. This is an interactive, free to access online course giving an introduction to some important subjects in paediatric emergency medicine.

Originally it was pitched at paramedics, but on our first run in Nov we had 10000 participants, many of whom were members of the public. Whilst there are technical bits, there is also a lot of information in plain English aimed at these non-medical learners. The course does not have time to delve into all subjects in depth and is meant to be more of an introduction.

We are currently developing a follow on MOOC to look in more detail at serious illness and major trauma in children which we hope to have ready by early 2018. For those not familiar with the MOOC concept it is an online course accessible to anyone in the world. Although the course runs for 3 weeks you can join at any time in that 3 week period and there is no time limit for completion. The advantage of starting at the beginning is that you will be able to join in the online discussions which are an important part of the learning experience , all of which are moderated by experienced PEM clinicians and educators for the duration of the 3 weeks.

The MOOC was funded by the West Midlands Ambulance Service and the Midlands Trauma, Critical Care and Burns network. To join the course for free go to www.futurelearn.com and sign up.