Neonatal Critical Care (Professional Practice) - PgCert / PgDip / MA / MSc
Currently viewing course to start in 2022/23 Entry.
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....
- Level Top-Up Pathways
- Study mode Part Time
- Location City South
- Award PgCert / PgDip / MA / MSc
- Start date September 2023
- Fees View course fees
- School School of Nursing and Midwifery
- Faculty Faculty of Health, Education and Life Sciences
Overview
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.
What's covered in this course?
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.
We anticipate that a blended approach to learning will be used with some face-to-face sessions but the majority of the course will be delivered online. Face-to-face sessions will be delivered at Birmingham City University’s City South Campus to encourage the use of the facilities available. Support for all types of learning is provided on campus and online to enable you to maximise the experience of being a student on this course.
Why Choose Us?
- The programme is devised to give you the 360 degree experience and as such is a course to complement the beginning of your career in neonatal nursing.
- Neonatal programmes are used to map career progression with the clinical area. By offering the course at level six and level seven, we can also aid with your academic progression, as you feel is appropriate for your planned career pathway.
- The wide range of clinical experts that provide their breath of know-how enable you to be really aware of how this knowledge can impact on your clinical practice. This ultimately helps develop your relationships with the families and improves their experience too.
- The detailed physiology that is taught on the course enables you to be able to truly understand what is happening and gives you the confidence to deal with each situation confidently and with a high level of competence.
- As the role of the neonatal practitioner develops, completing this programme will enable you realise where you are most comfortable within the clinical area and facilitate the best outcome for the neonate and their family.
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.
Award: PgCert / PgDip / MA / MSc
Starting: Sep 2023
- Mode
- Duration
- Fees
- Part Time
- 30 Weeks
- £756 per 20-credit module
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.
Entry requirements
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.
Course structure
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
Pathway awards in Neonatal Critical Care can lead to:
- Module only Professional Practice Level 6
- Module only Professional Practice Level 7
- BSc Professional Practice
- BSc (Hons) Professional Practice
- Grad Cert Professional Practice
- PG Cert Professional Practice
- PG Dip Professional Practice
- MSc Professional Practice
How to apply
Complete the online application form via the link above, including the name of the pathway or module you are enrolling onto.
Applications for this course will open later in 2023, if you have any queries please contact the pathway leader: ncp@bcu.ac.uk
Course in Depth
Degree (Level 6)
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)
This module has been developed to prepare knowledgeable, critical thinking, proactive, professional practitioners who are fit to meet the challenging demands of modern health care in the global area. Neonatal practitioners provide care for an extremely vulnerable population. Working with these babies, Nurses need to undertake accredited training appropriate to a Qualification in Speciality level (DH 2009) in a neonatal setting. This has to be done with an eye on the future as ‘Well organised, effective and sensitive care can make a lifelong difference to premature and sick newborn babies and their families’ (DH 2009 pge 9) This care needs to be provided by practitioners who are encouraged to refresh their skills and keep updated. A partnership approach is taken with practice areas in helping you achieve all learning outcomes.
This module aims to provide you with the ability to construct and evaluate key clinical issues that are essential on your educational neonatal journey. By doing this you will be able to prepare, manage and assess aspects of critical care by having an in depth knowledge of physiology and have the ability to apply this to the care that you give the babies in your care and their families. The ability of being able to construct a poster and cope with answering questions will give you the future confidence to prepare and present a poster at local and national conferences. This process will be supported by your time in university and your continuing independent study.
This module aims to provide you with the ability to construct and evaluate key clinical issues that are essential on your educational neonatal journey. By doing this you will be able to prepare, manage and assess aspects of critical care by having an in depth knowledge of physiology and have the ability to apply this to the care that you give the babies in your care and their families. You will need to identify a suitable practice mentor for the duration of the module to assess the clinical skills element of the module.
Year 2 Pathway Award (BSc (Hons) Only) – Exit Award: BSc (Hons) Professional Practice (Neonatal Critical Care)
This module is for all healthcare practitioners if you want to enhance your understanding of evidence based practice to help improve your patient/client/service-user care. The aims of the module are to develop both your understanding of the importance of best evidence in practice, and your ability to locate, evaluate, and use best evidence in developing aspects of practice.
Good reasons to study Evidence-Based Practice: Clinical practice does not remain static but changes frequently. As a healthcare practitioner you must be able to justify and rationalise your practice to ensure quality care is provide and maintained. To ensure best practice is sustained you, as a practitioner, need to understand the concepts of evidence based practice and how to apply these concepts to your area of practice.
This module is can also be taken as a standalone credit bearing course. View standalone module
This module is aimed at healthcare practitioners who wish to negotiate learning of a bespoke topic. Under the guidance of facilitators, you will be able to direct your learning and identify relevant learning opportunities that you feel enable you to learn more about a specific field of study.
The subject area within this module is student led with guidance and facilitation from designated academic and practice support. You will identify an area of study that you would like to critically review and evaluate and which promotes your clinical development. A significant proportion of the module is based around negotiation with academic and clinical facilitators to identify extended areas of study and opportunities that are possible to enhance your progression towards completion of the study.
