Introduction
As global instability continues to impact healthcare delivery worldwide, GPs, family doctors and other health professionals face unprecedented challenges when providing care within, or affected by, conflict, humanitarian crises and post-conflict reconstruction settings.
We are pleased to announce this new College initiative offering curated, Continued Professional Development (CPD) resources designed to support UK-based general practitioners and overseas family doctors caring for displaced populations, managing health inequalities and delivering vital care in fragile contexts.
Our courses and online resources
Created by family doctors for family doctors - the College provides a comprehensive range of continuing professional development (CPD) to support your learning, confidence and career at every stage.
Aligned with the RCGP CPD Strategy, the GP Curriculum and our commitment to health equity, these initial resources focus on practical, relevant clinical topics to support general practitioners and family doctors, as well as other healthcare practitioners providing frontline care where it is needed most.
One Day Essentials Courses:
- We deliver over 20 One Day Essentials providing over 120 hours of free CPD for our members annually. You can catch up on all the recordings and presentation slides afterwards on demand (REWIND) for up to nine months after each event. Targeted clinical updates covering a wide range of topics from the GP curriculum, including Women’s Health, Men’s Health, ENT and more.
Clinical e-Learning Modules:
Disclaimer: the RCGP has built our CPD resources with UK healthcare professionals in mind. Clinicians working outside the UK should review our guidance alongside guidance from their relevant regulatory body.
- Endocrine: Type 2 diabetes and heart failure.
- Infections: Managing infectious diarrhoea, Hepatitis B and C and infant nutrition.
- Men’s Health: Dedicated clinical updates and primary care management.
- Musculoskeletal (MSK): Chronic pain management.
- Paediatrics: Chronic pain in children and young people, motor development in children, respiratory tract infections, measles, sarcoidosis and Kawasaki disease.
- Psychiatry & Mental Health: Mental ill-health and burnout, pain management, TB in general practice, schizophrenia, physical health in severe mental illness (SMI), mental health and suicide prevention, traumatic brain injury and alcohol disorders.
- Women’s Health: Domestic abuse, sexual health, pregnancy loss and child bereavement, anal incontinence in women with previous childbirth injury and breastfeeding.
- Challenging Consultations: An RCGP e-Learning module providing practical frameworks and consultation techniques for primary care clinicians to effectively manage complex, sensitive, or high-emotion patient interactions.
- Video Consultation Skills: Targeted guidance and practical skills training for conducting effective, high-quality remote and video consultations in general practice.
Disclaimer: the below list of external resources and toolkits is for information and guidance only, and the RCGP is not responsible for their accuracy or relevance.
To complement RCGP e-Learning content, we have signposted key external platforms, frameworks, and operational toolkits from established international bodies and humanitarian organisations:
- CDC Refugee Health Guidelines & Technical Instructions: Detailed clinical management guidelines covering screening, immunisation, infectious disease control, chronic disease continuity, and nutritional disorders for refugees and displaced populations entering primary care pathways.
Crisis Rescue Foundation: Offers specialised support, educational medical resources and practical advice aimed at assisting healthcare professionals delivering medical relief in crisis zones and vulnerable communities.
Declaration of Astana (Global Conference on Primary Health Care 2018): A foundational global policy document affirming primary healthcare as the cornerstone of sustainable health systems, providing stakeholders and leadership teams with a benchmark for achieving equitable and high-quality Universal Health Coverage.
Disaster Ready Free Humanitarian Training Platform: A free online learning portal providing hundreds of interactive modules and certificate courses on humanitarian health response, staff safety and security, duty of care, trauma-informed care, and stress management/burnout prevention.
Global Health Cluster (GHC) Quality of Care Toolkit: A comprehensive operational toolkit compiled by the WHO Global Health Cluster outlining minimum quality, safety, and equity standards for primary health programs deployed during complex humanitarian emergencies.
Health Literacy Toolkit for Low- and Middle-Income Countries (WHO): A practical toolkit for health managers and team leads to design accessible community health communication strategies, enhance patient health literacy, and improve community participation in preventive health programs.
Integrated Primary Care for Universal Health Coverage Hub (WHO): The central WHO portal housing primary care implementation resources, clinical package frameworks, policy briefs, and operational toolkits to guide health system rebuilding and primary care integration.
Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) MHPSS Guidelines in Emergency Settings: The authoritative global framework for organizing, planning, and delivering mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) to conflict-affected populations and displaced communities in acute crises.
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) Medical Guidelines: An open-access portal offering practical, evidence-based field manuals on clinical medicine, essential drugs, minor surgery, emergency obstetric care, and infectious disease control tailored specifically for resource-constrained conflict zones.
OpenMRS – Open Medical Record System: An open-source, flexible electronic medical record system designed for resource-constrained health centres, enabling clinics in reconstruction settings to transition efficiently from paper-based tracking to secure digital patient medical records.
