Clinical Kidney, Pancreas and Islet Transplantation (Coursera)

Are you interested in clinical kidney, pancreas and islet transplantation? If you are a (bio) medical student or a health care professional who works in the (pre) clinical transplant field this might be the course for you. This course is also for anyone interested in the research and knowledge on clinical transplantation. The course will be taught by a multidisciplinary team of transplant professionals and will give you the state of the art updates.

It is divided in 4 modules:

1) Before the transplant

2) The surgical procedures and the challenged patient, including the patient with diabetes

3) Early challenges

4) Late challenges after transplantation.

The offered modules will include lectures, interactive patient cases, 3D movies, interviews with well-known experts and with patients and a donor, a serious game to increase knowledge of the field and of course an active forum. Become an expert and join us!

The course is endorsed by The European Society of Organ Transplantation (ESOT), The International Society of Nephrology (ISN) and The Transplantation Society (TTS).

Syllabus

WEEK 1

Welcome to the course

Great that you are joining us! In this course you will learn about clinical kidney, pancreas and islet transplantation and its challenges. Before you start with studying we invite you first go through our introduction module and introduce yourself in the forum to meet your fellow learners. Medical professionals can receive Continuing Medical Education (CME) credit for this course. Information on CME credit and how to obtain credit can be found in our CME credit module. If you encounter any difficulties while studying, please let us know in the forum. For technical difficulties or questions regarding the course certificate, you can always contact the Coursera Learner Helpdesk. Good luck & we hope you enjoy studying in this course!

Before the Transplant

Welcome to this first module of the course! We will answer important questions before transplantation. These include: why is transplantation the preferred option for patients with end stage renal disease? What are the immunological barriers for transplantation? And what are the selection criteria before transplantation? Unique 3D movies about the different immunological tests will help you to understand the concepts. There are also optional lectures, including a fascinating movie about the Eurotransplant allocation system and patient/donor interviews. At the end of the module we will link the contents you have learned to clinical patient cases, patient - donor interviews and a quiz. You can find each other on the discussion forum. With the e-tivities you can apply your knowledge. In the honors lessons more in depth immunological testing and pre transplant screening can be obtained. The lesson also includes peer reviews about important preclinical questions. Have fun and good luck with the first module!

WEEK 2

The Procedure and the Patient

Now you know the factors of importance before transplantation, including the immunological barriers and important aspects for patient selection, we can focus on challenged patient groups and on surgical procedures. What does a kidney, pancreas and islet transplantation surgical procedure look like? What is important? And what are the key aspects in elderly patients, patients with diabetes and immunological challenged patients. We have unique visulisations, 360 virtual reality videos and a game about a patient case. Advanced readings will invite you to look at the different subjects in more depth. At the end of the module there are interviews about a patient with diabetes and the transplant recipient and donor to illustrate the impact of life. You can discuss patient cases on the forum together with your peers. In the honors lesson you can apply knowledge about more in depth immunological, surgical and metabolic challenges and living kidney donation. Let’s start and we hope you will enjoy this module.

WEEK 3

Early Challenges in Transplantation

You are now familiar with the basic knowledge about challenges in transplant recipients and the surgical transplant procedures. Once the transplantation has been successful, it doesn’t mean everything is stable. What are actually the graft survival data? Which challenges do we face in the first months? How can we tackle these challenges? 3D movies about early surgical challenges and about the targets for immunosuppressives, including cell therapy, will help you to understand the concepts. In addition, we invite you to master the advanced knowledge and to give your opinion in the patient cases in the forum. There is also a serious game about a patient case. Can you solve the challenges? And can you think of a scenario for the game and help us with building? We will make a game of the best scenario, which will be incorporated in the course. In the honors lesson you can learn in more detail about immunological concepts, including the complement system. A patient case will help to show you the importance of this knowledge. Good luck with this module and happy learning!

WEEK 4

Late Challenges in Transplantation

Now you’ve learned about the challenges in the early period after transplantation. But what about the late period? What is the long term patient and allograft survival? Have we improved in the last decades? What are the main causes for morbidity and mortality? And can we reach tolerance in the future? We invite you to give your opinion in the patient cases and to discuss it on the forum. There are also advanced readings to look at additional subjects, including recurrence of the kidney disease after transplantation, the organization of dermatological care for the transplant recipient and the role of the patient himself in the whole process. The interview about tolerance gives you insight why pregnancy is of interest to understand the concept of tolerance and which steps have been made from lab research to a clinical protocol. In the honors lesson late challenges will be discussed in more detail, with a focus on infections, recurrence of the kidney disease after transplantation and tolerance. Have fun and good luck with this last module.

Final Quiz

We hope you have enjoyed all the modules. Good luck with the final quiz! If you are interested in an intensive course about transplantation go to the course resources.