What you will study
This course will share learning with adult, child and mental health nursing students, where you can develop your skills in supporting people with a learning disability across the lifespan.
Topics covered include factors affecting the health and wellbeing of individuals in our changing and diverse society, addressing health inequalities and promoting improved health outcomes for people with a learning disability.
Year 1 modules (parts one and two)
Year 1 introduces the foundations of nursing and healthcare. You will study the role of the learning disability nurse and the diverse needs and contexts of people with learning disabilities. At the end of Year 1, you will be offered an opportunity to undertake a national or international placement.
Core modules
Foundations of life sciences for graduates
15 credits
This module is a core requirement for all students on the MSc Nursing course. It explores the foundations of human anatomy and physiology, including the body's systems, mechanisms for maintaining homeostasis, genomics and human development across the lifespan. Selected pathophysiology will be introduced in relation to commonly encountered health conditions and students will also begin to develop their knowledge of pharmacological concepts relating to nursing. This will provide students with key underpinning knowledge which will facilitate the exploration of person-centred assessment and care later in the programme.
Establishing the fundamentals of nursing care
30 credits
This module is a core requirement for all students on the MSc Nursing course. It introduces students to the fundamental principles of nursing and person-centred care, the determinants of health and well-being, compassionate communication and contemporary health policy. It enables the student to develop critical knowledge, skills and professional attitudes for the delivery of safe and effective person-centred care of individuals and their families or carers across a variety of settings. Students will begin to establish a sense of their nursing field identity but also that of other fields in order to promote effective interdisciplinary and integrated care.
Assessment and care planning in learning disability nursing
30 credits
This module focuses on assessment and care planning as part of the nursing process. Students will examine critically health inequalities and the impact on people with a learning disability across the lifespan. Students will apply person centred inclusive approaches to assess and plan care with people with learning disabilities, and their families and care workers, within legal and ethical frameworks. The skills and knowledge for assessment and planning will be explored critically within a framework of work place culture, utilising evidence based models.
Collaborative working for health and well-being in learning disability nursing
30 credits
This module explores the knowledge and skills necessary to implement effective holistic and collaborative care for people with a learning disability. The student will learn the importance of reasonable adjustments and health improvement strategies at individual and local levels to enable delivery of safe person-centred care. Students will develop the knowledge and skills to support people with a learning disability in making choices about their health and care and to facilitate equal access. Interdisciplinary working and current frameworks will be explored for delivering person-centred care. A range of evaluative techniques to measure clinical outcomes will be examined.
Introduction to professional practice
15 credits
This module will prepare the student for their role in practice. The focus is to introduce a range of nursing procedures to enable students to provide skilled, evidence-based, person-centred care to people at any stage of life who may have a range of physical, mental, cognitive or behavioural health conditions. It is a generic module where all fields of nursing are engaged with core nursing procedures as identified by the NMC Standards of Proficiency for Registered Nurses (NMC, 2018).
Developing professional practice
30 credits
This module will develop the skills taught and practised in the introduction to professional practice in Year 1. Students will be able to assess, plan and rationalise the nursing care they provide for people in health and social care and community settings. The emphasis will be on holistic person-centred care covering physical, psychological, social and cultural care. It will look at evidence-based, person-centred care being delivered inter- and intra-disciplinary.
Year 2 modules (part three)
In Year 2 you will explore the management of complex conditions across the lifespan (e.g. children, transition, adulthood and the older person) and the analysis and application of research and evidence base. You will also be prepared for your transition to registered nurse.
Core modules
Safe and effective quality care in learning disability nursing
30 credits
This module will provide the learning disability nursing student with the theoretical knowledge and skills required for their future role as a qualified learning disability nurse when contributing to risk monitoring, quality care provision and optimised service improvements. The student will learn to manage and prioritise clinical actions, participate in clinical audit activities for quality and service improvements and learn to avoid compromising quality care using evidence-based knowledge and experience from practice. Regulations essential for maintaining safety at work and in different care environments will be covered. Students will learn about collaborative interdisciplinary working, whilst collectively developing effective improvement strategies. Some sessions will be shared across fields as they are core for all fields.
Coordinating the care of people with learning disabilities with complex health care needs
30 credits
This module will provide the student with the underpinning knowledge and skills required for their future leadership role in coordinating and managing the complex needs of people with a learning disability across a range of organisations and settings. The module explores the complex role of the learning disability nurse, working as a specialist, to enrich the quality of life of people with learning disabilities. Experts from lived experience will be involved in the learning and teaching, supporting students through a range of complex case studies and current socio-economical and workforce challenges. The student will build on their knowledge of partnership and collaborative working and examine the cultural, political, psychosocial and technological influences on nursing care, resource management and finances.
Leadership in learning disability nursing
30 credits
Navigating the transition from student to a professional practitioner who is skilled at leading teams is critically important to the delivery of safe, effective and high quality health care. This module is designed to prepare the student for professional nursing practice by expanding their knowledge and skills to enable them to be an accountable and compassionate leader within the health and social care system. It focuses on leadership, team working, and performance management and enables learning disability nursing students to reflect on their transition to registered practice and build the evidence base for a career development portfolio. Some sessions will be shared across fields as they are core for all fields.
Advancing professional practice
30 credits
This module advances the skills taught and practised in Year 1 in order to prepare students for their transition to working as a registered nurse. The module focuses on the assessment and management of patients with complex health care needs, working in partnership with other health care professionals. Students will integrate their clinical and communication skills with evidence based knowledge to become clinically proficient and confident nurses. It is a generic module where all fields of nursing learn with and from each other.
