BSc Nursing Practice (CPD) / Course details

Year of entry: 2024

Course unit details:
Intensive Care of the Neonate

Course unit fact file
Unit code NURS9105C
Credit rating 20
Unit level Cont Education/Prof Developmen
Teaching period(s) Variable teaching patterns
Available as a free choice unit? No

Overview

Welcome to the course unit. 

You may undertake this course unit as part of your degree pathway, or you may undertake the unit as a "stand alone" course unit. It is a level 6 course and worth 20 credits. 

This course unit is presented as the core unit within the Neonatal Pathway leading to the award of BSc. (Hons) in Nursing/Midwifery/Professional Practice. 

The course unit builds upon the North West Foundations in Neonates Programme or alternatively a pre-course study package, both of these addressing focused areas of study and clinical competencies. The course unit will enable you to provide competent neonatal care for 
infants requiring intensive care within the managed clinical networks. 

Beyond the core course unit, you can undertake a series of twenty credit course units 
including Safeguarding Children and Young People, Leadership and Management and Ethics and Law.

Alternatively you may undertake the forty credit course unit Enhancing Neonatal Nursing Practice.

Aims

Enable staff to meet the complex needs of infants and families requiring Neonatal Intensive Care. (NICU) 

To develop knowledge and skills to support the family unit at times of severe illness and 
stress. 
 
To provide nursing expertise within networks and to local, national and international forums. 

Encourage nurses to become an integral part of research strategies focused on neonatal management, by developing skills to relate current research to present and future practice and to support the exploration of practice and development 
 

Knowledge and understanding

• To ensure knowledge and understanding by critical analysis of disease patterns and 
processes, planning and management of care in the NICU and relating this to 
potential sequelae of care that may affect the intensive care neonate either short or 
long term. 
• To integrate in-depth knowledge of pathophysiology and justify the use of 
technological developments to support homeostasis in the intensive care neonate. 
• To understand and critically evaluate the potential iatrogenic sequelae of disease and be proactive in management to avert such occurrences, thereby minimising distress and discomfort for the neonate and family. 
• To provide support and guidance for colleagues contributing to the enhancement of NICU care.

Intellectual skills

• To support the development of intellectual skills by assessment and critical analysis of 
professional, political and financial drivers that may impact on care, and to support 
exploration and debate of these issues and their integration into relevant health care. 
• To evaluate care strategies and be instrumental in evaluating standards and quality of care and management in Neonatal Intensive Care environments.

 

Practical skills

• To promote the development of practical skills that supports the co-ordination of 
initiation, management, facilitation and evaluation of care given to the NICU baby and 
family. 
• Providing suitable environments and competence in care and management for the neonate and family during episodes of intensive care.

Transferable skills and personal qualities

• To develop transferable skills of critical analysis, promotion and integration of 
management strategies that will empower the nurse to provide excellent holistic care and disseminate this knowledge to their colleagues. 
• Critically explore the needs of the family and be proactive in developing and disseminating flexible and innovative neonatal family practices. 
• To integrate into the neonatal team and to become instrumental in developing and evaluating standards and strategies to promote excellence in care in the Neonatal environment at all levels of care.

Assessment methods

Method Weight
Portfolio 100%

Feedback methods

Students will normally have the opportunity to receive feedback on formative work submitted prior to the summative assessment. Other feedback opportunities will also be available in class and online discussion boards. Online feedback is provided in Grademark. Provisional feedback based on internal marking will be made available prior to the Exam Board on the basis that these marks are yet to be ratified at the Exam Board and therefore may be subject to change. A standard feedback mechanism in Grademark is 
utilised across all postgraduate programmes within the School which provides detailed and constructive feedback on each component and aspect of assessment and identifies areas of strength and those aspects which could be enhanced. 

Student feedback is obtained through open discussion forums on blackboard, in class discussions, via formal University unit evaluation forms and also qualitative, in house evaluations at the end of the unit. 

Study hours

Scheduled activity hours
Lectures 40
Tutorials 2
Independent study hours
Independent study 158

Teaching staff

Staff member Role
Cassie Swire Unit coordinator

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