Course Summary

This course is designed to help neonatal practitioners develop clinical observation skills and practice to pre-empt care needs for physiological homeostasis. Infants born at the edge of viability or with extreme physiological vulnerability require sophisticated levels of highly technical invasive care to support and sustain life systems.

This course supports your neonatal care role development beyond the special and high dependency phase of care. It promotes evaluation and increased competency in how you effectively identify, negotiate and critically select strategies to deliver appropriate, timely and sensitive highly invasive clinical interventions. In the context of multi-disciplinary care you will explore how management strategies reflect professionalism and the delicate humanity babies, their parents and their families require.

Holistic care principles introduced in the course support the recognition and management of a babys personal individuality. Holistic care principles account for the developmental needs of an individual baby as well as family social situation, values, beliefs and culture. The role of the carer will be explored to enhance the awareness, promptness and values to promote continuity of care and empowerment.

Why choose this course?

The course offers registered nurses and midwives the opportunity to develop academic and clinical skills in the Simulation Suite, using current technology to bridge the gap between theory and practice. Relevant expert clinical practitioners will be collaborating in the delivery of specific skills simulation workshops. The course promotes and advocates collaborative working; this enables the practitioner to gain confidence working in and contributing to the multidisciplinary team and impacting on neonatal care. Teaching and assessment is supported by clinical experts both nursing and medical in the university and clinical environment and will be part of the assessment process. The course has been developed with input from nursing and medical clinicians within the Beds and Herts neonatal network ensuring the content of the course is relevant and contemporary.
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Assessment

A range of assessments ensure theoretical understanding and skills competence are equally recognised as relevant and achievable to meet the required professional standards

- Completion of a clinical skills log containing special care, high dependency and intensive care competencies. The assessment is completed by/supervised by the clinical mentor. The assessments includes the underpinning knowledge and evidence base for the skill and as such links theory to practice. The opportunity is available for relevant clinical skills to be facilitated by the medical team.

- An evidence based case study reflecting on an aspect of nursing care of a special care baby. This will involve a critical analysis of evidence underpinning clinical care and how it impacts your practice. (3000 words)

- A presentation analysing current evidence on an aspect of high dependency and intensive nursing neonatal care that will inform a Multidisciplinary Guideline in the work place

- Objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) related to high dependency and intensive nursing. Nursing and Medical clinical experts will contribute to the assessment process

- The ITU/HDU unit formative assessment will involve a presentation reviewing the evidence relating to the multidisciplinary guideline proposal

- The formative assessment for the special care unit is an evidence based poster presentation reflecting an aspect of Special Care nursing

Course Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this course, you should be able to:

1. Critically evaluate the structure of health care provision within neonatal care to ensure that neonatal care is based on current expectations.

2. Critically review legal, ethical, cultural and professional concepts and dilemmas specific to neonatal care as applied to clinical practice.

3. Critically review physiology and patho-physiology impacting on Neonatal Care so as to ensure that clinical practice is related to a sound underpinning of knowledge.

4. Critically evaluate knowledge underpinning practice in neonatal care and contribute to multidisciplinary team working to ensure the application of evidence based practice.

5. Explore concepts surrounding neonatal developmental, attachment and parental empowerment and apply these in a care context

6. Prioritize skills and interventions, including pharmacological treatments, in the assessment and management of the sick newborn and be proactive in meeting individual neonatal and family needs.

External Benchmarking

- University of Bedfordshire Curriculum descriptors

- NHS Knowledge and Skills Framework

- Framework for Higher Education Qualifications (FHEQ) descriptors for Bachelors degree with Honours

- British Association of Perinatal Medicine (BPAM 2010),

- Department of Health in their document `Toolkit for high quality neonatal services (2010)

- NICE standards for Specialist Neonatal care (2010)

Educational Aims

The aims of this course are to:

- provide you with a range of theoretical concepts that will underpin your clinical skills and enable you to apply a critical understanding of the evidence base underpinning Special, High Dependency and Intensive Care of the Neonate

- enhance your knowledge and clinical skills so you will develop confidence and competence in caring for vulnerable and sick neonates .

- provide you with opportunities to explore the moral and ethical dilemmas associated with collaborative working with the family and the multidisciplinary team

- empower you as a confident, skilled neonatal practitioner by developing your clinical decision making skills.

Student support

Ongoing support offered via the unit/course leader. This is via direct contact and indirect routes such as BREO and email. The student will have support in clinical practice from a mentor nominated by their clinical manager and agreed with the course lead.

Team working

This course will require you to work with others including Identifying learning needs and Group work. This is also required when working within the multidisciplinary team delivering appropriate neonatal care, involvement in multidisciplinary presentations and meetings in the clinical environment.

Career Management Skills

This course will require you to reflect on your knowledge, skills and clinical decision making processes. This will allow you to identify a course of action and challenge practice enabling career progression with in this field of nursing.

Career/Further study opportunities

Career:

Contributes to the Knowledge and Skills Framework for the NHS which enables staff to document their progression to their chosen career within Neonatal Services. This qualification will enable the practitioner to work within the intensive environment and to build on the skills required to achieve senior nursing posts.

Further study:

Provides a foundation for study at Masters level which can lead to Advanced Neonatal Nurse Practitioner qualifications that allows further clinical development should the practitioner wish to pursue the clinical route and become an independent autonomous practitioner.

Entry

Students must be:

A qualified Health care practitioner registered with the NMC. Employed within a Neonatal Unit and sponsored by employer.

All students will be allowed to claim APL120 credits at level 4 and 120 credits at level5 by virtue of post registration qualifications and experience. Students registering to complete an honours degree will be able to APL FOR UP TO 30 credits at level 6 which have been awarded by another higher education institute. This APL credit can only be used if they cover the learning outcomes for whole units of study within the course. The number of credits awarded will not exceed those originally awarded.

