Liver Disease in Primary Care Course

This course is designed for clinicians at an intermediate level within general practice, who record patient details within the NHS, who will be providing face-to-face care as part of their role within the UK. The aim of this training is for the learner to be knowledgeable regarding liver disease in Primary Care, being able to confidently identify risks and manage their medication. You will be expected to have some knowledge regarding medication, prior to completing this course, depending on prior experience and knowledge may take up to 3 hours to complete.

Please remember that throughout this course there may be some actions/instructions that might be different, or have progressed within your workplace since this course was created. Please ensure that you adhere to any workplace protocols, understanding what to do with any concerns or queries as well as maintaining confidentiality throughout. This course provides you with guidance and will explain specific processes throughout.

It would be beneficial to have a note pad at the ready, but please do not worry if you have not, as there are downloadable PDF files for your reference! Some information provided has not got audio support as they will be included within the PDF at the end of each lesson, which can be increased in size within this format if or when required. You can refer to this download whenever/if needed in future, to refresh your knowledge on what to do and how to do it within practice, being correct at the time of writing.

*Please remember to always adhere to your workplace Protocols.*

Course overview:

Basic liver anatomy and physiology.

You will learn about the gastrointestinal system and what role the liver plays within it, also within the hepatic portal circulation, realising the vital role that our liver plays to maintain good health. This lesson is mostly learning through diagrams, so downloading the PDF at the end could help to refresh your memory at a later date.

How the liver works.

On completing of this lesson you will discover how the liver works in relation to our other organs, there is a short video instruction added to this lesson which explains how our liver is essential to life. We will also learn about Entero-hepatic circulation and the vital recycling that occurs through the cycle of the liver. Some information may seem repetitive but this is to aid various learning styles, as well as ensuring the information can be processed.

Drug metabolism.

You will learn how the liver plays a key role involved in drug metabolism through the enzymes present in the liver, a process referred to as biotransformation on completion of this lesson. You will be expected to already have a good knowledge regarding medication.

Signs and symptoms of liver disease.

On completion of this lesson you will be able to explore what a patient’s potential signs and symptoms might be, to indicate that liver disease could be present. There will be a PDF for you to download at the end of the lesson to be able to refer too as desired.

How we assess and identify that our patient has hepatic impairment.

You will be able to explore how to assess liver function through pathology and how the liver affects drug metabolism along with what the results translate to for you as the clinician within this lesson, these are essential for liver health monitoring purposes.

Drug induced hepatotoxicity and management.

By completing this lesson you will learn about medications in relation to liver disease and the affects that the ailments can provide, whilst also learning what medications can be used to help manage the symptoms for the patient.

This lesson has many slides that will be available on the PDF at the end of the lesson for you to be able to download therefore not all slides have audio support, as the PDF can be increased in size to your comfort.

Principles of prescribing for patient’s with liver disease.

You will learn to consider what some of the signs and symbols mean in relation to prescribing medication for patient’s who are living with liver disease through undertaking this lesson.

General information and useful resources.

We have provided the original resource information that we have explored, you may wish to learn more from these at a later date or discover any new information that may be available since this course was created.

End of course assessment.

This is where you will be able to show off all the information that you have learnt, there is quite a lot, so reading any notes made through this course would benefit you for a quick recap! You will need a pass rate of 80% or more to pass and be able to obtain your certificate, which can be downloaded and printed.

Please be aware that all content within this course is copyright protected

Please scroll down each screen and click ‘continue’ where indicated, also be aware of the arrows or the relevant numbers on the bottom of the screen to click on as needed.

When you are ready to begin, please click the “Start Course” button.