• Fundamentals of District Nursing

  This module focuses on the essential aspects of the district nursing role, including the changing demographics within the 21st Century, in particular the growing ageing population living in community settings with complex healthcare. The module incorporates caseload management of those living with long term conditions, supported by multidisciplinary teams. ‚Fundamentals of district nursing’ is aligned with both national and local policies supporting practice, compassion and quality of care in the community setting. Completion of a practice-based competency portfolio is assessed by a specialist practice teacher. This is an essential component to this module.

You will choose one of the following modules:

• Community Practitioner Nurse Prescribing – see notes below

  Please note: If you have already completed a prescribing module that’s recorded with the Nursing & Midwifery Council (NMC), your sponsoring Trust or healthcare organisation and the University may suggest you complete one of the optional modules outlined below. The Nurse Prescribing module will prepare you to prescribe safely, appropriately and cost effectively from the community practitioners formulary for nurse prescribers. The module is an alternative option to advanced non-medical prescribing.

• Advanced Non-Medical Prescribing

  This module will prepare nurses, midwives, specialist community public health nurses and pharmacists to prescribe safely and cost effectively as independent and supplementary prescribers. Alongside the holistic assessment skills module, this educational programme will provide the practitioner with key skills to deliver community agendas, providing care close to home. Supervision and assessment from a designated GP or Nurse Practitioner is essential within this module in order to meet the 78 hours clinical practice requirement. It also aims to prepare allied health professionals to prescribe safely, appropriately and cost effectively as supplementary prescribers and provide an opportunity for interprofessional students to debate, analyse and synthesise key issues within safe prescribing practice and its contribution to health care.

Year two, core modules

• Leadership and Management in the Community

  This module will develop leadership and management skills to a strategic level, enabling practitioners to deliver high quality patient care. The module will introduce practitioners to theories of leadership, management processes to support teams including performance management and motivation. Integrating the values of courage and good communication address the challenges organisational culture can present, this topic will too be explored with this module.

Optional modules

• Holistic Assessment Skills for Community Nurses

  This module enables you to develop systems-based assessment skills which are patient centered and support accurate decision making, integrating the fundamental components of compassionate care. Holistic assessment skills incorporate the environment in which the patient lives and the environment in which care will be delivered. Supervision from a designated GP or Nurse Practitioner is essential within this module to achieve the relevant clinical assessment skills.

• Integrated Care in the Community

  This module will help you develop the theoretical knowledge which supports the concept of integrated care, with opportunities to apply it to practice. This module is 50% theory 50% practice, the theory will be delivered online and you will work with your district nurse mentor for the practice. Subjects studied include: Care around the clock, the international perspective, history and political drivers for integrated working, multi professional working and how it benefits patient care, governance, the autonomous patient and communication.

• Law & Ethics in Health & Social Care

  This module highlights the ethical and legal aspects related to your professional practice. There will be an analysis of legal cases and the statutory provision driving practice coupled with an exploration of current ethical issues, such as resource allocation and judicial review, issues of consent, death and dying and respecting life. The application of principles, theories and the legislative framework will be presented to you via reflective activities, case situations and scenarios, which will enable students to access their knowledge, trace their implications, refine their outcomes and evaluate the degree of moral justification they possess. You will also have the opportunity to focus on particular aspects of law and ethics that have relevance to your practice or personal interest This module is particularly relevant to health and social care professionals wishing to develop crucial insights into legal and ethical issues in practice.

• Research Proposal

  This module is designed to provide you with a critical overview of the main methodologies and designs applied to research within health and social care, professional practice, regulation and policy. It will provide you with an opportunity to explore the theoretical dilemmas that underlie the process of inquiry and its relationship to practice. The module will provide a framework within which to select, evaluate and justify the research methods chosen for your research project. The module requires you to prepare and write a research proposal which will normally lead to a level 4 dissertation. Hence prior knowledge of some research approaches at level 3 is normally expected. This module is taken by students on a variety of courses. Learning will usually be with a group of students who bring different academic and/or professional interests to their study, thus providing a community of collaborative learning well suited to interdisciplinary exploration.

ASSESSMENT

Assessment includes essays, examinations, case studies, poster presentations and a competency-based portfolio.