Short Course

Return to Practice

(Mental Health)

15 Credits

Duration:: Part time over 13 Weeks
Start Dates:: September/ February
Attendance:: One day a week for 13 weeks plus at least 120 hours in Clinical Practice
Venue:: Uxbridge Campus
Cost:: Available on request

Key Contact:: The Enquiries Team
Tel:: 01494 603 171
Email:: ask@bucks.ac.uk

Is this course suitable for me?

If you are a motivated student who has previously registered with the NMC as an Adult, Children’s, or Mental Health Nurse and now wishes to return to the appropriate part of the register. If you are an EU/EEA nurse who has been required by the NMC to undertake a RTP course. Level 6 may be more suitable for those with Diplomas or degrees as their initial nursing qualification. Both level 5 and level 6 can be used towards accessing a BSc Health Care Practice, through Accreditation of Prior Learning (APL).

Overview

The aim of the course is to fulfil the statutory requirement to prepare previously trained nurses to re-enter practice by renewing your initial registration onto the Professional Register. This module will enable you to acquire up-to-date competence, current skills and confidence in order to maintain safe and effective standards of patient/client care.

Structure

The course will run over one semester of 13 study days. A compulsory induction day at the start of the programme forms part of the allocated hours.
You will access generic teaching, plus teaching within your specialist branch.

Clinical practice

A minimum of 120 hours direct patient contact within a practice health setting is required for the nurse to gain experience and successfully complete the competencies required by the course. Of this 100 hours must be within a situation of supervised practice. Within the practice environment nurses will be provided with a suitably qualified mentor in order to support their completion of the competencies. Applicants must identify the placement themselves, at time of application to the University. The area should be audited to support learners and have ‘Sign-Off mentors’. Contact the Learning Development Unit or Practice Educators for Return to Practice Nurses, at the Institution in which you wish to locate a placement. Further details on locating a placement can be provided by the course leader..

Teaching and learning

A variety of teaching and learning strategies will be adopted to meet the needs of the nurses with different levels of experience. Approaches will include lectures, seminars, problem-based learning and critical reflection. Your development on the course will be assessed by written work using reflection and the assessment of competence in clinical practice. You will be supported throughout the course with academic tutorial sessions.
The overall approach to assessment of learning will include course work and assessment of competence in practice. The methods chosen are appropriate to demonstrate achievement of level 5 or level 6 outcomes. A range of assessments have been chosen to aid you to perform to the best of your ability with consideration of how these assessments relate theory to practice, since this course is clinically based and the aim is to produce practitioners fit for practice.

Entry requirements

All nurses applying for the course must have previously appeared on a part of the Professional Register. You will need to provide your PIN number with your application, as the course tutor checks all applicants with the NMC.

How to make an application

Please contact the Enquiries Team on 01494 603 171 or email ask@bucks.ac.uk

We hope to have a fully on-line application system shortly, but in the meantime, to apply for a course, please download and print these forms, completing them fully and posting back to the address below.

Student Recruitment Officer

Bucks New University

106 Oxford Road

Uxbridge

UB8 1NA

If you are unable to view the forms, please click here to download a free version of adobe reader.

Alternatively, if you call us on 01494 603 171 or email ask@bucks.ac.uk we can post you a hard copy application pack.

Students funded by the NHS or other employer

If the cost of your course is being funded by your employer, please contact your education lead or manager for guidance as to how they would prefer you to make an application.