Nursing - Learning Disabilities and Child - Dual Award - MSci

UCAS Code: 1045
Level: Undergraduate
Starting: September 2021
Study mode: Full Time (4 years)
Location: City South

Studying with us in 2021/22

It is possible that the 2021/22 academic year may be affected by the ongoing disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Any arrangements put in place by the University for the 2021/22 academic year will be in accordance with the latest government public health advice, pandemic-related/health and safety legislation, and the terms and conditions of the student contract.

Overview
Entry Requirements
Fees & How to Apply
Course in Depth
Employability
Facilities & Staff

Our Integrated Master's in Nursing – Dual Award is run alongside, and integrates, with our BSc (Hons) Nursing programme. Through this four-year programme, you will learn alongside students from different fields of nursing (Adult, Mental Health, Learning Disabilities and Child) and have tailored support to help you achieve the Master's element of the course.

As a dual award course, you will spend time on placement in different hospital and clinical settings across the West Midlands area to help you qualify in your chosen fields of nursing.

The course is accredited by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) and you will be able to apply for Registered Nurse status in two fields of nursing on successful completion of the course. The reference to ‘dual award’ indicates the professional NMC dual registration you will be eligible for on successful completion.

What's covered in the course?

In the first two years you will study with BSc (Hons) Nursing students on modules with integrated theoretical content, learning about all fields of nursing - Adult, Child, Mental Health and Learning Disabilities. The early part of the course aimed at developing your confidence and competence in working with and caring for people of all ages across the lifespan, with a range of health needs.

During the third and fourth year, the course focuses on your dual award. You will take learning disabilities and child nursing specific modules aligned to practice placements, which will help to build on your previous learning and develop proficiency in your chosen fields of practice. These modules will help develop you as a leader and critical thinker to apply research-informed, evidence-based care, to plan, evaluate and coordinate care, supervise other health professionals and gain confidence in the safe management of medication.

You will also benefit from having personalised, field specific academic and clinical support and bespoke action learning sets to accelerate research-informed evidence-based decision-making.

Your placement learning experiences may be within community, hospital or home environment settings and at a location anywhere within the West Midlands and potentially into neighbouring counties, particularly for the Learning Disability field placements. While on placement, you will be supported, supervised and assessed by practice and academic staff to develop your knowledge and skills.

We are committed to providing excellent, innovative, learning, teaching and assessment experiences through the use of technology, which we use to enhance your learning, through lectures, seminars, skills simulation and virtual learning. Engaging with practice partners and service users is also integral to our approach.

Our MSci Nursing dual award course has been designed to comply with the new Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) standards (2018) meaning that successful completion of this course makes you eligible to apply and be entered onto the NMC register in two of the four fields of nursing, Learning Disabilities and Child.

Why Choose Us?

Funding - Nursing students will receive at least £5,000 a year in additional funding for maintenance and associated study costs. Download the funding FAQs
Excellent employability rate - over 99 per cent of our graduates are studying or in work within six months (DLHE 2016/17)
You will study at our recently extended £71 million City South Campus, complete with real-life hospital environments and simulation equipment so you can practice your practical skills at all times – not just on placement
Birmingham is one of the UK’s most diverse cities outside of London, which provides you with a wide variety of experience that will be valuable to take forward into your future career.
Opportunities to go abroad, if this is something you would like to explore during your time studying with us
Student finance - have you already had a student loan to study an undergraduate degree but would like to do a second degree in nursing, midwifery or the allied health professions? You may still be eligible for funding

Similar Courses

Students outside Millennium Point

Open Days

Our Virtual Open Day for this course will take place on 22 November 2020. Book now and we will email you with a link to the Virtual Open Day for your subject area of choice.

Register your interest

This course is not open to International students

Course Accreditations

Entry Requirements

We accept a range of qualifications, the most popular of which are detailed below.

