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The University of Edinburgh: Critical Care (Online Learning)

Institution The University of Edinburgh View institution profile
Department Edinburgh Medical School
Web https://www.ed.ac.uk/studying
Study type Taught

Summary

The MSc Critical Care Programme is aimed at anyone driven by a desire to improve outcomes for Critically Ill adults. Our tutors, students and approach reflect the multidisciplinary nature of critical care and the clinical, academic, and professional themes that run through the programme aim to develop healthcare professionals who question, lead, and motivate others to achieve the best care for their patients. The programme has been designed and developed in partnership between the University of Edinburgh and the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. We have designed the MSc Critical Care (online) programme for health care professionals who encounter critically ill adults in their daily practice. These professionals include:

  • nurses

  • doctors in training

  • senior doctors from all specialties

  • allied health professionals (for example, pharmacists, physiotherapists, paramedics and dietitians)

Prospective students will often be working full time in professional roles and need a flexible approach to study. The programme is therefore designed as a part-time, fully online, MSc programme.

You have the option of graduating after one, two, or three years with a postgraduate certificate, postgraduate diploma, or MSc respectively. Alternatively, you can choose to study single or multiple courses via the Postgraduate Professional Development (PPD) scheme.

You will study core clinical subjects in year one and two of the programme, covering, but not limited to:

  • Recognition of critical illness

  • Initial treatment and stabilisation

  • Advanced organ system support

  • Daily assessment and management of the critically ill adult

  • Sepsis

This will provide you with a practical, and evidence-based knowledge base which can be immediately applied in the clinical setting.

You will be able to customise your learning by choosing from elective courses as you progress through the programme.

Integrated into the programme is a graduated exposure to academic research practice in the core 'Unlocking the Literature' teaching theme. This starts in the second teaching block and builds over the first 2 years.

You will become equipped with the skills to access and appraise the biomedical literature which we hope will fuel your curiosity, and allow you to actively participate in clinical discussions:

  • on the programme

  • at the bedside

You will develop as an independent and critical thinker. You will be able to appraise primary and secondary research (research synthesis), and incorporate its findings into:

  • personal practice

  • guidelines

  • work improvement

Those who complete the full MSc will have the choice in their third year to complete a supervised dissertation (systematic review, primary research project, comprehensive clinical guideline, or quality improvement project) or to conduct a small critical care related project and select up to four elective options from a range of critical care related courses from across the University of Edinburgh.

MSc

Postgraduate Certificate - PgCert

Postgraduate Diploma - PgDip

University of Edinburgh

Edinburgh. Extraordinary futures await.

The University of Edinburgh is one of the world's top universities, consistently ranked in the world top 50, and placed 27th in the 2025 QS World University Rankings.

Our position as one of Britain’s leading research universities was reaffirmed by the results of the 2021 Research Excellence Framework (REF). The University of Edinburgh is one of the world’s top research-intensive universities, ranked 4th in the UK for research power (Times Higher Education, Overall Ranking of Institutions), with 90% of our research activity classified as world leading or internationally excellent in the 2021 Research Excellence Framework.

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