The Postgraduate Diploma in Adult Nursing is designed for students who already have a degree and are looking for progression and further challenges which can be fulfilled by undertaking a rewarding and lifelong career within the nursing profession.
Throughout the course, students will develop their knowledge, skills and interests in both general medicine and surgery in addition to specialist areas. They will learn through a range of methods including academic study, simulated practice learning and clinical placements where they will have the opportunity to work alongside other health care professionals in a multidisciplinary team.
Adult Nursing BSc and PG Dip – Read third year student Olivia Tompkins’ monthly blog to find out why she choose to study adult nursing at City, her experiences on the course and advice for anyone considering studying adult nursing City.
The Postgraduate Diploma in Adult Nursing prepares you for a fulfilling and rewarding career caring for adults of all ages who have had injuries, suffered accidents, acquired disease or have a range of healthcare needs.
Adult nursing is a challenging and fulfilling profession; as an adult nurse you need to be committed and dedicated with the willingness to give time to others with care and compassion. You will learn the skills of clinical decision-making that is supported by knowledge and experience of providing healthcare to a diverse population.
The course combines theoretical study with clinical experience gained at London’s leading hospitals, trusts and community settings. The School's facilities feature an excellent Clinical Skills Centre, including simulated wards, where you can prepare for your practice experience. Whilst on clinical placements you will also benefit from exposure to the capital’s diverse population.
On successful graduation you will be eligible to apply for registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), which provides an internationally recognised professional qualification enabling you to practice in the UK and overseas.
Additional qualifications may be required in some countries.
Half of your time as a student will be spent gaining practice experience through laboratory based simulated practice and through clinical placements in health care settings.
Simulated practice is a significant component of your practice learning experience and will provide opportunities for you to rehearse a range of practical nursing skills and enact scenarios in a realistic, but safe simulated environment in our excellent clinical laboratories supervised by lecturers. Through this experience you will develop confidence as you prepare for your practice experience and gain a sense of purpose and belonging to the nursing profession.
Clinical placements can take place in a variety of settings such as:
Placements take place within our partnership of healthcare providers in Central and North East London who provide you with clinical placements, including Barts Health NHS Trust, University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Homerton University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.
Clinical placements are a vital factor in promoting understanding and development of professional knowledge and skills.
The course is taught by academics who:
You will also work with service users who have an insight and understanding of the requirements of care delivery by nurses from a personal perspective.
Course activities include the following:
Assessments include the following:
Clinical Practice Assessment – Pass/Fail
This course is based on the theory of relationship-centred care and the psychological, social and biological factors influencing health. These themes are explored in the context of acute and long-term care and later in the course there is an emphasis on leading and managing in professional practice.
The course has three parts with two progression points which must be successfully completed in order to progress to the next part. The modular structure of the programme is developmental and students study at HE level 7 throughout the programme with students expected to demonstrate increasing levels of self-directed independent study as the programme progresses.
Student independent learning time varies during the programme and is focused more in the theory modules and averages between 30-50 hours a week.
All modules are compulsory.
Career prospects are excellent with Postgraduate Diploma students securing employment as Band 5 Staff Nurses with Trusts including Barts Health NHS Trust, Homerton University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and University College London Hospital's NHS Foundation Trust.
Nursing is a lifelong career and there are excellent progression opportunities in clinical management, education, research and clinical specialisms and many and varied career paths ranging from sister/ charge nurse, community nurse to nurse director. Specialisms include the following:
Postgraduates can complete the MSc programme at City. In order to be awarded an MSc you need 180 credits at level 7 (M level). Postgraduates will have 120 credits if a merit\distinction has been awarded you will be able to consider this option after you have finished the course.
The course is designed for practitioners from Health, Education, Social Care and Voluntary care services with some experience of working with children and adolescents. Students need to be a practitioner in relevant area of practice such as education or health and social care. You may have completed a core professional qualification i.e. nursing, social work, occupational therapy, health visiting, or school nursing and wish to advance your knowledge, although this is not essential.
The course is studied over three years with two pathways in your final year of study; a full research pathway or a taught research pathway. Teaching will involve a broad range of teaching methods including role play and experiential learning, structured reflection, seminar presentations, small group work and video assisted learning.
You will need to have access to working with children and/ or young people and families throughout the course and you will need support for study leave from your line manager to attend scheduled teaching sessions.
Course leader Sharon Pagett has 15 years clinical experience within CAMH. Sharon’s professional background is mental health nursing and she has a range of clinical experience within CAMH services within Day Units and community services. Sharon has led the University’s Graduate Diploma in CAMH for 15 years, which was commissioned by the NHS. This course has consistently evaluated well since its inception. Members of the teaching team also have a range of clinical experience within CAMH services; Simon Baverstock has experience within in-patient child and adolescent inpatient services and violence reduction. He has an MSc in Personality Disorder and has interests in emerging personality disorder, trauma and mindfulness-based interventions.
