Osmosis Releases First COVID-19 Course for General Public and CME-Approved Course for Health Professionals

SALT LAKE CITY, March 22, 2020 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Osmosis, a health education platform empowering millions of clinicians and caregivers around the world through interactive tools and more than 1,500 educational videos, announced today the release of two free courses on COVID-19. This includes the first course designed to educate the general public, as well as one of the first courses available to healthcare professionals for continued medical education credit (CME credit).

"The spread of the coronavirus continues to devastate the country – from school closures to mandatory stay-at-home orders – and the only way to overcome the virus is to flatten the curve and raise the line," said Shiv Gaglani, CEO of Osmosis, which he and co-founder Ryan Haynes created as medical students at Johns Hopkins. "The public must be educated on the virus and put specific measures into practice in order to slow down the spread, or 'flatten the curve,' but that's just the start."

"Not only are we seeing our healthcare providers struggle to find proper medical supplies, but they're becoming overworked, infected, and – rightfully – concerned for their personal health," continued Gaglani. "If we don't take immediate action to increase our healthcare system's capacity to treat sick patients, or 'raise the line,' this could be the virus that breaks our already-fractured healthcare system."

These courses teach participants to:
-Recognize the symptoms and diagnosis of COVID-19
-Identify how the novel coronavirus has spread around the world
-Apply into practice the public health measures we need to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19

Upon completion of the course, participants will receive a certificate of completion, and healthcare professionals will earn 2.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™in partnership with Interstate Postgraduate Medical (IPMA).

"We waited more than two months after the first cases were reported in Wuhan to take action in the U.S. – and that's two months too late," said Dr. Rishi Desai, MD, MPH, the chief medical officer of Osmosis and a former Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer in the Division of Viral Diseases at the CDC. "Because we did not start testing the public months ago en masse, we've allowed this virus to spread and overtake our daily lives. If we take serious measures to raise the line and flatten the curve now, we could overcome the worst of the pandemic within a few weeks – if not, our current situation could last for months."

As an online health education company, Osmosis has been focused on addressing the shortage of healthcare professionals in the U.S. and around the world for years. Given the current COVID-19 pandemic, Osmosis has shifted priorities across the organization to focus on providing the healthcare community with the knowledge and resources to fully contribute. The health education startup's new COVID-19 course for healthcare professionals is the first step in preparing current, future, and retired health professionals to join the front lines in fighting the virus.

While the first course serves as an introduction to the pandemic, Osmosis will soon release a second course featuring specific training and simulations that will arm healthcare professionals with the knowledge they need to actively treat patients.

Beyond the courses released today, Osmosis has developed several tools, videos and other resources on COVID-19 education, including the below:
-Resource Center
-FAQ
-Fact Sheet
Videos
-Beating Coronavirus: Flatten the Curve, Raise the Line!
-COVID-19 (comprehensive introduction to the virus)
-N95 mask fitting
-COVID-19 'Ask-Me-Anything' 3.20.20 (with Dr. Rishi Desai)
-COVID-19: Tips for maximizing psychological health during stressful times (with Dr. Amin Azzam, who is the director of open learning initiatives at Osmosis, a practicing psychiatrist and a professor at three San Francisco bay area universities -- UCSF, UC Berkeley, and Samuel Merritt University)
-Imaging Features of COVID-19(Diagnosing COVID-19 with Chest CT Findings)

For more information, visit osmosis.org/covid-19.

About Osmosis
Osmosis is a leading health education platform that empowers millions of clinicians and caregivers with the best learning experience possible. Osmosis features a best-in-class and expanding library of more than 1,500 videos covering physiology, pathology, pharmacology with corresponding assessment items and notes. With more than 1.4 million YouTube subscribers, nearly a million registered users on the web- and mobile-learning platform, and over 100 institutional partners, Osmosis is working to train millions of future health professionals to address current and exacerbating shortages.

SOURCE Osmosis