Students who register for an honours degree but fail to achieve the required 120 credits will be awarded an non honours degree provided they have achieved a minimum of 60 credits at level 6 with the University of Bedfordshire.

UK students Undergraduate entry requirements

Standard entry requirements for Foundation degrees (FD/FdSc)

A foundation degree will be of particular interest if you have completed a Modern Apprenticeship, vocational A levels, BTEC National or equivalent.

Foundation degrees are also particularly suitable if you want to qualify while working.

• As a guideline, a typical offer would require you to obtain a UCAS tariff score of between 80-120 points, based on your level 3 studies.
• Students who require a Tier 4 Student Visa cannot apply for our foundation courses. For these courses the University of Bedfordshire is not able to sponsor Tier 4 Student Visa applications.

Many students studying for foundation degrees come to us through work-based routes so you can apply for a foundation degree even if you don’t have traditional academic qualifications.

We welcome applicants with relevant work experience.

Standard entry requirements for Undergraduate degrees (BA/BSc)

We will consider you as an individual and take into account all elements of your application, not just your qualifications. We are looking for both breadth and depth in your current studies as well as enthusiasm for the subject you wish to study.

The general requirement is one of the following:

• UCAS Tariff Score greater than 200, which should include either two A level passes or an AVCE Double Award
• An Access qualification
• Equivalent qualifications such as Irish Leaving Certificate, Scottish Highers, International Baccalaureate or BTEC National Diploma

Postgraduate taught courses

Postgraduate applications (MA/MSc) should be made direct to the University using the  standard University application form. There are some exceptions, please see individual course descriptions for details.

• UK/EU students application form
• International (non-EU) students application form
  

Students from the European Union

Entry requirements

As a general guide, to apply for a place on an undergraduate course (BA/BSc) at the University you need to have completed your high school education and have the required English qualification.

We have students from all the European Union member countries so we are quick to make decisions on most qualifications.

How to apply

International students

• Undergraduate applications (BA/BSc) can be made direct to the University or via our representatives in your home country. If you intend to apply to more than one university in the UK you should apply via UCAS. If you want to apply to the University of Bedfordshire only you should apply directly using our international application form (link below) or via our representatives in your home country
• Postgraduate applications should be made directly to the University using our international application form (link below) or via our representatives in your home country
• Healthcare, nursing and midwifery students Many of these courses are not available to overseas students due to UK immigration law in regard to bursary funding. Please contact international admissions to find out if you are eligible to apply
• BA Nursing Studies Level 3 (with or without Overseas Nursing Programme) is available to overseas students - please contact International Admissions by email at international-admissions@beds.ac.uk for further information

(Please note that applicants on a full student visa are not eligible for part-time study)

Course application form for international students

We recommend that you apply directly to the University where possible, as this allows us to offer the quickest turnaround time for your application.

• Course application form for direct applications [PDF]

How to complete your course application

Please read the Direct application instructions before completing the course application form.

Application forms for accommodation in the student halls at Bedford campus and Luton campus are available in the Student life section

Accreditation of prior certificated learning (APL)

APL is available for international students applying for undergraduate (Bachelor degree) study. Please do not use this APL form to apply for postgraduate courses.

Use the APL form to tell us about any non-standard qualifications and/or work experience you have that you think should be taken into consideration with your application. `

The APL form should be submitted at the same time as the course application form.

We regret we are unable to process APL forms from students who have not submitted a formal course application form.

• APL application form for International students [100Kb] updated 041007

What next?

Return your completed application to:

University of Bedfordshire
International Admissions
Park Square
Luton
Bedfordshire
LU1 3JU
United Kingdom

Contact International Admissions

T: +44 (0)1582 489326 (non-EU Students)
F: +44 (0)1582 743469
E: international-admissions@beds.ac.uk

Awarding institution

University of Bedfordshire

Teaching Strategy

Your learning will be supported through a student centred work base/focused learning approach. There will be opportunities for you to engage in a variety of learning experiences. This process will be supported by lecturer facilitation, including the delivery of key presentations and specialist speakers.

You will be required to plan how to meet the unit learning outcomes, in theory and practice, relating them to your own practice environment through the completion of a comprehensive Clinical Skills portfolio. Additionally your learning will be supported via: tutorials; group work; e-learning via BREO, which will include the use of discussion boards and blogs, to further develop critical thinking and reflective skills; workshops and guided study work books.

You will be able to bring reflections on experiences in practice to enable the integration of theory into practice.

Students with disabilities

Students with physical disabilities must comply with the restraints of working in an intensive care environment. Students will be able to access advice and support relating to disability and dyslexia from the Disability Advice Team: www.beds.ac.uk/studentlife/current/personal/disabilities.

Skills Development

Communication

To help with the development of this you will:

- Utilise effective communication methods to develop skills and knowledge in the clinical area.

- Understand the dynamics of communication between the healthcare professional and parents/care givers in order to deliver optimum neonatal care with a variety of care environments.

Information Literacy

To help with the development of this you will:

- Construct and undertake an effective literature search strategy in order to underpin your clinical practice and knowledge development.

Research and Evaluation

To help with the development of this you will:

- utilise appropriate critical tools in order to evaluate relevant data and apply it to the clinical environment thereby ensuring that skills and practice are evidence based and support lifelong learning and development

Creativity and Critical Thinking

To help with the development of this you will:

- Think logically and laterally in the development and application of theory to practice and problem solving.

- Work collaboratively within the multidisciplinary team to deliver appropriate and innovative care and complex therapies.

Improving learning and performance

The development of knowledge and practice based competencies is integral to this course. Performance is assessed in both practice and theoretical assignments.

Progress files

This course will provide evidence of ongoing personal and professional development.