Essential Requirements

Level 2 Qualifications
128 UCAS tariff points from A/AS Level
UK Qualification	Requirements 2021/22
GCSE	Three subjects at grade C/4 or above Must include Mathematics, English language and Health and Social Care or Science subject Level 2 equivalent qualifications (e.g. Functional Skills) are accepted Must have been achieved at the point of enrolment Preference is given to applicants who have obtained these grades on application
BTEC Level 2 Diploma	Pass Health and Social Care, Sport or Science subject Must have been achieved at the point of enrolment Must be considered alongside GCSE or equivalent in Mathematics and English Language
BTEC Level 2 Extended Certificate	Pass Health and Social Care, Sport or Science subject Must have been achieved at the point of enrolment Must be considered alongside GCSE or equivalent in Mathematics and English Language Preference is given to applicants who have obtained these grades on application
Functional Skills/ Essential Skills level 2	Pass Mathematics and English Language Must have been achieved at the point of enrolment Must be considered alongside GCSE or equivalent in Health and Social Care or Science subject Preference is given to applicants who have obtained these grades on application
Key Skills level 2	Pass Application of Number and Communcation Must have been achieved at the point of enrolment Must be considered alongside GCSE or equivalent in Health and Social Care or Science subject Preference is given to applicants who have obtained these grades on application
Irish Leaving Certificate (Ordinary Level)	See level 3 entry under Irish Leaving Certificate for full details
Scottish Intermediate 2	Three subjects at grade C or above Must include Mathematics, English language and Health and Social Care or Science subject Must have been achieved at the point of enrolment Preference is given to applicants who have obtained these grades on application
Scottish Credit Standard Grade	Three subjects at grade 2 or above Must include Mathematics, English language and Health and Social Care or Science subject Must have been achieved at the point of enrolment Preference is given to applicants who have obtained these grades on application
Scottish National 5	Three subjects at grade C or above Must include Mathematics, English language and Health and Social Care or Science subject Must have been achieved at the point of enrolment Preference is given to applicants who have obtained these grades on application
IELTS	Applicants who have not received their secondary school education in English will require an overall IELTS score of 6.5, with no subtest below 6 If English is studied at GCSE Level but as a second language, IELTS must be completed to qualify for UK L2 requirement
Level 3 (and above) Qualifications
UK Qualification	Requirements 2021/22
A level and Advanced VCE	ABB / 128 UCAS points Including Health and Social Care, Psychology, Social Science or Science subject at A-level or Level 3 equivalent Excluding General Studies, Critical Thinking and Extended Project A maximum of 3 subjects are considered. These can be other A-levels or Level 3 equivalents
Access to HE Diploma	Health or Science related pathway Pass with 60 credits overall. At least 45 credits at Level 3 with 30 credits at Merit or Distinction (of which 24 must be in a Science or Health related subject) If applying with an Access course you only need GCSE Mathematics and English Language at grade C/4 or above or accepted equivalent. You are not required to hold three GCSEs in total and GCSE Science is not required
British bachelor's degree	Minimum 2.2 at full honours Considered on an individual basis
Pearson BTEC National Extended Diploma (2016 – present) Pearson BTEC Extended Diploma (QCF) (2010 - 2016) BTEC Level 3 National Diploma (2002 – 2010)	DDD Must be in either Health and Social Care or Science subject
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Diploma (2016 – present) Pearson BTEC Diploma (QCF) (2010 – 2016) BTEC Level 3 National Certificate (2002 – 2010)	128 UCAS points Considered with one A-level or an equivalent level 3 qualification Either the BTEC level 3 National Diploma or the accompanying A-level / level 3 equivalent must be in Health and Social Care, Psychology, Social Science or a relevant Science subject (e.g. Applied Science, Biology, Chemistry, Physics)