Operational Framework for Primary Health Care: Transforming Vision Into Action (WHO & UNICEF): Provides health managers and policymakers with practical levers to re-orient healthcare systems toward primary health care (PHC), offering structural strategies for delivering equitable, cost-effective Universal Health Coverage during health system reconstruction.
Preliminary Guidance for a Package of High-Priority Health Services for Humanitarian Response (WHO): Defines essential primary healthcare service packages and standardized medication/diagnostic procurement lists, enabling clinics to stock and procure appropriate essential medicines and consumables for major disease burdens in conflict contexts.
Primary Health Care Performance Initiative (PHCPI) Tools: A collection of diagnostic tools, performance indicators, and evaluation reports designed for healthcare managers to measure clinic-level primary healthcare performance, monitor outcomes, and drive continuous quality improvement.
Remote, Rural & Humanitarian Healthcare Capabilities Framework (Faculty of Remote, Rural & Humanitarian Healthcare): Developed under the senior authorship of Thomas A.H. Pols by the Faculty of Remote, Rural & Humanitarian Healthcare (RCSEd), this framework defines the core capabilities, knowledge, and behaviours required for safe and effective practice across individual professional capabilities, constraint analysis, and clinical/operational readiness in austere and resource-limited settings.
Teach-Back Training Toolkit for Health Literacy & Patient Communication: A free educational toolkit providing clinicians with essential communication skills and practical techniques to verify patient understanding, overcome health literacy barriers, and ensure clear clinical instruction in stressful or crisis care environments.
The Sphere Handbook: Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Humanitarian Response: The globally accepted benchmark for humanitarian response, outlining universal minimum standards and indicators for essential health action, health systems delivery, communicable disease control, and child health during emergencies.
UNHCR Public Health Toolkit & Emergency Handbook: Offers operational guidelines and health toolkits for managing the primary health, mental health, and outbreak prevention needs of displaced populations, refugees, and asylum seekers in camp and urban settings.
WHO Emergency and Trauma Care Hub: Provides essential clinical guidance, primary trauma care manuals, and scalable clinical algorithms for frontline healthcare workers managing acute injuries, mass casualties, and resuscitation in low-resource and crisis environments.
WHO Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI) Handbook & Chart Booklet: An essential clinical guideline and rapid-reference chart booklet providing frontline primary care clinicians with structured, algorithm-based approaches for assessing, classifying, and managing common childhood illnesses and sick infants under two months of age.
WHO mhGAP Humanitarian Intervention Guide (mhGAP-HIG): A field-tested, practical clinical tool offering first-line primary care workers stepped-care guidance on managing mental, neurological, and substance use conditions during acute humanitarian emergencies.
WHO Package of Essential Noncommunicable (PEN) Disease Interventions for Primary Health Care: A fundamental clinical protocol package empowering general practitioners in low-resource clinics to perform standardized history-taking, basic clinical examination, diagnostic assessment, and long-term treatment for core noncommunicable diseases.
WHO/UNFPA Clinical Care for Survivors of Sexual Violence Toolkit: Crucial clinical protocols and training toolkits designed for general practitioners and community midwives delivering urgent reproductive healthcare, emergency obstetric care, and clinical care for survivors of sexual violence in emergency settings.
WONCA Working Party on Women and Family Medicine & Special Interest Groups: The World Organization of Family Doctors (WONCA) offers primary care clinical tools, guidance documents, and peer networks tailored to family doctors managing vulnerable populations, gender-based violence, and primary health system restoration.
World Health Organization (WHO) Emergencies Programme: Provides critical global guidance, updates, protocol frameworks and emergency response tools to help clinicians navigate large-scale health crises, disease outbreaks and humanitarian emergencies.
Disclaimer: the below list of external resources and toolkits is for information and guidance only, and the RCGP is not responsible for their accuracy or relevance.
To complement RCGP e-Learning content, we have signposted key external platforms, frameworks, and operational toolkits from established international bodies and humanitarian organisations:
- CDC Refugee Health Guidelines & Technical Instructions: Detailed clinical management guidelines covering screening, immunization, infectious disease control, chronic disease continuity, and nutritional disorders for refugees and displaced populations entering primary care pathways.
Crisis Rescue Foundation: Offers specialised support, educational medical resources and practical advice aimed at assisting healthcare professionals delivering medical relief in crisis zones and vulnerable communities.
Declaration of Astana (Global Conference on Primary Health Care 2018): A foundational global policy document affirming primary healthcare as the cornerstone of sustainable health systems, providing stakeholders and leadership teams with a benchmark for achieving equitable and high-quality Universal Health Coverage.
Disaster Ready Free Humanitarian Training Platform: A free online learning portal providing hundreds of interactive modules and certificate courses on humanitarian health response, staff safety and security, duty of care, trauma-informed care, and stress management/burnout prevention.
