Provision of Training on Intensive Care Medicine Skills for Health Professionals Not Regularly Working on Intensive Care Units

COVID-19 Skills Preparation Course

As the pandemic remains very present in all our lives and you keep fighting every day on the frontline to protect and provide the best of care to our patients, ESICM remains committed to supporting the healthcare community.

It is why ESICM is re-opening the COVID-19 Skills Preparation Course (C19_SPACE) for any healthcare professionals worldwide.
Funded by the European Union, the programme provides Intensive Care Fundamentals for Healthcare Professionals not regularly working in Intensive Care Units (ICUs).

The programme is delivered in English and is FREE of charge (CME credits excluded).

C19_SPACE stands for the Skills PrepAration CoursE. It is available for every doctor and nurse working in a hospital with an Intensive Care Unit. In this way, a ‘healthcare army’ is getting trained to fight against COVID-19.

The healthcare professionals taking up this training will be foreseen with all necessary skills through:

  • Rapid training of a multidisciplinary pool of healthcare professionals
  • Refreshment of the previous trainings completed
  • Self-paced learning including innovative resources
    • 8 Multimedia Modules on a variety of topics ranging from “Personal Safety, Donning and Doffing of PPE” to “Basic of Respiratory Support and Haemodynamic Monitoring”.
    • 4 Video clinical cases to reflect on the decisions made, identifying differences and similarities with the custom and practice of the local unit and understanding their rationale.
    • 2D Virtual Reality Experiences to immerse yourself in realistic safe learning environments, tackling admission sequence of the ICU patients, decision-making pathways and 2 master cases on the “Deteriorating patient” and the “Stabilised patient”.

How to get involved

  • Participate and benefit from the C19_SPACE training programme
  • Demonstrate upon completion of the C19_SPACE training programme the capacity and ability required to assist and support their colleagues from Intensive Care
  • Assist and support their Intensive Care colleagues when deployment of healthcare professionals is required, due to new surges of COVID-19
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The C19_SPACE programme does not replace comprehensive training in intensive care, nor does it confer the qualification of Intensivist.

The programme offers an introduction or review of the fundamentals of Intensive Care.

For more information, write to C19_Assistance@esicm.org

When does the training take place?

The C19_SPACE programme is now open until further notice.

What does the training cover?

The curriculum includes topics such as:

  • Introduction to ICU
  • Personal safety, donning and doffing of PPE in times of COVID19
  • The ICU Patient: General Aspects & Admission Sequence
  • Basics of respiratory support
  • Basics of haemodynamic monitoring
  • Sepsis and infections
  • Other Aspects of ICU Care
  • Team care

The training follows a common structure, with two tailored learning pathways, for doctors and nurses respectively.

The content is delivered through the following learning components:

  • 8 Self-learning Multimedia Modules on a variety of topics ranging from “Personal Safety, Donning and Doffing of PPE” to “Basic of Respiratory Support and Haemodynamic Monitoring”.
  • 4 Video clinical cases to reflect on the decisions made, identifying differences and similarities with the custom and practice of the local unit and understanding their rationale.
  • 2D Virtual Reality Experiences to immerse yourself in realistic safe learning environments, tackling admission sequence of the ICU patients, decision-making pathways and 2 master cases on the “Deteriorating patient” and the “Stabilised patient”.

What happens after the training?

You will be better trained to fight the pandemic. 

Is a certificate of completion provided?

Following successful completion of the training, participants will receive a Certificate of Completion endorsed by the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine (ESICM).

Note! Please be informed that the certificate bears no CME credits. If you wish to claim the CME credits related to the C19_SPACE training programme, you may do so for an administrative cost incurred of 40 EUR.

The maximum of credits corresponding to the programme is 23 CMEs for doctors and 21 CMEs for nurses, respectively.  

The C19_SPACE programme does not replace comprehensive training in intensive care, nor does it confer the qualification of Intensivist.

The programme offers an introduction or review of the fundamentals of Intensive Care.

What can I do to support this initiative?

ESICM now calls on all doctors and nurses of the Intensive Care Community to help promote this vital training programme through their institutions and personal networks, and to ensure the dissemination of life-saving intensive care competencies.

For more information about the COVID-19 Skills Preparation Course (C19_SPACE), contact C19_Assistance@esicm.org

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