Pearson BTEC National Foundation Diploma (2016 to present) Pearson BTEC 90-Credit Diploma (QCF) (2010 - 2016)	128 UCAS points Considered with one A-level or an equivalent level 3 qualification Either the BTEC level 3 National Foundation Diploma or the accompanying A-level / level 3 equivalent must be in Health and Social Care, Psychology, Social Science or a relevant Science subject (e.g. Applied Science, Biology, Chemistry, Physics)
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Certificate (2016 – present) Pearson BTEC Subsidiary Diploma (QCF) (2010 - 2016) BTEC Level 3 National Award (2002 - 2010)	128 UCAS points Considered with two A-levels or equivalent level 3 qualification(s) Either the BTEC level 3 National Extended Certificate or one of the accompanying A-levels / level 3 equivalents must be in Health and Social Care, Psychology, Social Science or a relevant Science subject (e.g. Applied Science, Biology, Chemistry, Physics)
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Certificate (2016 - present) BTEC Level 3 Certificate (QCF) (2010 - 2016)	128 UCAS points Considered with two A-levels or equivalent level 3 qualification(s) Either the BTEC level 3 National Certificate or one of the accompanying A-levels / level 3 equivalents must be in Health and Social Care, Psychology, Social Science or a relevant Science subject (e.g. Applied Science, Biology, Chemistry, Physics)
NCFE CACHE Level 3 Diploma in Child Care and Education NCFE CACHE Level 3 Diploma in Childcare and Education (Early Years Educator) (from September 2014) NCFE CACHE Technical Level 3 Diploma in Childcare and Education (Early Years Educator)	Grade A overall
NCFE CACHE Level 3 Extended Diploma for Children’s Care, Learning and Development (Wales and Northern Ireland)	Grade A overall
NCFE CACHE Level 3 Extended Diploma for the Children and Young People’s Workforce	Grade A overall
NCFE CACHE Level 3 Diploma in Early Years Education and Care (Early Years Educator) NCFE CACHE Technical Level 3 Diploma in Early Years Education and Care (Early Years Educator)	128 UCAS points
NCFE CACHE Level 3 Extended Diploma in Health and Social Care NCFE CACHE Technical Level 3 Extended Diploma in Health and Social Care	Grade A overall
City and Guilds Level 3 Advanced Technical Extended Diploma (1080)	128 UCAS points Must be in Health and Social Care
International Baccalaureate Diploma	Obtain a minimum of 32 points overall with grade 4 or above in at least one Higher Level subject from Group 4 (Biology, Chemistry and Physics) For students who do not already hold a GCSE in Mathematics at Grade C/4 or above, we will accept grade 5 in Maths (Standard Level) from the IB Diploma For students who do not already hold a GCSE in English Language at Grade C/4 or above, we will accept Standard Level English Language (not literature) English A - Grade 4 or above or English B - Grade 5 from the IB
Irish Leaving Certificate (Highers)	Pass the Irish Leaving Certificate with a minimum of 128 tariff points, achieved in five Higher level subjects. This must include Maths and English Language taken at either Ordinary level (minimum grade O1-O4 (or A-C/A1-C3)) or Higher level (minimum grade H1-H7 (or A-D/A1-D3)) Must include a Health, Psychology, Social Science or Science related subject at Higher level
OCR Cambridge Technical Extended Diploma	DDD Must be in Health and Social Care or Applied Science
OCR Cambridge Technical Diploma	128 UCAS points Considered with one A-level or an equivalent level 3 qualification Either the OCR Level 3 Cambridge Technical Diploma or the accompanying A-level / level 3 equivalent must be in Health and Social Care, Psychology, Social Science or Science subject (e.g. Applied Science, Biology, Chemistry, Physics)
OCR Level 3 Cambridge Technical Foundation Diploma (2016 - present) OCR Level 3 Cambridge Technical Subsidiary Diploma (until-2016)	128 UCAS points Considered with one A-level or an equivalent level 3 qualification Either the OCR Level 3 Cambridge Technical Foundation Diploma or the accompanying A-level / level 3 equivalent must be in Health and Social Care, Psychology, Social Science or Science subject (e.g. Applied Science, Biology, Chemistry, Physics)
