Studying with us in 2020/21
While the majority of our teaching will be carried out face-to-face this year, you will be taught as part of a blended learning approach. This means that you will have a mix of on-campus and online learning. Find out more about learning and teaching in 2020/21.
Once you have you have completed your Foundation Course in neonates, the Critical Care pathway will develop your career in neonatal nursing with confidence and skill. The course aims to broaden your knowledge in clinical practice and physiology. This enables confidence to work as a competent practitioner within the speciality and become key to getting the best outcome for neonates and their families.
During the programme you are given the clinical based knowledge which will be reinforced by some sessions being delivered by experts within the area. The broader issues associated with such an emotional area of work are often overlooked. The course will attempt to introduce you to key aspects of this to enable you to consider how you will manage these issues in the future. This will also enable you to assist others who need your support.
This clinical based knowledge will be underpinned by supporting physiology that will be delivered by an experienced physiologist and expert in the field. This depth of expertise will reinforce the appreciation of the families’ situation and increase your satisfaction.
Learning and assessing is carried out with the overview of delivering skills that you will benefit from being able to use throughout your career; such as being able to make a poster to display at a conference.
Sessions are delivered at Birmingham City University's City South Campus, to encourage the use of the facilities available to support your learning. Support for all types of learning are provided on campus and online to enable you to maximise the experience of being a student on this campus.
If you are completing the MSc Professional Practice, you may be able to take advantage of the government’s plans to make loans of up to £10,609 available for postgraduate study.
Visit our School site for more student work and extra information.
Award:
Starting: Dec 2020
Sorry, this course is not available to International students.
If you're unable to use the online form for any reason, you can complete our PDF application form and equal opportunities PDF form instead. 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.
Following the introduction of the 2018/9 regulations students are required to complete a minimum of 100 credits at BCU to be awarded a degree. Therefore students who did not complete their Dip H.E. or 240 credits at the institution will need to complete a 40 credit level 5 portfolio module in addition to 60 credits at level 6.
Students who think this applies to them are advised to contact the Professional Navigators to discuss further.
You can choose to study this programme as a complete pathway award (full or part-time) or as a standalone module, dependent on your individual need and the needs of your organisation. All programmes offer a convenient part-time format to fit around home and work commitments
Complete the online application form via the link above, including the name of the pathway or module you are enrolling onto.
The assessment in the module 'Reflective Applications of Neonatal Critical Care' is a poster, which will require printing to be paid for.
Have a look at all of our professional practice healthcare routes available
In order to complete this route a student must successfully complete all the following CORE modules (totalling 100 credits):
Year 1 Pathway Award – Exit Award: Grad Cert / BSc Professional Practice (Neonatal Critical Care)
Year 2 Pathway Award (BSc (Hons) Only) – Exit Award: BSc (Hons) Professional Practice (Neonatal Critical Care)
In order to complete this route a student must successfully complete at least 20 credits from the List of Additional Optional Modules* for Year 2.
*Any appropriate module (relevant to Pathway / Speciality) from University / Faculty portfolio as agreed with the Pathway Leader.
In order to complete this route a student must successfully complete all the following CORE modules (totalling 100 credits):
Year 1 Pathway Award – Exit Award: PG Cert Professional Practice (Neonatal Critical Care)
Year 2 Pathway Award - Exit Award: PG Dip Professional Practice (Neonatal Critical Care)
In order to complete this route a student must successfully complete at least 20 credits from the List of Additional Optional Modules* for Year 2.
*Any appropriate module (relevant to Pathway / Speciality) from University / Faculty portfolio as agreed with the Pathway Leader.
Year 3 Pathway Award – Exit Award: MSc Professional Practice (Neonatal Critical Care)
Option 1
In order to complete this route a student must successfully complete the following CORE module (totalling 60 credits):
Option 2
In order to complete this route a student must successfully complete the following CORE module (totalling 40 credits):
In order to complete this route a student must also successfully complete at least 20 credits from ‘this list of additional optional modules* for Year 1 and Year 2.
*Any appropriate module (relevant to Pathway / Speciality) from University / Faculty portfolio as agreed with the Pathway Leader.
Post Registration Education Provider of the Year
Download the course dates for all of our Professional Practice modules here.