This module is can also be taken as a standalone credit bearing course. View standalone module
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.
Postgraduate (Level 7)
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)
This module has been developed to prepare knowledgeable, critical thinking, proactive, professional practitioners who are fit to meet the challenging demands of modern health care in the global area. Neonatal practitioners provide care for an extremely vulnerable population. Working with these babies, Nurses need to undertake accredited training appropriate to a Qualification in Speciality level (DH 2009) in a neonatal setting. This has to be done with an eye on the future as ‘Well organised, effective and sensitive care can make a lifelong difference to premature and sick newborn babies and their families’ (DH 2009 page 9). This care needs to be provided by practitioners who are encouraged to refresh their skills and keep updated. A partnership approach is taken with practice areas in helping you achieve all learning outcomes.
This module aims to provide you with the ability to construct and evaluate key clinical issues that are essential on your educational neonatal journey. By doing this you will be able to prepare, manage and assess aspects of critical care by having an in depth knowledge of physiology and have the ability to apply this to the care that you give the babies in your care and their families. The ability of being able to construct a poster and cope with answering questions will give you the future confidence to prepare and present a poster at local and national conferences with deeper understandings provided by the reading and critically evaluating education texts and literature. This process will be supported by your time in university and your continuing independent study.
Nursing is now a graduate profession and the need for post graduate study is a necessity for those of you who wish to continue with their studies at a higher level, requiring a clear career pathway structure. Therefore this module provides you with the opportunity to gain your specialist qualification at level 7, with an award structure that will encourage study up to a full Master’s degree. This will also provide evidence for your NMC updates. Your career progression is supported while enabling networking and liaison with your peers at level 6. This is very important as interaction between colleagues from different neonatal units and alternative networks is essential for the extending of good practice.
This module aims to provide you with the ability to construct and evaluate key clinical issues that are essential on your educational neonatal journey. By doing this you will be able to prepare, manage and assess aspects of critical care by having an in depth knowledge of physiology and have the ability to apply this to the care that you give the babies in your care and their families. You will need to identify a suitable practice mentor for the duration of the module to assess the clinical skills element of the module.
Year 2 Pathway Award - Exit Award: PG Dip Professional Practice (Neonatal Critical Care)
This module specifically addresses the broader programme aims related to “pursuing excellence” and “practice-led, knowledge applied” through a flexible provision that encourages students to develop their research ideas, enabling those on various Health MSc programmes to satisfy their individual learning needs, whilst contributing to their area of study.
This module is can also be taken as a standalone credit bearing course. View standalone module
This module explicitly addresses students’ personal and/or professional development with a view to enhancing competence for service improvement in a rapidly changing health and healthcare environment. Through a flexible provision, students are inspired to reflect critically upon their individual learning needs as well as their organisations’ practices, to appraise and apply concepts from the literature on leadership, to issues of relevance for their role, organisation and overall programme of study.
This module is can also be taken as a standalone credit bearing course. View standalone module
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.
MSc
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):
This triple module forms the final bridge between the award of a Postgraduate Diploma and a Health MSc related to a named award. It provides the student with the opportunity to complete a piece of work around a chosen topic in order to demonstrate competence in the planning, execution, analysis and evaluation of a Research Project, a Systematic Review or Project Management. It involves 600 hours of study. The focus is on facilitating the student's independent, critical study in their academic discipline or area of professional practice. It will also serve those who wish to embark on Doctoral studies in the future.
Option 2
In order to complete this route a student must successfully complete the following CORE module (totalling 40 credits):
This double module provides the student with the opportunity to complete a piece of work around a chosen topic in order to demonstrate competence in the planning, execution, analysis and evaluation of a Research Project, a Systematic Review or Project Management. It involves 400 hours of study. The focus is on facilitating the student's independent, critical study in their academic discipline or area of professional practice. It will also serve those who wish to embark on Doctoral studies in the future.
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.
Download course specification
Download nowDegree (Level 6)
Pathway Level
Modules completed
Exit Awards
Postgraduate (Level 7)
Pathway Level
Modules completed
Exit Awards
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
Laura Maguire
Pathway Lead - Neonatal Critical Care
Laura qualified as a registered Children’s Nurse in 2009. She chose to specialise in neonatal nursing and worked as a Junior Sister in a busy Level 3 Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. During this time, Laura’s particular interests were working as part of the bereavement team and in the provision of parental support. Laura has also worked in an...
More about LauraNathalie Turville
Senior Lecturer - Child Nursing
Nathalie Turville is a Senior Lecturer within the Department for Children and Young People’s Health at Birmingham City University. Nathalie qualified as a Children’s Nurse in 1991 and specialised in neonatal cardiology and surgery.
More about NathalieEnquiries
Enquiries
For all course enquiries please email the Neonatal Critical Care Pathway team on: ncp@bcu.ac.uk
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.
Professional Navigator
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