OCR Level 3 Cambridge Technical Extended Certificate (2016 – present) OCR Level 3 Cambridge Technical Introductory Diploma (until 2016)	128 UCAS points Considered with two A-level or equivalent level 3 qualification(s) Either the OCR level 3 Cambridge Technical Extended Certificate or one of the accompanying A-levels / level 3 equivalents must be in Health and Social Care, Psychology, Social Science or Science subject (e.g. Applied Science, Biology, Chemistry, Physics)
Open University courses	Considered on an individual basis Must be in K101 - An Introduction to Health and Social Care
Scottish Advanced Higher	Achieve a minimum of 128 tariff points achieved in either three Advanced Highers or from a combination of two Advanced Highers plus two Highers. Where three Advanced Highers have been taken achieve a minimum of grades CCC. Where a combination of Highers and Advanced Highers have been taken you must achieve (grades of CC in two Advanced Highers plus grades of CC in two Highers). Must include a Health, Psychology, Social Science or Science subject at Higher level or above
T-Levels	128 UCAS points (Distinction overall) Must be in either Healthcare Science or Science
Advanced Welsh Baccalaureate - Skills Challenge Certificate (first teaching September 2015)	128 UCAS points Considered with two A-level or equivalent level 3 qualification(s) One of the A-level / equivalent qualifications being taken must be in Health and Social Care, Psychology, Social Science or Science subject (e.g Applied Science, Biology, Chemistry, Physics)
Welsh Baccalaureate Advanced Diploma – Core (awarded until 2016) ESW/KS Combined component	128 UCAS points Considered with two A-level or equivalent level 3 qualification(s) One of the A-level / equivalent qualifications being taken must be in Health and Social Care, Psychology, Social Science or Science subject (e.g Applied Science, Biology, Chemistry, Physics)
Other qualifications
If you have a qualification that is not listed in the table please refer to our full entry requirements on UCAS. Qualifications that are not listed will be considered on an individual basis. Applicants require: Satisfactory Disclosure and Barring Scheme (DBS) report Satisfactory Occupational Health clearance Recent relevant study to GCE A-level standard or above must have been completed within five years of the course intake date the applicant is applying for. Further guidance on tariff points can be found on the UCAS website. International candidates: Those who meet residency/academic requirements of UK students but whose language is not English will need to hold IELTS with an overall score of at least 7.0. In addition You must provide evidence of having been in general education for a minimum of 10 years You must provide evidence of study within the last five years No offers are made without a face-to-face interview All offers are subject to satisfactory Occupational Health Clearance, Disclosure and Barring Service report and, registration with Independent Safeguarding Authority You should be aware that qualifications, personal statement, interview and references all form part of the selection criteria for this course I really want to become a nurse but do not meet your entry requirements. What advice can you give me? All applicants must meet our academic entry requirements in order to be considered for the course If you do not have sufficient Level 2 and Level 3 qualifications we advise you to consider undertaking a course which will give you the opportunity to gain the correct entry criteria. For example, an access course in a health/science-related field at your local further education college. This course contains the right mix of level 3 and level 2 qualifications which allow you to access higher education Alternatively, you could undertake the Open University K101 course, as long as you have the appropriate GCSE qualifications (as defined in our entry criteria) with another level 3 qualification

