Examination of the Newborn - 30 credits - 2022/23 Entry - Health CPD courses

Overview

Develop theoretical and practical skills of newborn and infant physical examination (NIPE) examination screening programme within the context of the holistic examination of the baby. You will be supported by lecturers who have clinical integrity and have a national reputation in the field of NIPE. This part time course is delivered using a blended approach of virtual and face to face teaching, offering a flexibility to your learning.

This course is not open to International students.

What's covered in this course?

The course is supported by 6 NIPE teachers who are qualified midwives and newborn and infant physical examination practitioners, many of which still work in clinical practice. The course is designed to meet the PHE training for NIPE practitioners, and the team have presented the module of education to national audiences. Members of the NIPE team also teach local General Practitioners for continuing educational purposes, and are dedicated to ensuring consistency and competence across the multidisciplinary team offering newborn and infant physical examination. You will be taught using a mixture of online lectures, seminars and workshops and these will be via the Moodle platform used by BCU.

In addition, you will have access to clinical skills teaching at City South Campus, Edgbaston. You will develop knowledge of embryology, development and function of the body systems in order to perform clinical assessments of the baby. You will be able to identify normal development, and subsequently identify deviations from normality, and know how to refer appropriately whilst supporting and communicating with parents.. You will explore complex conditions of the newborn infant, aetiology, and critically evaluate how maternal, family and environmental factors contribute to fetal and infant development.

You will be prepared to practice the holistic assessment of the newborn and infant including the current PHE assessment and referral pathways when examining the heart, eyes, hips and testes. You will develop further skills in communication with parents and families, to support them where health promotion opportunities arise. Assessment is via a portfolio of evidence of holistic assessment of 20 babies, production of a critical case study and an Observed Structured Clinical Examination(OSCE).

You will need to secure a newborn infant and physical examiner to support your clinical work, as well as gaining NHS Trust support to undertake the course and access babies. Please seek advice from clinical education managers.

Why Choose Us?

Academic credits may be used for progression towards a Masters
Course offered at level 6 and 7
Excellent NIPE practitioners facilitate the programme
Students study from across the UK and disciplines such as midwifery, neonatal nurses, and specialist practitioners

Fees & How to Apply

Please select your student status to view fees and apply

UK Student
International Student

UK students

Annual and modular tuition fees shown are applicable to the first year of study. The University reserves the right to increase fees for subsequent years of study in line with increases in inflation (capped at 5%) or to reflect changes in Government funding policies or changes agreed by Parliament.

Award: Module

Starting: Feb 2024

Pathway: Level 6

Short Course
20 weeks
£1,566 in 2023/24

Award: Module

Starting: Feb 2024

Pathway: Level 7

Short Course
20 weeks
£1,566 in 2023/24

International students

Sorry, this course is not available to International students.

The University reserves the right to increase fees in line with inflation based on the Retail Prices Index or to reflect changes in Government funding policies or changes agreed by Parliament up to a maximum of five per cent.

Entry requirements

The course is suitable for qualified midwife, nurse, or specialist community public health practitioner (NMC registrants). You must have secured clinical support and you must have evidence of continued professional development during the previous 5 years.

Please ensure that you select the appropriate level when applying.

To study at level 7, you will need to have a proven ability to achieved a minimum degree classification of 2:1 at undergraduate degree level, or be able to demonstrate the ability to study at level 7 before joining the course. This will need to be considered on a case-by–case basis. If you are unsure whether to apply for level 6 or level 7, please contact the course lead, Maggie Prain.

How to apply

Please follow the BCU online application process. You will need to have evidence of your NMC qualification . To study at level 7 , you will need your degree classification. You will need to provide a clinical reference and in addition complete the form that states you have clinical support to access the NHS trust to assess babies. For further information you can contact Maggie Prain as course lead.

Course in Depth

How you will learn

As there is blended approach to learning, you will need to have access to a computer with capability to use Microsoft teams, and to access the BCU moodle learning platform. You will need to have microphone and camera ability.

The course duration is 20 weeks long and you will have 10 scheduled days of teaching spread over approximately 12 weeks. The other weeks allow for preparation for assessment and continuation of clinical practice. You will be able to participate in lectures, practical skills classes on campus, workshops, and peer group learning. Neonatal consultants, physiotherapists, clinical practitioners,, support groups and families will be invited to sessions to facilitate learning and discussion.

