Postgraduate Course: Adult Cardiac Critical Care (CRCA11013)
Course Outline
| School | Deanery of Clinical Sciences |
College | College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
| Course type | Online Distance Learning |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | Critical care of adult cardiac surgical patients presents particular challenges. You will gain a comprehensive understanding of the underlying disease processes, complex surgeries and post-operative courses, particular to these patients.
You will also appreciate how various disciplines contribute to the teamwork that provides optimal patient outcomes. |
| Course description |
1) Academic Description
Most elective cardiac surgical patients make an uncomplicated post-operative recovery. You will comprehend how we manage patients after routine coronary artery, heart valve and thoracic aorta surgeries. You will also appreciate how to treat complications in the post-operative period, when patients may become critically ill, developing organ failure. You will also consider patients who present as emergencies.
This course will build on earlier components of the Programme, particularly the recognition, assessment and management of the critically ill or injured adult, and the application of multiple organ support. Special clinical considerations regarding physiology, cardiovascular disease, pharmacology, and specific mechanical organ support will be emphasised. The complexities of clinical decision making and the interactions of members of the inter-professional and multidisciplinary team will be covered.
2) Outline content
Each week of the course will explore a different theme, starting with the routine care of uncomplicated post-operative patients by a multi-disciplinary team. The course progresses through to the management of patients presenting as emergencies. Aspects of care that are more specific to cardiac surgical critical care will be considered in detail. These include understanding different cardiac operations, post-operative bleeding and coagulopathy, cardiogenic shock, dysrhythmias, managing pacemakers and mechanical assist devices.
3) Student Learning Experience
Students will learn from a multi-professional team of experts in critical care, anaesthesia, and cardiac surgery.
Students will engage in recorded lectures, tutorials and videos. Each week, students will consider a case-based study, with expert-facilitated group discussions.
Core reading material, web-site links, and links to relevant material in other courses of the programme will be provided. Students will use skills developed in other parts of the Programme, including critiquing recent studies.
Formative self-assessment MCQs will allow students to assess their learning progression.
Students will evidence their learning by writing a clinical information document, and by an essay on the up-to-date clinical management of a case-based scenario.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate a critical understanding of the elective adult cardiac surgical patient journey including common perioperative sequelae
- Demonstrate a critical understanding of common adult cardiac emergency presentations, and complications
- Apply a critical approach to the literature to guide decision- making in the cardiac critical care setting
- Recognise and understand the importance of multidisciplinary teamwork in the management of adult cardiac critical care patients
- Be able to discuss complex ethical issues related to decision making in adult cardiac critical care
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
a) Mindsets:
Enquiry and lifelong learning:
Graduates of this course will be encouraged to pursue their own curiosity and to learn and develop in the field of critical care, to strive for excellence in their own professional practice, and to strive to improve care for patients as part of a multidisciplinary team.
Aspiration and personal development
Students will be encouraged to draw on their own experiences to identify areas in which they wish to grow and develop acknowledging that different students will have different priorities and aspirations.
Outlook and engagement
Students will be asked to bring to the course experiences from their own practice, often specifically relating to their own geographical and cultural context, that can be used to explore learning, engage with individuals from other international communities on the programme.
b) Skills:
Research and enquiry
Students will use and further develop newly acquired expertise in accessing the literature and critical appraisal, to incorporate the findings of primary research in their arguments, discussions, and assessments.
Personal and intellectual autonomy
Students will be encouraged to use their own personal and intellectual autonomy through their active participation in self-directed learning, discussion boards and collaborative activities to critically evaluate ideas evidence and experiences from an open-minded perspective.
Personal effectiveness
Success on the course will require students to be effective and proactive learners. Using the resources of the course tutors, and the university learning and information environment, students will be encouraged and supported to contribute to their own learning, as well as that of others.
Communication
Excellence in critical care is dependent on excellent communication, and the structure of the interactive (discussion boards and collaborative activities) and assessment elements incorporate constant reinforcement and development of this skill. |
| Keywords | Cardiac surgery,critical care,peri-operative medicine |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr David Swann
Tel: (0131) 242 3207
Email: D.G.Swann@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mrs Olga Paterson
Tel: (0131) 242 6130
Email: Olga.Paterson@ed.ac.uk |
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