UK students
International students

Award: MSci

Starting: Sep 2021

Full Time
4 years
TBC
Apply via UCAS

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.

Funding

From August 2020, nursing professional degree students will receive at least £5,000 a year in funding support.

Find out more about the funding available

Download the funding FAQs

Personal statement

Your personal statement is a highly important part of your application. It gives you a crucial opportunity to say why you’re applying and why the institution should accept you.

Here are the key areas you’ll need to address:

Course choice

Why does this course appeal? What areas are of particular interest?

Career plans

If you have a specific career in mind, say how your chosen course will help you pursue this goal.

Work experience

Mention any work that is relevant to your subject, highlighting the skills and experience gained.

School or college experience

Highlight skills gained at school/college, eg summer schools or mentoring activities.

Non-accredited skills or achievement

eg Duke of Edinburgh Award, Young Enterprise scheme.

You should also mention your future plans – if you’re planning to take a year out, don't forget to give your reasons. Talk about any subjects you’re studying that don’t have a formal assessment and any sponsorships or placements you’ve applied for. And don't be scared to add in details about your social, sports or leisure interests.

Get more information on writing personal statements.

Additional costs

We offer a wide range of professionally accredited and vocational courses that require the purchase of, among other things, uniforms, equipment, subscriptions, professional body memberships and DBS checks, and may require you to pay to attend conferences or participate in placements.

The link below provides our estimate of the possible costs associated with key activities on specific courses. Please bear in mind that these are only estimates of costs based on past student experience and feedback. The actual costs to you could vary considerably (either greater or lower than these estimates) depending on your choices as you progress through the course. We set out where we can, based on experience, where these indicative costs are for activities that are optional or compulsory.

All our students are provided with 100 free pages of printing each year to a maximum total value of £15.

Find additional costs for your course

Accommodation and living costs

The cost of accommodation and other living costs are not included within your course fees. More information on the cost of accommodation can be found in our accommodation pages.

Work Experience

We understand that it is difficult to obtain work experience in the current situation and the restrictions in place. If you are unable to obtain work experience relevant to your course, this will not affect your application. If you do want to gain some experience to help prepare you for your course, there are other options available. The UCAS website details a range of alternative activities that you might want to consider.

UCAS

Financial Support

We offer further information on possible undergraduate financial support. This includes the type of loans, grants and scholarships available both from the government and from Birmingham City University.

Personal Statement Tip

You need to demonstrate your interest in both of the fields of nursing mentioned in the MSci award you’re applying for.

Year One

In order to fully complete this course and be eligible for application for entry onto the NMC register, a student must successfully achieve all 480 credits.

What is Nursing?

20 credits

The NMC standards aim to ensure that nurses are able to work in ways that are not only fit for today, but also for the future. Nurses are being asked to undertake more complex roles than ever before in an evolving health and care landscape requiring a depth and breadth of a range of topics (Smith, 2017). This module aims to provide an introduction to fundamental nursing knowledge and skills, as well as develop a pride in the profession and the role of the nurse.

Providing and Evaluating Care

20 credits

This module will focus specifically on the final stages of the nursing process which includes a systematic and collaborative approach to providing and evaluating care for people and families across the lifespan. You will learn how to support individuals and if appropriate their families and carers, to make informed choices through effective communication, relationship management skills and shared decision making. You will develop an evidence based approach to working in partnership with people, families and carers to continuously monitor, evaluate and reassess the effectiveness of all agreed nursing care plans and readjust agreed goals as necessary.

Introduction to Leadership and Teamwork

20 credits

The aim of this module is to help you start to enhance your skills in leadership, management and team-working, in addition to the development of your ability to promote health and assist people to modify their lifestyles to enhance healthier lives. Nurses are leaders who are participative, facilitative and emotionally intelligent. Effective leadership styles contribute to team cohesion, lower stress, and higher empowerment and self-efficacy. Leadership is a predictor of quality outcomes in health care settings. Authentic leaders offer good role modelling consistent with ethical values and vision for health care. They offer individualised consideration of staff, provide motivation and stimulate creativity and innovation (RCN 2017).

Assessing Needs and Planning Care

20 credits

Good nursing care is based on the identification of the needs of the person and should be appropriate to the nursing context in which the assessment takes place (DH, 2014). This module will focus specifically on the first two steps of the cyclical nursing process, a model that helps to deliver appropriate and effective care and resolve peoples’ needs by setting goals. Undertaking a comprehensive assessment is the first stage of the nursing process and one in which the nurse is required to ensure the person and, if appropriate, their family and carers are fully involved. A thorough assessment enables the second stage of the nursing process; that of planning care. It is at this stage that person-centred, holistic care can then be identified prior to the third and fourth stages of the process, which are known as providing and evaluating care.

Professional Practice 1

40 credits

The module provides you with an introduction to and ongoing support for practice elements of your programme. The module is designed to enable you to achieve practice proficiencies within your chosen field of practice through ongoing guided participation in care within the practice setting. The module offers preparation, development and consolidation to grow your confidence and acquire competence within the practice learning environment.

You will be able to practice and develop your nursing skills within a safe, supportive environment, participate in teaching and learning sessions that support begin to allow you to identify and reflect on your own learning needs and experiences in practice.

