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Medical specialties

Intensive Care Medicine Diploma

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A practical diploma in intensive care medicine: how to support failing organs in the intensive care unit (ICU), from ventilation and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) to shock, kidney failure and brain injury, and how to make sound decisions about admission, limits of treatment and recovery, using current UK, European and US guidance and the trials behind it.

Twenty-five weekly sessions across five modules take you from recognising critical illness, sepsis and daily care, through respiratory support, the heart, kidneys and metabolism, and brain, trauma and specialist critical care, to infection, end-of-life care, recovery and running the service, taught live by practising specialists you can question.

Course director
To be announced
Format
25 live weekly sessions on Zoom, in 5 modules
Dates
Confirmed when enrolment opens

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A clinician in a protective gown, mask and face shield checks on a ventilated patient during a night shift in an intensive care unit.
Image: a ventilated patient in intensive care by Cpl. Daniel R. Betancourt Jr., U.S. Marine Corps via Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY 2.0.

Who it is for

Senior trainees, fellows and early-career consultants in intensive care medicine, and anaesthetists, physicians and emergency doctors who care for critically ill adults, worldwide.

The programme

25 one-hour sessions in 5 modules, each with its learning objectives. This is the draft programme: the course director reviews and refines it before enrolment opens, so session titles may change.

Module 1 · Sessions 1 to 5Recognition, sepsis and daily care

  1. 1. Recognising critical illness and deciding on admission

    • Assess a deteriorating ward patient and decide on the level of care needed
    • Use frailty and the patient's wishes to make proportionate admission decisions
    • Agree a time-limited trial of intensive care with clear goals and review points
    • Respond to a patient or family request for urgent review in a way that builds trust

  2. 2. Sepsis and septic shock in the intensive care unit

    • Apply the 2026 international sepsis guidelines to manage septic shock in the first 24 hours
    • Choose vasopressor agents and blood pressure targets for an individual patient
    • Decide when to add corticosteroids in septic shock that is not responding to vasopressors
    • De-escalate antimicrobial therapy using culture results and clinical response

  3. 3. Fluids, haemodynamic monitoring and vasoactive drugs

    • Assess fluid responsiveness before giving further fluid
    • Choose between balanced crystalloids and saline using trial evidence
    • Select haemodynamic monitoring that answers the clinical question
    • Plan active fluid removal once the patient has stabilised

  4. 4. Sedation, analgesia and delirium

    • Set an analgesia-first, light sedation plan with daily targets
    • Choose a sedative agent using current trial evidence
    • Screen for delirium and apply non-drug prevention measures
    • Plan early mobilisation and sleep promotion as part of daily care

  5. 5. Nutrition, glucose and the daily care bundle

    • Plan the timing, route and dose of nutrition for a ventilated patient
    • Set glucose targets that avoid hypoglycaemia
    • Decide which patients need stress ulcer prophylaxis
    • Recognise and prevent refeeding syndrome
Module 2 · Sessions 6 to 10Respiratory failure and ventilation

  1. 6. Oxygen and non-invasive respiratory support

    • Set and adjust oxygen targets for different groups of critically ill patients
    • Choose between high-flow nasal oxygen, continuous positive airway pressure and non-invasive ventilation
    • Recognise failure of non-invasive support and time intubation appropriately
    • Explain the trial evidence on conservative oxygen therapy to colleagues

  2. 7. Invasive ventilation and acute respiratory distress syndrome

    • Diagnose ARDS using the global definition, including where arterial blood gases are not available
    • Set lung-protective ventilation with an appropriate tidal volume and positive end-expiratory pressure
    • Prone a patient with moderate to severe ARDS safely
    • Decide when to use corticosteroids and neuromuscular blockade

  3. 8. Rescue therapies and extracorporeal support

    • Escalate rescue therapies for refractory hypoxaemia in a logical order
    • Identify patients who meet referral criteria for venovenous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation
    • Prepare a patient safely for retrieval to an extracorporeal centre
    • Discuss the limits and exit strategies of extracorporeal support with families

  4. 9. Weaning, extubation and tracheostomy

    • Run a spontaneous breathing trial and decide on extubation
    • Select post-extubation support for patients at high risk of reintubation
    • Decide on the timing of tracheostomy using trial evidence
    • Manage a displaced or blocked tracheostomy using a standard algorithm

  5. 10. Airway management in the critically ill

    • Optimise physiology before intubating a critically ill patient
    • Plan an intubation with a primary approach and a backup at each step
    • Apply the 2025 difficult airway guidance to a failed intubation
    • Treat cardiovascular collapse after intubation promptly
Module 3 · Sessions 11 to 15Heart, kidneys and metabolism

  1. 11. Cardiogenic shock and mechanical circulatory support

    • Recognise and stage cardiogenic shock early
    • Choose inotropes and vasopressors for different shock profiles
    • Interpret the trial evidence on mechanical circulatory support in infarct-related shock
    • Coordinate a shock team with cardiology and cardiac surgery

