PgC Unscheduled Care: Practice Development is specifically tailored for Military Nurses working within Primary Care settings throughout the Armed forces. It aims to enhance and expand their clinical assessment skills, such as history taking and performing physical examinations. Supplementing this, the programme will strengthen the skills needed to make clinical judgements and decisions within healthcare delivery.
Course outline
Course summary
You will enhance and expand your current health assessment and clinical decision making skills, in order to meet the increasing demands of the Primary healthcare services you provide. Focussed on the pathway specialism, the PgCert Practice Development enables you to negotiate a short (60 credit) programme of study which provides a coherent progression route, recognising and valuing prior experience and learning. The programme aims to:
- provide a stimulating and challenging academic and scholarly environment for you to advance your academic and professional development beyond undergraduate level.
- enable you to develop a mastery of complex and specialised knowledge and a critical awareness of issues at the forefront of your field of practice.
- develop systematic skills of objective analysis and evaluation of evidence and develop confidence in appraising and implementing evidence to practice within your sphere of influence
You will need to identify a facilitator in practice for HPCD7050 Consultation and Physical Examination Health Assessment Skills. Your facilitator or facilitators should be a healthcare professional such as a Dr, ACP, SP or Clinical specialist who is competent in the physical examinations and practices them regularly and can commit to regular support to develop your skills. Your facilitator will need to supervise the attainment of consultation and physical examination skills and sign off the competencies of the six body systems (cardiovascular, respiratory, abdominal, MSK to include back and hip, shoulder and knee, ENT and Neuro to include cranial nerves, gross motor and sensory). You will need to log 75 hours of practice in developing these competencies, with a minimum of 50% of these spent with your facilitator.
Modules
Modules
- HCPD7050 Consultation and Physical Examination: Health Assessment Skills September (takes six months to complete - 20 credits at level 7)
- HCPD7053 Clinical Judgment and Decision Making (takes six months to complete - 40 credits at level 7)
Programme Specification
For a detailed summary of all course content, please read our programme specification for this course.
Assessment, Feedback, and Teaching and Learning methods
Full details are available in the programme specification.
Timetables
The teaching timetable should be available from the end of August. Access to the timetable is through the Student Hub – you will be able to access the Student Hub after you have completed online registration. The teaching day is 9am to 6pm, Monday to Friday; please keep your other commitments open until confirmation of your teaching timetable, and bear in mind that many courses will offer placements or fieldwork which sometimes extends into the evenings and weekends.
Entry requirements
Have a question about our entry requirements?
Entry Requirements
1st or 2nd class honours degree.
Students with other qualifications may be admitted to the course, please contact the Enquiry Centre for further details.
Accreditation of Prior Learning (APL) may be considered for relevant prior learning at the same academic level.
More information about levels and credits.
Selection Criteria
Normally applicants will be required to hold an honours degree classification second-class honours, lower division or above in a related subject. For applicants who do not meet this requirement, non-standard entry criteria will apply. In such cases, applicants will be interviewed. This decision will be at the discretion of the programme leader. It is expected that such candidates will have evidence of successful study at level 6 (or equivalent) within the preceding 5 years. Applications will be reviewed on an individual basis.
Potential students will be offered advice by an academic tutor on the suitability of the award and their module choices. This will be dependent on factors such as currency of prior learning, and their personal and professional development needs. Students should be able to show the potential benefits of studying for the award and offer a rationale for their module choice.
All applicants must be a registered nurse working within the Army.
Application information
Making your application
Applications should be made online directly to the university; visit our website or contact enquirycentre@cumbria.ac.uk for details and guidance. There is no official closing date but we would encourage you to apply as early as possible, as many courses are competitive.
What makes a good application?
We consider all aspects of your application, not simply your qualifications and grades. We look at your academic background and performance, relevant experience (particularly for professional courses where some voluntary or paid experience is required) and your reference. Above all, we look for motivation, commitment and potential-evidence that you can benefit from study at higher education level.
Make sure you include:
- Relevant qualifications/evidence of ability: check our website for the specific entry requirements required for each course. Tell us your previous academic results and your projected grades.
- A supportive reference, from an employer or your school or college.
- A good personal statement.
- Explain clearly what attracts you to the course and tell us about your wider interests and experience. If you are applying for a course that incorporates professional training and placements, you should include any relevant experience or visits you have made in the workplace. Highlight your individual strengths and qualities, personal skills, capacity for teamwork, contribution to the community and your enterprise, originality and determination. Select some activities which bring out these qualities.
What next?
When we receive your application, we will send you an acknowledgement and if you are successful at this stage you will get either an offer (with an invitation to visit the campus to which you have applied), or an invitation to interview on a particular date. If we are not able to offer you a place on your chosen course we will usually try to offer you a place on a similar course and will contact you to discuss this. Alternatively, if we think you are suitable, but cannot offer you a place on your preferred campus because of the level of competition, we will offer you a place at another campus if one is available.
And if I accept?
The admissions team will contact you and send further information from February onwards about accommodation, and from May/June onwards about preparing to join the university. If you have any other queries, please telephone the admissions offices for information and advice on 0845 6061144.
Deferred entry
We welcome applications for deferred entry on some courses. If you have specific plans during your year out, indicate these on your personal statement as they may be relevant to your course and could enhance your application.
International students
Applications for full-time undergraduate study are made through UCAS. Please see the of our website for full details of our entry requirements (including English-language skills) as well as contacts for advice and support.
From 2009 the UK Border Agency introduced a Points-Based Immigration System (PBS) for students coming to the UK from outside the European Economic Area (EEA). Students entering higher education will need to obtain a Confirmation of Acceptance (CAS) plus finance confirmation to obtain a Tier 4 student visa. UK education providers are licensed by the UK Border Agency. When students apply for their visa (or entry clearance) they will need a valid Certificate of Acceptance of Studies from the university. Please note that a CAS is not a guarantee that a visa will be issued.
Student finance
We have a wide range of scholarships, bursaries, grants and funds available to support you throughout your studies with us. This includes the Cumbria Bursary - a non-repayable bursary designed to support first year students with a household income of less than £25,000.
Student FinanceAdditional costs