Global Health Cluster (GHC) Quality of Care Toolkit: A comprehensive operational toolkit compiled by the WHO Global Health Cluster outlining minimum quality, safety, and equity standards for primary health programs deployed during complex humanitarian emergencies.
Health Literacy Toolkit for Low- and Middle-Income Countries (WHO): A practical toolkit for health managers and team leads to design accessible community health communication strategies, enhance patient health literacy, and improve community participation in preventive health programs.
Integrated Primary Care for Universal Health Coverage Hub (WHO): The central WHO portal housing primary care implementation resources, clinical package frameworks, policy briefs, and operational toolkits to guide health system rebuilding and primary care integration.
Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) MHPSS Guidelines in Emergency Settings: The authoritative global framework for organizing, planning, and delivering mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) to conflict-affected populations and displaced communities in acute crises.
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) Medical Guidelines: An open-access portal offering practical, evidence-based field manuals on clinical medicine, essential drugs, minor surgery, emergency obstetric care, and infectious disease control tailored specifically for resource-constrained conflict zones.
OpenMRS – Open Medical Record System: An open-source, flexible electronic medical record system designed for resource-constrained health centres, enabling clinics in reconstruction settings to transition efficiently from paper-based tracking to secure digital patient medical records.
Operational Framework for Primary Health Care: Transforming Vision Into Action (WHO & UNICEF): Provides health managers and policymakers with practical levers to re-orient healthcare systems toward primary health care (PHC), offering structural strategies for delivering equitable, cost-effective Universal Health Coverage during health system reconstruction.
Preliminary Guidance for a Package of High-Priority Health Services for Humanitarian Response (WHO): Defines essential primary healthcare service packages and standardized medication/diagnostic procurement lists, enabling clinics to stock and procure appropriate essential medicines and consumables for major disease burdens in conflict contexts.
Primary Health Care Performance Initiative (PHCPI) Tools: A collection of diagnostic tools, performance indicators, and evaluation reports designed for healthcare managers to measure clinic-level primary healthcare performance, monitor outcomes, and drive continuous quality improvement.
Remote, Rural & Humanitarian Healthcare Capabilities Framework (Faculty of Remote, Rural & Humanitarian Healthcare): Developed under the senior authorship of Thomas A.H. Pols by the Faculty of Remote, Rural & Humanitarian Healthcare (RCSEd), this framework defines the core capabilities, knowledge, and behaviours required for safe and effective practice across individual professional capabilities, constraint analysis, and clinical/operational readiness in austere and resource-limited settings.
Teach-Back Training Toolkit for Health Literacy & Patient Communication: A free educational toolkit providing clinicians with essential communication skills and practical techniques to verify patient understanding, overcome health literacy barriers, and ensure clear clinical instruction in stressful or crisis care environments.
The Sphere Handbook: Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Humanitarian Response: The globally accepted benchmark for humanitarian response, outlining universal minimum standards and indicators for essential health action, health systems delivery, communicable disease control, and child health during emergencies.
UNHCR Public Health Toolkit & Emergency Handbook: Offers operational guidelines and health toolkits for managing the primary health, mental health, and outbreak prevention needs of displaced populations, refugees, and asylum seekers in camp and urban settings.
WHO Emergency and Trauma Care Hub: Provides essential clinical guidance, primary trauma care manuals, and scalable clinical algorithms for frontline healthcare workers managing acute injuries, mass casualties, and resuscitation in low-resource and crisis environments.
WHO Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI) Handbook & Chart Booklet: An essential clinical guideline and rapid-reference chart booklet providing frontline primary care clinicians with structured, algorithm-based approaches for assessing, classifying, and managing common childhood illnesses and sick infants under two months of age.
WHO mhGAP Humanitarian Intervention Guide (mhGAP-HIG): A field-tested, practical clinical tool offering first-line primary care workers stepped-care guidance on managing mental, neurological, and substance use conditions during acute humanitarian emergencies.
WHO Package of Essential Noncommunicable (PEN) Disease Interventions for Primary Health Care: A fundamental clinical protocol package empowering general practitioners in low-resource clinics to perform standardized history-taking, basic clinical examination, diagnostic assessment, and long-term treatment for core noncommunicable diseases.
WHO/UNFPA Clinical Care for Survivors of Sexual Violence Toolkit: Crucial clinical protocols and training toolkits designed for general practitioners and community midwives delivering urgent reproductive healthcare, emergency obstetric care, and clinical care for survivors of sexual violence in emergency settings.
WONCA Working Party on Women and Family Medicine & Special Interest Groups: The World Organization of Family Doctors (WONCA) offers primary care clinical tools, guidance documents, and peer networks tailored to family doctors managing vulnerable populations, gender-based violence, and primary health system restoration.
World Health Organization (WHO) Emergencies Programme: Provides critical global guidance, updates, protocol frameworks and emergency response tools to help clinicians navigate large-scale health crises, disease outbreaks and humanitarian emergencies.
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