OnCourse Learning's leading healthcare brand, Nurse.com, has developed an interprofessional continuing education (CE) course to educate healthcare professionals about the signs, symptoms and impact of the Zika virus, which has affected more than 30 countries in the past year.

The course, "Zika: The Pandemic Threat," is available for nurses by visiting Nurse.com/CE/ZikaVirus. The individual course is available for purchase, or it is free with the purchase of an Unlimited CE subscription.

The course also is accredited and currently available at ContinuingEducation.com for dietitians, pharmacists, health educators and physicians.

It soon will be accredited and available for laboratory professionals and respiratory therapists.

"These professions have interactions with significant patient populations," said Robert Hess, PhD, RN, FAAN, OnCourse Learning's executive vice president, Education Programs & Credentialing, Healthcare. "They're on the front lines for case identification. It's critical for these professionals to have access to up-to-date educational information."

"The Zika virus is an emerging disease," Hess said. "We don't live in an isolated country anymore. What's happening in one part of the world can get to another part of the world in a matter of hours. It's not where you live, it's where you've been."

A co-author of the course, Catherine J. Swift, MT(ASCP), is OnCourse Learning's clinical laboratory technology editor.

"Catherine is one of our in-house experts," Hess said. "We're able to rely on the written work of people on our interprofessional team. Other companies don't have that."

Swift said the course meets the needs of professionals who must stay updated on rapid changes in healthcare.

"Almost daily, we are presented with scientific discovery of new pathogens, genetic illnesses, diagnostic methods, treatment protocols and pharmaceuticals, and the relationship between each of these," she said. "This means that keeping current in your field is more important than ever.

"Our interprofessional continuing education provides an encompassing view of several health disciplines working together to provide patient care in a given set of circumstances. Our users are able to see the big picture, and they are in it."

OnCourse Learning is a leading provider of workforce solutions and education for the healthcare, real estate and financial services industries.