Health Assessment - Level 6 - 20 Credits - Module
Currently viewing course to start in 2023/24 Entry.
Today, nurses and allied health professionals are encouraged to expand their skill set. This course is for Health Care professionals who will be required to undertake basic physical or mental health patient assessment, usually as first responders in hospital or community clinical settings, reporting your findings to the senior clinician with whom you work, or to underpin non-medical prescribing....
- Level CPD
- Study mode Short Course
- Location City South
- Award Module
- Start date September 2023, January 2024, March 2024
- School School of Nursing and Midwifery
- Faculty Faculty of Health, Education and Life Sciences
Overview
Today, nurses and allied health professionals are encouraged to expand their skill set. This course is for Health Care professionals who will be required to undertake basic physical or mental health patient assessment, usually as first responders in hospital or community clinical settings, reporting your findings to the senior clinician with whom you work, or to underpin non-medical prescribing. Birmingham City University has strong partnership links with regional NHS Trusts and Community Education Provider Networks.
What's covered in this course?
Through a combination of lectures, skills workshops, online clinical learning resources, work with your clinical mentor and other health professionals, plus your own self-directed study, you will be able to apply the principles of history-taking and physical/mental health examination to assess patients in your care. You will be taught the techniques to assess the human nervous system, cardio-vascular, respiratory, gastro-intestinal and musculo-skeletal systems, plus the issues of which to be aware when caring for someone with mental health problems. In addition, there is teaching on the genito-urinary system, laboratory blood tests, tissue viability and wound care. Students work in primary and community care, emergency care and rapid response teams, hospital wards or specialist services/clinics.
The module leader has 25+ years experience in acute care (Minor Injury Units, ED, Urgent Care, GP Out of Hours Care) and other lecturers are from their specialist clinical environment, providing a window of opportunity for students to access their specific area of expertise.
Lectures are held at City South Campus in either Bevan House or Seacole Building – the latter has a state-of-the-art library with superb electronic resources. You will also be able to access the Skills Practice and Care Enhancement (SPACE) facility in order to hone your newly-acquired skills.
Why Choose Us?
- Our Health and Life Science Faculty has lecturers with a wide range of contemporary clinical expertise including that of defence medicine
- We understand and respond to the needs of local healthcare workers, shaping programmes that empower students to develop their skills in the workplace
- We have well-established links with local employers and Health Education England (West Midlands) which enable alignment of manpower development and the training and education required to underpin a high-quality workforce
- Once enrolled, your student status allows you to access our resources for many months after completion of your module, supporting you in the principle of life-long learning
- Having achieved successful completion of one module with us, you will be able to easily continue in post-qualifying study and practice in order to gain a BSc, BSc(Hons) or MSc award
Studying with us during the Covid-19 pandemic
The University has put in place measures in response to Covid-19 to allow us to safely deliver our courses. Should the impact of the pandemic continue in future years, any additional or alternative arrangements put in place by the University will be in accordance with the latest government public health advice, health and safety legislation, and the terms and conditions of the student contract.
Fees & How to Apply
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. View fees for continuing students.
Award: Module
Starting: Sep 2023
- Mode
- Duration
- Fees
- Short Course
- 6 days
-
TBC
Award: Module
Starting: Jan 2024
- Mode
- Duration
- Fees
- Short Course
- 6 days
-
TBC
Award: Module
Starting: Mar 2024
- Mode
- Duration
- Fees
- Short Course
- 6 days
-
TBC
International students
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.
How to apply
Complete the online application form via the link above, including the name of the module you are enrolling onto.
Course in Depth
Level 6
The module is designed for registered practitioners who are looking to develop knowledge and skill in health assessment of the individual patient. This module aligns with the Professional Practice Programme philosophy and is designed to be flexible and practice-led. You will have the opportunity to develop skills of enquiry, reflection and problem solving.
A blended learning approach is taken (incorporating both classroom and online activities via Moodle) in line with the University’s learning and teaching strategy. You will be encouraged to think critically and share practice experiences with your fellow students, as well as engaging in both directed and self-directed learning activities. Students will have access to the university library facilities plus the Skills Practice and Care Enhancement (SPACE) lab at the City South campus. Though not mandatory, the student will benefit from identifying a medical or advanced practice mentor who will supervise them to practice the skills learned in the classroom and assist in completion of a formative clinical log.
You will be an active partner in your own learning that runs over six taught days at university, plus suggested self-directed study/supervised practice. Taught sessions are delivered by experienced clinicians who are often specialists in their own field. The assessment is a summative Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) – for which the student may have two attempts. This module strengthens the assessment skills of the clinician who works as part of a multi-disciplinary team, but is not adequate to prepare you for true advanced (autonomous) practice. However, this module does provide the foundation on which to progress to independent non-medical prescribing training, the achievement of which is valued by employers in diverse health care domains.
This module aligns with the Professional Practice programme philosophy and is designed to be flexible and practice-led. You will have the opportunity to develop skills of enquiry, reflection and problem solving.
Course breakdown
- Taking a History
- Common cardiac conditions
- Cardiovascular assessment
- Respiratory assessment
- Abdominal Assessment
- Assessment of the Genito-Urinary Tract
- Musculo-skeletal assessment
- Cranial nerve assessment
- Peripheral Nervous System assessment
- Interpretation of Blood Results
- Principles of Mental Health assessment
- Wound assessment and care
- Record-keeping
- Review of top-to toe assessment
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
Alison Simons
Senior Lecturer
Alison was a cancer nurse for 18 years looking after patients with a variety of cancer and receiving a variety of treatments. She was the junior sister of a mixed oncology ward within a large teaching hospital. Alison then went on to become a professional development sister responsible for the educational needs of 200 oncology and haematology...
More about AlisonEnquiries
Module Leader
For any enquiries about this course please contact the course leader, Lorraine Marsons on:
- Tel: +44 (0)121 331 6106
- Email: lorraine.marsons@bcu.ac.uk
Professional Navigators
Our Professional Navigators, Adele Millington and Nicola Clarke, are also on hand to offer guidance and will help you to choose which modules are best for you, taking into account your aims, professional or clinical experience, KSF requirements and your academic achievements.
Call Adele and Nicola on +44 (0)121 331 6162.