Basic Emergency Care 2023
WHOA
Early-release course
You are accessing an early-release version of the Basic Emergency Care (BEC) course, produced by the WHO Academy. We encourage you to provide feedback on your learning experience. We will use your feedback to adapt and improve the course and the WHO Academy online platform.
About this course
Health emergencies happen every day, everywhere. They include injuries and infections, heart attacks and strokes, and acute complications of pregnancy and chronic disease. The Disease Control Priorities Project estimates that nearly half of deaths and a third of disabilities in low- and middle-income countries result from conditions that could be addressed by emergency care. A systematic approach to emergency conditions can save lives.
The BEC online course is based on the latest joint guidelines from the World Health Organization (WHO), in collaboration with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the International Federation for Emergency Medicine (IFEM).
Who is this course for?
The BEC course is for frontline providers managing acute, life-threatening conditions in limited resource settings, including:
- Clinical providers
- Frontline pre-hospital or facility-based health care providers
- Frontline Emergency Care providers
- Facility administrators
- Planners – from ministries of health and WHO country or regional offices.
What will you learn?
In this self-paced course, you will develop essential competencies in rapid diagnosis, treatment of undiagnosed patients, and preparing for the unexpected. You will learn how to apply the ABCDE approach and conduct a SAMPLE history.
You will be able to apply a practical methodology for managing four acute presentations. One or more of these is likely to occur with most life-threatening conditions, regardless of the cause:
- Trauma
- Difficulty in breathing
- Shock
- Altered mental status
The BEC course will help you to address time-sensitive conditions, where your early intervention has the greatest potential to save lives. As a frontline health-care provider, you may face other acute conditions not covered in this course.
Assessment and Award
You will receive a WHO Academy Award of Completion for each module if you have completed all learning activities. These awards are saved in your ‘My Achievements’ space and can be downloaded and shared.
Learning experience
- Five self-paced, online modules: you can complete these in any order, but we recommend you follow the sequence. Each module ends with an assessment.
- A series of thirty-seven skills to learn and practice
- Additional learning resources available to download