Year Two

Complex Care 1: Assessing and Planning

20 credits

This module aims to provide you with the knowledge and strategies to develop problem solving and decision making skills. These skills will enable you to undertake the assessment and planning of complex situations and health conditions across the life span in a variety of nursing settings.

Complex Care 2: Providing and Evaluating Care

20 credits

This module builds on previous learning to further advance your knowledge and skills to provide holistic care across a variety of care settings. You will explore theory in order to lead, deliver and evaluate complex care for a range of service users across the lifespan. Expanding on the modules in level four and complex care 1, you will continue to develop nursing care which is person centred, encompasses empowerment, uses effective communication and employs evidence based interventions.

Improving Quality and Safety in a Global Context

20 credits

In this module, you will get the opportunity to focus on issues of quality and safety in health care, incorporating a public health perspective in both a national and global context. Building on level four modules you will further your understanding of health policy, exploring what influences public health and causes health inequalities. Well-being as a concept will be further explored particularly in relation to sexual health, as will the service users/patient’s capacity to manage their own health and the role of the nurse in assisting patients/service users to make behaviour changes. This will also build on the work done in previous modules on empowerment and person and family centred care.

Leadership and Co-ordinating Care

20 credits

The NMC (2018) and HEE stress nursing leadership is a core nursing role in the delivery of modern health services. You will build on the skills developed at level four to further consider nursing leadership, legal aspects of nursing and management strategies required in contemporary health and social care settings.

Professional Practice 2

40 credits

The module provides you with the opportunity for further development and ongoing support for practice elements of your programme. The module is designed to enable you to achieve within your chosen field of practice through ongoing guided participation in care within the practice setting. The module offers year 2 preparation, development and consolidation to support confidence and competence within the practice learning environment.

Year Three

Nursing Care: Children and Young People

20 credits

This module will build on the knowledge and skills developed at levels 4 and 5. The role of the nurse is to play a key role in improving and maintaining the mental, physical, cognitive, behavioural, social and spiritual health whilst working in partnership with the infant, child, young person and their family. We will help you further develop the skills learnt throughout the course in order to prioritise the needs of the child and family when assessing and reviewing all aspects of health and well-being. We will support you in learning how to interpret increasingly advanced assessments, how to respond, identify, plan and coordinate care that fulfils the needs of each child and family whilst ensuring evidence-based practice underpins your decisions.

Medicines Management and Applied Physiology in Children and Young Peoples' Nursing

20 credits

This module aims to build on previous modules to prepare you to recognise and demonstrate accountability and professionalism in relation to pharmacology and medicines management. Understanding the importance of safe medication use in children and young people is paramount due to the complexities of prescribing and administration. Throughout the module you will be expected to debate strategies relating to medication concordance, family centred care, shared decision making and evaluation.

Leadership and Decision Making in Children and Young Peoples’ Nursing

20 credits

This module aims to help you examine your identity as a leader in children and young peoples’ health services. Caring for children young people and their families has recently been met with an unprecedented pace of change and increasing levels of complexity and demand for services. Therefore provision of effective leadership is more important than ever before. As a result of these changes and to meet service demand, a number of new roles have been developed and introduced to the nursing workforce.

Delivering High Quality, Safe Nursing Care for Children, Young People and their Families

20 credits

This module aims to consolidate your risk assessment, decision making and appraisal skills to ensure safety and quality of nursing practice across a variety of settings. You will be equipped with the skills and knowledge to work in partnership with a range of professionals, interdisciplinary teams and most importantly the child, young person and their family. Through examination of your knowledge and experience, you will be expected to strengthen your emotional intelligence and resilience. Additionally, you will be supported to provide evidence-based rationales for the judgements that you make in complex, rapidly changing environments. This will enable you to think critically, apply knowledge and skills to deliver evidence based, high quality, safe family-centred care working in partnership with the child or young person.