  2. 12. Care after cardiac arrest

    • Apply the 2025 post-resuscitation guidelines in the first 72 hours
    • Set temperature, oxygen and blood pressure targets after cardiac arrest
    • Use multimodal prognostication and avoid premature withdrawal of treatment
    • Communicate prognosis to families with appropriate uncertainty

  3. 13. Acute kidney injury and renal replacement therapy

    • Stage acute kidney injury and identify reversible causes
    • Decide when to start renal replacement therapy using trial evidence
    • Choose the modality, dose and circuit anticoagulation for renal replacement therapy
    • Plan renal follow-up for survivors of critical illness

  4. 14. Electrolyte, acid-base and endocrine emergencies

    • Correct severe hyponatraemia without exceeding safe limits
    • Interpret complex acid-base disorders systematically
    • Manage severe diabetic ketoacidosis and hyperosmolar hyperglycaemic state that need critical care
    • Recognise and treat adrenal crisis

  5. 15. Blood, coagulation and transfusion

    • Apply restrictive transfusion thresholds and recognise the exceptions
    • Diagnose and manage disseminated intravascular coagulation
    • Recognise heparin-induced thrombocytopenia and change anticoagulation
    • Reverse anticoagulants in a bleeding critically ill patient
Module 4 · Sessions 16 to 20Brain, trauma and specialist critical care

  1. 16. Traumatic brain injury

    • Apply tiered management of raised intracranial pressure
    • Set cerebral perfusion pressure, oxygen and carbon dioxide targets
    • Decide with neurosurgeons when surgical decompression is appropriate
    • Recognise and prevent secondary insults in the first days after injury

  2. 17. Subarachnoid haemorrhage, status epilepticus and neuromuscular emergencies

    • Manage aneurysmal subarachnoid haemorrhage before and after the aneurysm is secured
    • Detect and treat delayed cerebral ischaemia
    • Escalate treatment for refractory status epilepticus
    • Monitor respiratory function in acute neuromuscular weakness and time ventilation

  3. 18. Major trauma, burns and the abdomen

    • Continue damage control resuscitation and correct coagulopathy after trauma surgery
    • Plan fluid resuscitation and airway care for a patient with major burns
    • Measure intra-abdominal pressure and recognise abdominal compartment syndrome
    • Prevent and treat kidney injury from rhabdomyolysis

  4. 19. Critical illness in pregnancy and after birth

    • Adjust assessment and organ support for the physiology of pregnancy
    • Manage severe pre-eclampsia and its complications with the obstetric team
    • Recognise amniotic fluid embolism and peripartum cardiac emergencies
    • Plan the right level of care for a critically ill pregnant or postpartum woman

  5. 20. Acute liver failure, pancreatitis and gastrointestinal emergencies

    • Recognise acute liver failure and refer to a transplant centre using recognised criteria
    • Manage cerebral oedema and coagulopathy in acute liver failure
    • Grade severe acute pancreatitis and plan organ support and nutrition
    • Coordinate the care of variceal bleeding with endoscopy and interventional radiology
Module 5 · Sessions 21 to 25Infection, ethics, recovery and the service

  1. 21. Infection and antimicrobial stewardship in the intensive care unit

    • Diagnose ventilator-associated pneumonia and line infection using defined criteria
    • Optimise antibiotic dosing, including extended beta-lactam infusion
    • Shorten antibiotic courses safely using stewardship tools
    • Prevent cross-infection with multidrug-resistant organisms

  2. 22. End-of-life care, death by neurological criteria and organ donation

    • Lead a family meeting about withdrawing life-sustaining treatment
    • Provide good symptom control and dignity at the end of life in the intensive care unit
    • Describe the steps of diagnosing death using neurological criteria
    • Identify potential organ donors and involve the donation team at the right time

  3. 23. Recovery and life after critical illness

    • Recognise the physical, cognitive and psychological features of post-intensive care syndrome
    • Start rehabilitation in the unit and plan it beyond discharge
    • Organise follow-up for survivors at high risk of poor recovery
    • Support families during and after critical illness

  4. 24. Transfer, surge and quality in critical care

    • Plan and lead a safe transfer of a ventilated patient between hospitals
    • Contribute to a surge plan that protects standards of care
    • Use audit and benchmarking data to improve the outcomes of a unit
    • Lead learning from a safety incident without blame

  5. 25. Complex case decisions and leading in critical care

    • Apply the course to complex cases in a panel discussion
    • Resolve disagreement about treatment goals with families and colleagues
    • Apply ethical principles to admission and resource decisions
    • Plan your own development and wellbeing in intensive care medicine

What the diploma includes

  • 25 live sessions on Zoom, one evening a week, with recordings for the weeks you miss.
  • Practising specialists teaching live, so you can put your questions to them.
  • Weekly MCQs and a final written assessment.
  • A digital certificate carrying your final classification.

Lead or teach the Intensive Care Medicine Diploma

We are looking for a course director and faculty from the specialty. Sessions are one hour in the UK evening, live on Zoom, and paid.

Apply to teach