BSc (Hons) Mental Health Nursing

Course details This course prepares you to work in a variety of mental health settings with a diverse range of people. You will gain experience within inter-professional practice and develop skills in mental health nursing across the lifespan. You can view information on our facilities and take a 360 tour of our simulation suites here. The BSc (Hons) Mental Health Nursing course is part of the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences Nursing Framework which offers BSc (Hons) Children and Young People’s Nursing and BSc (Hons) Adult Nursing courses. Within the first year some units are common to all courses in the Nursing Framework with shared lectures. Our approach to interprofessional education means that throughout the course students will take part in shared workshops, lectures and learning events with other students on health related courses. On this course you will usually be taught by a range of staff with relevant expertise and knowledge appropriate to the content of the unit. This will include senior academic staff, qualified professional practitioners, demonstrators and technicians. You will also benefit from regular guest lectures from industry. Year 1 Core units Identifying Knowledge for Nursing Practice: This unit will provide you with essential practice experiences to develop competence to the requirements of the NMC. Mental Health, Wellbeing & Humanised Care in Later Life: The unit will cover the potential impact of ageing on the wellbeing of an individual, as well as the personal meaning of dementia for the individual and their carer, including the care and treatment involved and the ethical and legal issues which surround this particular illness. Anatomy & Physiology During the Lifespan: In this unit you’ll gain knowledge and understanding of the essential principles of anatomy and physiology as it applies to the individual. A lifespan approach will be taken which will allow for field specific content to be introduced. Links will be made to clinical skills teaching as part of simulation activity. Fundamental Communication Skills: Good personal and interpersonal communications are central to collaboration, the efficiency of group working and the resulting quality of care. The aim of this unit is to facilitate the development of effective and transferable communication skills that promote valuing diversity. Origins & Expressions of Mental Health & Wellbeing: This unit will introduce you to a number of key issues in the mental health field, including possible explanations for changes in a person’s mental health, the development and organisation of services for people with mental health problems, and the role of the mental health nurse in working collaboratively with service users, carers, and fellow professionals. Personal & Professional Development: This unit focuses on the development of transferable academic and graduate skills that enable you to not only cope in response to the many academic and professional demands you’ll face in the first year, but to also achieve your full learning potential across a range of academic units and professional experiences throughout your entire undergraduate studies. Year 2 Core units Developing Knowledge for Practice: This unit will provide you with essential practice experiences to develop competence to the requirements of the NMC by the second year progression point. Communication & Therapeutic Approaches in Mental Health: You will explore a range of communication strategies and therapeutic approaches within mental health care. It will cover the effect of personal values, attitudes, individual difference and diversity on communication with others while analysing a range of therapeutic approaches within mental health. Physical Care in Mental Health Settings: Here you’ll develop an understanding of the physical health needs of clients in mental health settings. You’ll discuss ways in which the physical health of clients might be assessed and monitored, identify the key presenting features of a range of common physical illnesses and demonstrate an understanding of physical care skills required in mental health services. The Value Base of Mental Health Nursing: This unit reflects on the contemporary nature of mental health care and the values underpinning nursing practice in this area. You’ll consider the issues that may be essential to service users’ lives, particularly with regard to mental health and wellbeing and demonstrate an understanding of the ethical theories, legal principles and values that are relevant for professional practice in mental health. Acute Mental Health: From Crisis to Wellbeing: You will explore the interaction between vulnerability, life events, chronic difficulties and coping skills in acute mental health care. You’ll learn to identify signs and symptoms of acute mental illness and analyse the application of health promotional activities such as relapse prevention, psycho education and medication management in reducing the negative effects of mental illness. Exploring Evidence to Guide Professional Practice: This unit aims to raise your awareness of a range of evidence, and you’ll be able to demonstrate an understanding of how different forms of evidence guide practice.You’ll reflect upon how professional and disciplinary practices can be enhanced to emphasise human sensitivity and individual worth. You’ll be able to consider the nature of evidence based practice and the range of research approaches and methods that contribute to evidence. Year 3 Core units Evaluating Knowledge for Practice: This professional practice unit provides a range of practical opportunities which you require to demonstrate your competence to achieve the identified NMC (2010) skills, knowledge, attitudes, values and technical abilities for entry to the NMC register. Service Improvement Project: The purpose of this unit is to enable you to develop skills of working in small teams to enhance the experiences of people who use services and their carers. You’ll analyse the need for changes to improve services offered to people and communities, synthesise solutions to complex challenges that address the need for improvement, take part in teams in undertaking an improvement project and reflect on the skills, values, attributes and knowledge required to undertake a service improvement project. Mental Health Nursing in Specific Settings: This unit explores a range of mental health services and identifies nursing roles within them. You’ll identify the socio-political context of service development, examine the therapeutic approaches and evaluate the nature of assessment and intervention within mental health care provision. Reviewing the Literature to Inform Practice: Here you’ll evaluate a specific area of interest relating to your field of nursing and build upon your understanding of research appraisal, literature reviewing and academic writing skills. Communication, Leadership & Management in Mental Health: This unit develops your understanding of how mental health services are organised, and explores appropriate leadership and management skills. You’ll appraise commissioning approaches, analyse the legal and ethical dimension of registered practice, review approaches to clinical supervision, assess theories of change and change management and evaluate approaches to risk management in mental health settings. Supporting the Recovery Journey: Here you’ll develop practical skills as well as an understanding of the underlying principles of care for people with serious mental illness. It will integrate practice, theory and service user experience in the drive to enhance recovery. Scheduled learning and teaching activities Contact hours You will undertake scheduled learning and teaching, as well as placements to gain the practical skills necessary to work as a Mental Health Nurse. Your study time at BU will be split between scheduled learning and teaching activities and guided independent learning, such as preparing for and writing up coursework assignments. Year 1 – 23% of your time will be spent in timetabled learning & teaching activities Learning and teaching: 198 hours Independent learning: 402 hours Non-assessed learning and teaching: 95 hours Placement hours: 600 Year 2 – 22% of your time will be spent in timetabled learning & teaching activities Learning and teaching: 240 hours Independent learning: 360 hours Non-assessed learning and teaching: 27 hours Placement hours: 600 Year 3 - 12% of your time will be spent in timetabled learning & teaching activities Learning and teaching: 119 hours Independent learning: 481 hours Non-assessed learning and teaching: 32 hours Placement hours:600 73% of the course is assessed by coursework Year 1: 79% Year 2: 54% Year 3: 87% In addition to coursework assessments which allow you to combine your practice and theoretical learning you will experience assessed practical exams and there is also a small amount of written exam work to complete. Programme Specification Programme specifications provide definitive records of the University's taught degrees in line with Quality Assurance Agency requirements. Every taught course leading to a BU Award has a programme specification which describes its aims, structure, content and learning outcomes, plus the teaching, learning and assessment methods used. Download the programme specification for BSc (Hons) Mental Health Nursing. Whilst every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the programme specification, the information is liable to change to take advantage of exciting new approaches to teaching and learning as well as developments in industry. If you have been unable to locate the programme specification for the course you are interested in, it will be available as soon as the latest version is ready. Alternatively please contact us for assistance. 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