Nursing Practice (Children) BSc (Hons)

Your theory sessions will be delivered using a variety of learning and teaching methods including lectures, seminars, group work, workshops and sessions within the clinical skills laboratories. This includes skills simulation and the opportunity to participate in Skills Acquisition for Excellence (SAfE) days during your practice learning periods. Access to virtual learning environments such as Blackboard and Safemedicate - a learning package to assist in the development of numeracy skills and medicines management, are integral features of your learning. The programme builds in terms of academic level and professional responsibility as it progresses throughout the three years enabling you to become more self-directed in your learning with an emphasis towards the end of your programme on the transition from student to qualified graduate nurse.
Modules consist of:
Year 1:
Professional Values, Attitudes and Behaviours
Evidence in Contemporary Health Care
Clinical Skills for Nursing
Children’s Nursing Practice
Year 2:
Evidence Based Nursing Practice Skills
Community Based Care
Valuing and Protecting Children
Developing Children’s Nursing Practice
Year 3:
The Graduate Nurse (Children’s)
Competent Children’s Nursing

The Pre-Registration Nursing awards seek to engage and motivate students by using a wide variety of interactive learning opportunities and experiences within both academic and placement settings, maintaining a student, service user and practice centred approach to learning. The awards have been designed to firstly build and then utilise the student's knowledge, skills and experience and enable them to share this with others. Learning, teaching and assessment is underpinned by the need to ensure fitness for practice. The teaching, learning and assessment strategies are planned to ensure that NMC standards for education and practice are met. Nursing requires the integrated study of subject specific knowledge, skills and values, together with the critical application of professional, ethical, legal and research knowledge and evidence, in order to underpin professional practice.

The learning strategies within this award therefore include:
Theoretical learning: (50%) 2, 300hrs
classroom based teaching and learning (student and lecturer led) including interactive lectures, skills teaching, problem based learning, electronic learning, module and personal tutorials, and focuses on the development of key theoretical, professional and personal knowledge, specifically designed to provide a platform on which to develop further learning and enquiry.

Skills teaching: Nursing is a practice based discipline and the acquisition of clinical skills is essential for the development of student competence. Clinical skills are set in context, and the relationships with other aspects of the curriculum are emphasised.

Small group work enables students to develop appropriate critical skills by engaging in facilitated group work/ discussion, case analysis and problem focused learning with small groups of branch or interprofessional peers.
Blackboard virtual learning environment (vle): all modules have support materials to enhance independent learning activity. Students are encouraged to use the vle as a way of communicating with each other and award teachers for example, discussing or sharing any useful resources or ideas related to assignment work. Independent learning forms a central learning approach and includes all the independent research, study and learning that students do to support achievement of outcomes and personal and professional progression.

Interprofessional learning: No one profession has the expertise to meet all of the needs of service users and their carers. The ability to work and learn with other professionals has been identified as a vital element in the continuous improvement of the quality of service provision, with shared learning between professionals seen as one way of improving this ability (Fowler et al 2000).

Service user and care involvement in teaching, learning and assessment: Service user involvement in pre registration programmes is an established and growing aspect of teaching and learning in all branch programmes.

Practice Learning (50%) 2, 300 hrs
Practice observation, participation under direct and indirect supervision, mentorship and assessment. Clinical assessment enables mentors to focus on the application of theory to practice, through questioning, reflection and discussion regarding the evidence underpinning practice.

Placements: The learning experience in placements aims to promote learning in the practice context. All students are supernumerary to the staffing requirements of the placement area; this allows them to follow appropriate learning opportunities.