We are constantly investing in our estate and are currently in the process of spending £340 million on new learning facilities.
We boast up-to-date, innovative facilities that simulate the real situations that medical staff may come across.
These resources are essential in offering students a hands-on introduction to health and social care practice. Much of our teaching is carried out within our state-of-the-art, £30m Seacole Building, which houses cutting-edge facilities.
Take a virtual tour of our skills suites at Seacole
In a sector where new techniques are constantly being discovered, we work hard to ensure that students learn using the most up-to-date equipment available. These include the only mock operating theatre in an English university and a cutting-edge radiography virtual clinical training facility, virtual ward and virtual case creator.
For pre-registration nurses and midwives, Virtual Case Creator software contains a range of scenarios to let you experience birthing situations and decide on appropriate interventions in a safe environment.
Our mock wards enable you to get a feel of what a ward is really like before you head out for your first placement. They contain ‘Sim Men’, which are demonstration dummies that develop ailments, allowing you to treat them as you would a real patient and build your confidence in reacting to the changing needs of patients.
The Hospital Ward can be adapted from a low care to high dependency care environment with the necessary monitoring equipment.
Part of the package is our SIM baby, SIM man and Mega code kid. There are also nursing manikins for fundamental skills teaching and various equipment to support essential skills teaching, such as blood pressure monitoring venepuncture and cannulation equipment.
The SPACE (Skills Practice And Care Enhancement) learning facility lets you further practice the skills taught in class, at your own pace and convenience.
It is fully stocked with the specialist items and equipment needed for procedures such as taking blood pressure, giving an injection, abdominal examination of a pregnant woman and caring for ill babies in an incubator.
We have recently installed new laboratory facilities to help you explore understand the scientific principles underpinning many of our courses. The physiology laboratory is equipped to help you learn about the way the human body works by performing investigative experiments. The biomedical science laboratory is undergoing an upgrade over the summer and will allow you to learn about anatomy, cellular processes, immunology and enzymology in a hands-on way that links directly to day-to-day health care.
We have several Simulation men (SIM men) and Simulation babies (SIM babies) which are leading edge, 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 SIM men and SIM baby manikins are complete with software, which is used to replicate real symptoms, and are enhanced by the manipulation of for example blood pressure, pulse and heart rate for extra realism. SIM Man can also “talk” to the students which adds another dimension to their use in teaching clinical skills and in simulation exercises.
The Seacole library, based at City South Campus, is one of the UK's largest specialist health education libraries. The state-of-the art facility offers an extensive range of range of information and reference materials set out in a relaxing environment, conducive to studying. There are comfortable seating areas, group study areas, a silent study area and private study rooms.
The Seacole building houses a large open access IT Suite which comprises of 96 PCs, full colour printers, photocopiers and scanners. Our PCs utilise the latest Intel i5 core technology, all with:
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.
The IT Suite offers extended opening hours and is supported by a specialist Open Access Assistant during term time. In addition to the open access PCs within the IT Suite, there are 12 networked student PCs available within Seacole library.
Sue Ward-Smith is a Senior Lecturer in Neonatal Nursing.
Her career in neonatal care began in the 1980s, shortly after Sue qualified as an adult nurse. Accepting a placement on a neonatal unit, Sue began to specialise in the subject and completed a City & Guilds teaching course at the turn of the 1990s. She was then offered the opportunity to run the neonatal award at Birmingham City University, which led to a permanent offer of employment. Sue has also gained experience as a child field admissions tutor, expanding her experiences and broadening her skills.
The Dimensions in Health Care Neonatal Award has recruited staff from neonatal units across a wide geographical area, and continues to receive positive feedback from managers and students alike.
For all course enquiries please contact the Neonatal Critical Care Pathway Leader, Sue Ward-Smith on:
Any applicant must be in a job that enables them to care for sick and premature newborn and must have a qualification that enables them to work within a neonatal unit setting as a qualified member of the team. A minimum of six months.
The Professional Practice Programme consists of a selection of modules that can be studied on their own or as part of an award. For help in deciding which modules to study or your outcome award please contact our Professional Navigators on navigator@bcu.ac.uk
Have a look at all of our professional practice healthcare routes available