About This Course
This is a part-time, level 7 short course delivered on our Bangor campus, with some content accessed online (blended learning method)
Who is this course for?
This short course is suitable for NMC registered nurses, midwives or Specialist Community Public Health Nurses (SCPH) with at least 12 months experience working within critical care settings.
Why study this course?
The aim of this micro-credential course will be to support the learner to:
- Use a system-based approach to gain an in-depth understanding of the pathophysiology behind illnesses encountered in critical care
- Apply the principles of a person-centred approach to caring for the critically ill
- Critically evaluate evidence-based medicine and its application to the critical care environment
- Build on and enhance the skills gained from the previous module.
How long does this course take to complete?
This part-time short course runs over 18 weeks, usually during semester 2 of the academic year.
The next course will start in May 2025, and will run on a Thursday:
- The first 12 weeks includes 8 taught sessions, delivered through a combination of online and face-to-face methods. Face-to-face delivery will be on our campus in Bangor.
- 1 simulation day
- 3 asynchronous directed study sessions. You will not be expected to attend the campus on these days. However, there will be set work for you to complete which might include watching pre-recorded content, researching content on various websites, reading chapters or articles.
- The last 6 weeks of the course are directed study days to allow time for the learner to complete and submit their written work and competencies.
Further Information
The assessment strategy for this module is as follows:
- The students will be required to complete a 3-station OSCE assessment on the assessment of, management planning for, and communication regarding critically ill patients
- The students will be required to produce a 3000-word case study related to a critical care patient
- The students will be required to complete a set of clinical competencies from the Critical Care Network National Competency Steps Framework for Adult Critical Care Nurses (Steps 2 and 3 competencies).
Tutor
Eirlys Walker
Eirlys has more than 30 years' experience of working in the Critical Care environment both as a nurse and as an Advanced Critical Care Practitioner and has recently moved over to the academic side assisting with the delivery of the Critical Care Programme.
Course Content
What will you study on this course?
This module will focus predominantly on the altered physiology that leads to critical illness and on the treatment strategies that can be employed to support and treat patients through their critical care journey, taking a patient-centred, holistic approach.
The module builds on the knowledge of anatomy and physiology gained in the Fundamentals module and uses this knowledge to highlight the abnormalities encountered in illness. The module will build on the introduction to pharmacology gained by looking specifically at the pharmacology of the 5 main systems studied.
The module also includes, but is not limited to:
- Management of the advanced supported airway
- An insight into the role of allied health professionals in critical care
- Transfer of the critically ill
As with the Fundamentals module, the advanced module will include a simulation day, where students will run through clinical scenarios in the simulation suite with a manequin, assessing illness and making treatment and management decisions based on the assessment.
Funding
- Enquiries regarding Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB) funding should be directed to bcu.nurseeducation@wales.nhs.uk.
- Funding opportunities may be available for those working locally (i.e. in the north Wales and Powys areas), please contact the relevant module co-ordinator for details.
- All other application and funding related enquiries should be directed to the module co-ordinator .
Please see our Postgraduate Fees and Finance page for further information.
Entry Requirements
Applicants must fulfil the following criteria to be considered eligible for this course:
- NMC registered nurse, midwife or Specialist Community Public Health Nurses (SCPH)
Working in a Critical Care role with at least 12 months experience/completed the Steps 1 Critical Care Competencies. Students will need a workplace mentor.
Application
To apply for this course, you need to create an account in our APPLICANT PORTAL
You will need access to the email address you specify while creating your account to confirm it.
After creating an account, you will see a homepage with several tabs:
- Personal
- Programme
- Info
- Contact
- Education
- Employment
- Language
- Finance
You need to complete all sections before submitting your application.
When a section is complete, a ‘tick’ symbol will appear below it
- Click on ‘Non-graduating applications / Stand alone Modules’, then select ‘Non-graduating Postgraduate Taught’.
- In the next section, select Non-Graduating Taught Modules in Health(NGGT/HEALTH) Click Save and Continue.
- On the next page, the default for the first question is Full Time. You need to change this to ‘Part time’:
- You now need to input the module code. Advanced Critical Care: the code is NHS:4443. This section must be completed for your application to be processed.
- You also need to state the start date. Please make your selection, then click ‘Save and Continue’.
- IMPORTANT: You do not need to write a personal statement to apply for this course. Instead, please upload the document including employment, experience and education information that you have created prior to starting the application that contains the name of your current employer, the number of years of experience you have, and your highest qualification to date. Click Save and continue.
You only need to enter the details of your highest qualification to date, e.g. if you have a postgraduate qualification, please only only include this.
You will be asked for evidence of the qualification. Please either upload a copy of your qualification if it's easily accessible, or upload the Word document again (that you prepared earlier)
Please scroll to the bottom of the page and click on ‘I have no employment history’ (as you have already provided this in your Word document)
If you are HEIW / Health Board funded, please answer the questions as follows:
- How will you finance your studies? Sponsored
- Exact name of funding authority: Health Board
- Country: United Kingdom
- Give details of the amount of the award? Fully funded.
- Sponsorship will cover: Tuition Fees
- Have you been awarded this funding? Please select ‘yes’ * Note that you will be required to upload evidence of the funding. If you wish to confirm ‘yes’ to this question, but do not have any written confirmation to upload, you can upload your Word document here again.
If you are self-funding, please provide all details as appropriate.