Professional Practice 3

40 credits

The module provides you with further development and ongoing support for practice elements of your programme. The module is designed to enable you to achieve within your chosen field of practice. This will be through ongoing supervision and by practising independently with minimal supervision within the practice setting. The module offers year 3 preparation, development and consolidation to support confidence and competence within the practice learning environment.

Year Four

Appraising Nursing Care: Learning Disabilities

20 credits

This module aims to equip you to identify the holistic needs of the person with a learning disability and produce an evidence-based, co-ordinated, person-centred package of care that takes into consideration all current and future care needs of an individual with learning disabilities.

Medicines Management and Applied Physiology in Learning Disabilities Nursing

20 credits

This module aims to equip you with a secure understanding of physiology and systems of the body, focusing on specific health needs of people with learning disabilities, which will enable the assessment and provision of evidence based care and interventions. It also aims to develop your ability to critically appraise the use of medication amongst people with learning disabilities and ensure that legal, ethical and professional issues are considered.

Leadership and Decision Making in Learning Disabilities Nursing

20 credits

This module aims to help you examine your identity as a leader, leadership theory, policy and research to guide the management of care as a learning disabilities nurse. Caring for people with a learning disability in the health and social care setting has recently been met with an unprecedented pace of change and increasing levels of complexity and demand for services. Therefore provision of effective leadership in learning disabilities nursing is more important than ever before. As a result of these changes and to meet service demand, a number of new roles have been developed and introduced to the nursing workforce.

Delivering High Quality, Safe Nursing Care for People with Learning Disabilities

20 credits

This module aims to consolidate your risk assessment, decision making and appraisal skills to ensure safety and quality of care for people with learning disabilities across a range of areas. This is especially important for the learning disabilities nurse, because your role is central to ensuring equality of access to health care services for people with learning disabilities. The module supports you in becoming equipped with the skills and knowledge to work in partnership with a range of professionals, interdisciplinary teams and most importantly the service user, carer and family.

Professional Practice 4

40 credits

Course Structure

Year One

As an undergraduate, the first year prepares you for further study and facilitates your understanding of the principles which underpin nursing. This is supported by numerous placement learning experiences over the year.

Your University Modules are taught and assessed alongside your BSc (Hons) Nursing colleagues. Your Practice Placements are organised around a practice hub (e.g. hospital ward/unit/community hub) and allied experience, for example, Child hub and Learning Disability allied experiences. For your practice assessment you will be assessed in one Field only.

Year Two

During this year university modules will continue to have a generic focus and help develop core nursing skills and knowledge in: leadership, assessment and evaluation of care. Clinical placements will be more targeted to your dual award, with placements in both fields of practice. At the end of the second year, clinical practice assessment will be in the same field as year one.

Again for this year, your University Modules are taught and assessed alongside BSc (Hons) Nursing colleagues. Your placements are organised as: Placement 1 Field A, Placement 2 Field B and Placement 3 Field A. For your practice assessment you will again be assessed in one Field only.

Years Three and Four

As you continue on the MSci dual award programme, placements in your third and fourth year alternate between your chosen fields of nursing. In these years, University modules follow the flow of placements. In the fourth year your University modules you will be assessed at Master's level.

Your Year Three University Modules are taught and assessed alongside BSc (Hons) Nursing colleagues in specific Field modules, which align to your field placements. Your placements are organised as: Placement 1 Field B, Placement 2 Field A and Placement 3 Field A. For your practice assessment you will again be assessed in one Field only.

Your Year Four University Modules are taught and assessed alongside BSc (Hons) Nursing colleagues in specific Field modules, which align to your field placements. Your placements will alternate between your two fields: Placement 1 Field A, Placement 2 Field A and Placement 3 Field A and B. In this year your practice assessment will be in both Fields.

You'll experience a mixture of teaching, self-directed study and practice-based clinical placements, spending half of your time each year on placement.

Upon successful completion you'll graduate with a MSci Nursing – dual award worth 480 credits and be eligible to apply for Registered Nurse status with the Nursing and Midwifery Council in both the Learning Disability and Child fields of practice.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council

The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) works with partner organisations to set and maintain high standards of nursing and midwifery education across the UK.