Some of your sessions will be organised as online teaching and will be via Microsoft Teams and the Moodle online learning platform. You will be given guidance on accessing these. The library has extensive ebooks and resources, and you will also be required to access electronic library for health resources such as the PHE newborn and infant physical examination modules, and avoiding term admissions to neonatal unit. The course uses problem based scenarios to help you to apply your knowledge, and there is a requirement that you undertake preparatory work for all taught sessions. The course team consider it is essential that you organise a supportive practice learning environment to gain the opportunity to conduct and be assessed in clinical proficiency undertaking 20 complete newborn infant examinations.

You will log your practice and must be assessed as a pass in clinical practice by your clinical assessor. You will demonstrate depth and breadth of learning by choosing to review one or more of the clinical cases that you have encountered to structure an academic account. You will be given guidance on how to structure this work, which will be dependant on the level of study. You will need to access and appraise current national and international evidence that informs clinical decision making for the accountable newborn and infant physical examiner, whilst ensuring the principles of the NMC Code (2015, updated 2018 ) are maintained when planning and managing care.

Course dates are*:

29/02/2024
01/03/2024
07/03/2024
08/03/2024
14/03/2024
15/03/2024
21/03/2024
22/03/2024
18/04/2024
13/06/2024
Assessment - 8-12/07/2024

*please note, these are subject to change

Course specifications

Level 6

Level 7

Facilities & Staff

Our Facilities

Our School of Nursing and Midwifery is based at our City South campus in leafy Edgbaston.

We’ve spent £41million expanding our facilities at City South. These facilities offer hands-on practical experience, replicating the spaces you will come across in professional practice.

In a sector where new techniques are constantly being discovered, we work hard to ensure that you learn using the most up-to-date equipment available. Alongside physical spaces such as a mock operating theatre and wards, we also make use of online and virtual technology, such as our virtual ward and virtual case creator.

See more of our skills facilities at City South

Centre for Skills and Simulation

The Centre for Skills and Simulation offers a range of different spaces which replicate situations that you will encounter in practice. These include hospital wards, an operating theatre and a home environment room.

Our mock wards enable you to get a feel of what a ward is really like before you head out for your first placement. The hospital wards can be adapted from low care to high dependency care environment with the necessary monitoring equipment.

The home environment room is the perfect space for teaching communications skills and allows us to simulate a community setting for our students. It is particularly useful for mental health nurses, learning disability nurses and midwives.

Simulation Manikins

We have several Simulation men (SIM men) and simulation babies (SIM babies) which are anatomically correct manikins used for teaching specific techniques such as advanced adult and paediatric life support skills, acute and high dependency clinical skills, first aid and communication skills. The manikins contain software which replicates real symptoms, and can manipulate indicators such as blood pressure, pulse and heart rate for extra realism. SIM man can even ‘talk’ to the students as they are treating him, to add another dimension to learning.

Computer Facilities

The Seacole building has two open-access IT Suites which offer PCs, printers, photocopiers and scanners. There is also an IT Helpdesk for quick and easy help with your computing or internet issues.

Our PCs utilise the latest Intel i5 core technology, all with:

Fast (unrestricted) internet connectivity
Ability to save files to USB, DVD & CD
Microsoft Office software
Research and statistical software
Storage space which can be accessed from any PC across the University and from home

Our PCs are also designed to support students who may have difficulties with reading and writing, featuring specialised software with zooming/magnification and screen reading capabilities, which may also be customised for individual student needs.

In addition to desktop PCs, we also offer a laptop loan facility, allowing students to borrow a laptop for up to six hours while on campus.

Our staff

Maggie Prain

Senior Lecturer of Nursing & Midwifery

Maggie began full time lecturing in 2003 and has been the programme director for the BSc (Hons)/Graduate Diploma in midwifery 20-month programme since 2006 -2013. She is now also the programme director for the Examination of the newborn programme

More about Maggie

Natasha Carr

Senior Midwifery Lecturer

A a senior lecturer in the Midwifery Department, Natasha is responsible for providing, supporting and facilitating teaching and learning on both the long and short BSc (Hons) Midwifery Programmes. In addition, Natasha teaches alongside colleagues on the Examination of the Newborn Programme and lead the Professional Midwifery Advocate (A-EQUIP)...

More about Natasha

Enquiries

Course enquiries

For all course enquiries please contact the module leader, Maggie Prain on:

Margaret.Prain@bcu.ac.uk