Course Structure:
The course consists of twelve credit-bearing and three non-credit-bearing modules over the three years. Learning hours total 4,600 with a 50:50 split between theory and practice. The year is divided into three terms of 14 weeks’ duration. Each year you will complete two 40-credit modules and two 20 credit modules, incorporating simulated learning in the clinical simulation suite.
Year 1
Introduction to Professional Values for Children’s Nursing (Mandatory)
This module will help the student to develop the skills to assist them to make a transition to the BSc (Hons) Children’s Nursing course. The module will focus on helping the student to develop the knowledge and understanding of the theoretical and practice aspects of the course. The theoretical content of this module will help the students recognise and meet the challenges of studying in a university setting, academic writing and the study skills required. The NMC Code (2018) identifies the importance of evidence-based practice; therefore, this module will introduce the students to this aspect of children’s nursing. The module will also facilitate opportunities for personal and professional development, including self-awareness, resilience, and working within teams.
Promoting the health and well-being of children (Mandatory)
Health promotion and public health are essential components of the children’s nurse’s role. This module will help the student to develop knowledge and understanding of the importance of early years and childhood experiences and the possible impact of these on life choices and mental, physical and behavioural health and wellbeing. This will underpin health promotion strategies used throughout the lifespan. Students will also learn about preventable illness and current health issues affecting children and young people in today’s society. This module runs concurrently with the Paediatric Biosciences module where students will learn about child development, which is an essential requirement in order to promote the health and well-being of children and young people.
Family and Child-Centred Care (Mandatory)
This module will focus on the philosophical underpinnings of children’s nursing by helping students develop knowledge and understanding of family and child-centred care. It will build upon the students’ transition to children’s nursing and encourage students to understand and reflect upon the role of the nurse within contemporary society. It will equip students with an understanding of the distinct needs of infants, children, young people and their families. The module also offers students an opportunity to explore key policy, guidance and legislative frameworks central to the health and well-being of children, young people and their families. Key concepts will include the rights of the child, legal status, partnership working, advocacy and communication. The student will also gain knowledge of some common acute and long-term healthcare conditions and gain skills in the assessment of children and young people’s health as well as the principles of care planning.
Paediatric Biosciences 1 (Mandatory)
This module will help the student to develop the skills and understanding of paediatric life sciences. Students will begin to demonstrate familiarity with anatomical and scientific terminology together with the biological concepts relevant to children’s nursing. The module will provide students with an understanding of the structure of the body’s systems and their function and how the human body maintains health. Students will also learn about child development theories, focusing on the social, emotional, and cognitive growth of infants, children and young people. The module will also focus on preparing the student for clinical practice by gaining practice as well as the underpinning knowledge of a range of essential skills, which will be introduced via simulated learning using facilities within the clinical skills laboratory. The module will run across the first two semesters to ensure application to practice as students experience a variety of practice areas.
Children’s Nursing Practice Part 1 (Mandatory)
The NMC (2018) Standards for pre-registration nursing requires that students learn and are assessed in practice environments. This module focuses on developing competence in the areas of practice covered in the Practice Assessment Document Part 1. Professional values are viewed as an important aspect of working in practice environments and are therefore, assessed through this module. Through practice placements students will be able to observe, participate and assist in the provision of evidence based patient/service user centred care.
Year 2
The child with complex needs (Mandatory)
Advances in technology and medical care means that more children are now living with complex healthcare needs and life-limiting illnesses. This module will help the student to develop knowledge and understanding of the complex needs of children and young people living with long-term conditions and life-limiting illness. It will build on the first year modules where common and acute illness will have been explored as well as the underlying principles of family and child-centred care. Key concepts will include symptom management, palliative care, professional, ethical and legal frameworks of care, intra-agency working, self-management strategies, transition to adult services and end of life care.
Research for Children’s Nursing (Mandatory)
The Code (NMC 2018a, p.9) states that nurses are required to; “… assess need and deliver or advise on treatment … on the basis of best available evidence.” Students therefore need to build on their knowledge of evidence based practice gained from year 1, to understand the role played by research in this process. Research is fundamental for the progression of the profession of nursing and all nurses need to; “… appreciate the value of evidence in practice, be able to understand and appraise research, apply relevant theory and research findings to their work, and identify areas for further investigation.” (NMC 2018b, p. 6). This module will help to inform students’ knowledge and understanding of the research process in preparation for the Dissertation module.