This course has been approved and monitored by the NMC to make sure that the education and training on offer meets their standards.

To work as a nurse or midwife, you must pass an NMC approved course at a higher education institution (HEI) in pre-registration nursing and midwifery, leading to registration with the NMC.

Download the course specification

Erasmus scheme

If you are interested in undertaking part of your studies abroad, the Erasmus scheme may be of interest to you. It allows higher education students to study for part of their degree in another European country.

It is open to undergraduates in their second year (or above) and offers a unique opportunity to enhance your CV and experience new cultures. If you study with us you will have access to an Erasmus co-ordinator, who can provide information about which institutions we have links with.

Find out more

Employability

We have collaborated with clinical practice colleagues, service users and carers in the West Midlands region to design our dual awards to meet the changing health care needs and services of the region, and beyond, nationally. This is a highly relevant, exciting, varied and timely course, positioning you at the centre of the changing scope of patient care and services care in the 21^st century.

Holding a dual award offers more employment options. Choosing either to specialise in one field of practice or work towards specialising in clinical roles where being qualified in two fields of practice is required for specialist roles in emergency care, primary care and clinical liaison roles in large hospitals.

Once qualified and registered with the Nursing and Midwifery Council you can practice in the UK and many countries overseas. As a qualified nurse you could find yourself working within the NHS, the private sector, in the community, at GP surgeries, at schools, plus many more - the options are endless.

OpportUNIty

OpportUNIty: Student Jobs on Campus ensures that our students are given a first opportunity to fill many part-time temporary positions within the University. This allows you to work while you study with us, fitting the job around your course commitments. By taking part in the scheme, you will gain valuable experiences and employability skills, enhancing your prospects in the job market.

It will also allow you to become more involved in University life by delivering, leading and supporting many aspects of the learning experience, from administration to research and mentoring roles.

Firewalking

BCU Graduate+

Through our courses we give you the skills and experience needed to get a head start when applying for jobs. But we offer something extra too – Graduate+.

Our unique programme gives you the chance to develop valuable skills outside of the more formal classroom learning. We award points for Graduate+ activities (including firewalking!) and these can be put towards a final Graduate+ award.

More about Graduate+

Our Facilities

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.

Virtual Case Creator

For pre-registration 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.

Hospital Ward

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.

Skills Practice and Clinical Enhancement facility

The SPACE (Skills Practice And Clinical 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.

Biomedical Laboratories

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.

Simulation Mannequins

We have several Simulation men (SIM men) and Simulation babies (SIM babies) which are leading edge, anatomically correct mannequins 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 mannequins 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.

Mary Seacole Library

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:

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.

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.

Dr Ben Appleby

Senior Lecturer and Research Coordinator

Ben is a NMC Registered Nurse Tutor and Senior Lecturer at Birmingham City University. He qualified from City University London and St Bartholomew’s School of Nursing and Midwifery in September 1998, completing a 4-year BSc (Hons) in Nursing and Human Science, and clinically, went on to practice in Cardiology, Cardiothoracic Care, Coronary Care and Cardiac Rehabilitation. He completed an MSc in Nursing Research in 2002 from King’s College London, a PGCert Ed from BCU in 2005 and a PhD in Life Sciences in 2016 from the University of Birmingham.

Now a Senior Lecturer, Ben joined BCU in 2004. He teaches on BSc and MSc Health modules, which include Acute Nursing Practice, Evidence Based Practice and Research Methodology. He also supervises BSc and MSc research students. He has also been the Clinical Liaison Link for Adult Nursing and Research Subject Quality Coordinator for the Faculty, and is currently the Research Coordinator for Adult Nursing.

Ben’s research interest is in ‘knowledge mobilisation’ for clinical practice, with an emphasis on exploring health professionals’ research utilisation behaviour. His PhD work focused on Nurses’ and Health Care Assistants’ intentions to use clinical guidelines, he continues to research in this area.

Nursing - Learning Disabilities and Child - Dual Award - MSci

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Dr Ben Appleby

Senior Lecturer and Research Coordinator

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