Short Course

Return to Practice - Community Health Care Nursing

District Nursing

15 Credits

Duration:: One semester
Start Dates:: September and February
Attendance:: Part-time
Venue:: High Wycombe/Aylesbury
Cost:: Available on request

Key Contact:: Sharon Aldridge-Bent
Tel:: 01494 522 141
Email:: sharon.aldridge-bent@bucks.ac.uk

Is this course suitable for me?

If you are a motivated student who has previously registered with the NMC as District Nurse and now wishes to return to the third part of the register.

Overview

This course has been specifically designed to meet the NMC requirements of Community Health Care nurses. On successful completion of the course students will re-register on the third part of the register.

The specific disciplines include:

Community Children’s Nursing
Community Mental Health Nursing
District Nursing

Structure

The course will run over one semester of 13 study days and three further workshop days with an induction day at the start of the programme forming part of the allocated hours.

The student will share modules with all Return to Practice students and also the Foundation for Specialist Nursing Practice with the District Nurse students. They will also have three further study days which will cover material specific to their learning needs and this will be negotiated with the Course Leader.

Modules available

Foundations for specialist nursing practice
Return to Practice Module

Clinical practice

The students will also spend 150 hour in District Nurse practice within a Primary Care Trust. They will be supervised by an allocated Practice Teacher for the duration of the course.

Teaching and learning

The teaching, learning and assessment methods are wide-ranging to fit the variety of student learning styles. In all cases these methods will focus on a critical application of theory to community public health practice.

Learning is facilitated in the community practice environment as well as the classroom and the methods used here are those of discussion as well as critical observation and demonstration, enabling you to analyse your decisions and the decision making process. The understanding of research based knowledge underpinning the decisions is of key importance.

Within the classroom, lectures, discussion and seminars are used to enable students to both build their knowledge and share experiences with their peer group. This sharing of experience is seen as a major element in the development of community public health nurses who are able to practice at a high level, taking responsibility for complex decisions within a multi-disciplinary, multi-agency environment.

Assessment will be by course work and portfolio development, presentation. The Practice Teacher is responsible for the teaching and assessment in practice and they work closely with the Link Tutor, who will visit the practice learning environment on at least three occasions during the course.

Entry requirements

You will need to be registered on the appropriate part of the NMC Professional register, with 120 credits at Level 5 and two years relevant clinical experience. In addition, if you are studying for the specialist practitioner qualification, a practice placement must be arranged before the course commences that will run concurrently with the theoretical element of the course.

Most practitioners who undertake the specialist practitioner qualification receive sponsorship from a Primary Care Trust. The practice placement is then arranged by the sponsoring trust.

Further opportunities

This course gives you an understanding of the complexities of working within a community setting, giving you an increased awareness of strategic influences on policy. With the changing demographics of patients being cared for in their own homes, this programme provides you with an underpinning knowledge to equip you with skills to care effectively for patients/clients in their own homes or community settings.

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.

Mike Thomson

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.