Children’s Mental Health Care (Mandatory)
There is a growing awareness that children’s nurses should have the necessary underpinning knowledge and skills; to care for the increasing number of children and young people with mental health illness. This module will help to enhance the students’ existing emerging knowledge and skills, developed from previous modules and clinical practice; in the holistic care of children and young people with mental health illness and families. It includes gaining an understanding of perinatal mental health, early year’s development and attachment factors, which can affect the emotional health and wellbeing of the child. The student will also explore risk and resilience factors, which influence the mental health of the young person. In addition, the module will help students to develop a deeper understanding and awareness of the contemporary issues faced in caring for children and young people with mental health needs
Paediatric Bioscience II: The child with acute care needs (Mandatory)
This module builds upon the knowledge and cognitive skills introduced in term one and two to enable students to make an increasingly significant contribution to the individual child/family plan of care. Students will develop knowledge and understanding of the assessment and care planning of the neonate, child and young person with an acute illness and their families; whilst taking into account their specific needs and how this influences care delivery. Within this module the student will also develop clinical skills and supporting knowledge required to assess plan, implement evidence based care for children with acute illness and their family in a variety of settings.
Children’s Nursing Practice Part 2 (Mandatory)
The NMC (2018) Standards for pre-registration nursing requires that students learn and are assessed in practice environments. This module focuses on developing competence in the areas of practice covered in the Practice Assessment Document Part 2. Professional values are viewed as an important aspect of working in practice environments and are therefore, assessed through this module. Through practice placements the students will be able to observe, participate and assist in the provision of evidence based patient/service user centred care.
Year 3
The children’s nurse as a coordinator, leader and manager (Mandatory)
Increasingly, practitioners are required to lead effective change, implement key leadership and management skills to improve patient care. Therefore, developing effective leadership, knowledge of service improvement strategies and lifelong professional development skills are vital for children’s nurses working within healthcare. This module will offer the opportunity to develop students’ knowledge and understanding of applying effective leadership and management theories to your own clinical practice. The module will offer the opportunity to develop knowledge and skills for employment and transition into contemporary professional practice within the developing health and social care environment.
Medication management (Mandatory)
This module will help the student to build on and develop the skills and understanding of medicines management in preparation for their role as a registered children’s nurse. The NMC (2018) Standards of Proficiency for Registered Nurses identify that students need to demonstrate the knowledge, skills, accuracy and competency in all aspects of medicines management to successfully complete the course. This module will focus on the leadership and management aspects of medicines management. The role of registered nurses as prescribers of medication is currently being developed by the profession. Therefore, this module will assist the students in this role by enabling them to demonstrate the theoretical knowledge to underpin this role and enable them to progress as prescribers after registration.
Dissertation (Mandatory)
At the point of registration, the newly qualified nurse, must be able to demonstrate the clinical reasoning skills that guide and inform best practice decisions, and develop evidence-based practice for service users. This module provides an opportunity for students to refine and demonstrate independence in developing ideas, constructing sound arguments and to justify and defend developments in practice. It provides students with an opportunity to carry out an in-depth investigation on a topic of their own choice related to their field of nursing practice and seeks to equip them with the skills of project planning, design, analysis and critical evaluation. The module involves independent study under the guidance of a research supervisor.
Managing the deteriorating child (Mandatory)
This module aims to enable students to apply a range of assessment strategies to recognise and monitor deterioration in a range of children. The student will develop an in depth understanding of the physiological compensatory mechanisms of children. The module will increase the student’s understanding of evidence based interventions to increase their ability to respond safely when caring for a child whose condition may deteriorate.
Children’s Nursing Practice Part 3 (Mandatory)
The NMC (2018) Standards for pre-registration nursing requires that students learn and are assessed in practice environments. This module focuses on developing competence in the areas of practice covered in the Practice Assessment Document part 3. Professional values are viewed as an important aspect of working in practice environments and are therefore, assessed through this module. Theory hours are allocated for practice preparation; practice consolidation; e-learning and tutorial support.