Dr Karen Whittaker (Reader in Child and Family Health) leads the Child and Family Health research theme group referred to as SEaRCCH, (Supporting Evaluation and Research in Child and Community Health) within the School of Nursing. She is an Institute of Health Visiting Fellow and Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Karen’s professional background is in nursing and health visiting, previously practicing as a health visitor in the city of Salford and later in Lancashire. Her own doctorate and post-doctorate research has involved the application of realist evaluation methods to examine parenting and family support.
The course will develop students’ knowledge in the area of child and adolescent mental health, developing skills that are transferrable in a range of settings from social care to education and also within a range of health services specific to children and adolescents. With the emphasis on early intervention and raising awareness of mental health issues in children and young people, the range of settings where this award could be used is constantly developing.
Modules within the course look at a range of areas such as issues around attachment, normal childhood development, parenting and trauma informed care. Areas specifically related to children and young people’s mental health are considered in depth from assessment to interventions, covering specific areas of concern such as ADHD, ASD, anxiety, depression, eating disorders, self-harm and emergent personality disorder.
The MSc Children and Young People's Mental Health and Psychological Practice (Online Distance Learning) offers a unique perspective: that children and young people’s mental health and well-being is influenced by developmental processes at multiple levels, from individual to socio-cultural and that approaches to working with mental health and well-being need to be informed by this dynamic and interactional system.
By drawing on the knowledge and clinical experience of a world-class department of clinical and health psychology, the programme aims to equip students with the knowledge necessary for understanding children and young people’s mental health and well-being from this unique perspective. The programme will also draw upon many other theoretical areas, including early intervention, health promotion, public health, health and social inequalities, critical psychology, developmental psychopathology and resilience.
The programme is part time, fully online, and has been designed with professionals in mind; the online delivery format and part-time study options allow for professionals from a range of disciplinary backgrounds to develop knowledge and practice whilst continuing to meet individual life and work demands.
The core elements of the programme include both conceptual and applied courses. At the conceptual level, the programme will review different theories of children and young people’s mental health involved in the complex structure of typical and atypical development. At the applied level it will include the application of psychological knowledge to difficulties experienced by children and young people and the critical appraisal of psychological knowledge and practice.
Distinctive features of the course, include:
Graduates of the programme can expect to develop key skills and abilities, which are transferable to a number of professional domains, including:
All of the teaching on the MSc is delivered entirely online, allowing for flexible and responsive approaches to learning, assessment and support of our students and to reach a wide range of graduates and professionals from all over the world.
The online teaching methods include:
The University's full range of online learning resources will be available to students; for example:
As well as our online courses, students are welcome to enrol on our campus-based courses (up to 60 credits), if it is possible for them to attend the University for teaching, thus increasing flexibility and choice. Please note that students enrolled on this programme would not be eligible to apply for a Tier 4 visa.
This programme offers a flexible postgraduate degree designed for recent graduates and professionals who are interested in studying at an advanced level.
The programme is designed to be completed part-time. The minimum period the course can be completed is two years, with a maximum completion time of six years.
There are a number of qualification routes available; students enrol on the MSc programme pathway and can exit at any of the following qualification junctures:
Courses offered as part of the programme include:
The dissertation project takes the form of a systematic review or meta-analysis relating to an aspect of psychological theory, or a psychological model, with relevance to clinical practice in the field of child and adolescent mental health and well-being.
The programme has been designed to enhance the career development of a range of professions involved in the provision of psychological health and care by improving awareness and application of psychological theory to clinical practice and by broadening the theoretical base from which professions practice.
Previous students have continued to work in, or entered, a range of professions including:
Recent graduates interested in working in the area of child and adolescent mental health would also benefit from this programme. The degree demonstrates a student's high level of commitment to working with children and young people.
Physician Associate (formerly known as Physician Assistant) is a rapidly growing healthcare role in the UK, working alongside doctors in hospitals and in GP surgeries. Physician Associates support doctors in the diagnosis and management of patients. They are trained to perform a number of roles including: taking medical histories, performing examinations, analysing test results, and diagnosing illnesses under the direct supervision of a doctor.
To understand what a Physician Associate does on a day-to-day basis, Health Education England have produced this informative Day in the Life of a Physician Associate video.
We also run a flexible MSc Physician Associate programme for those who already have their Postgraduate Diploma from a UK or Irish institution.
Please note: the British Physician Associate programme does not qualify you to work in the USA.
The University of Birmingham has been training Physician Associates (formerly Physician Assistants) since January 2008. As one of the longest running programmes in the country, we are delighted to offer this opportunity to graduates to make a valuable contribution to the nation’s health. We work in partnership with hospitals and practices in the Midlands and beyond.
The development of the profession has been led by the Department of Health and has involved the Royal Colleges of Physicians and of General Practitioners as well as the profession itself through the former UK Association of Physician Associates (UKAPA) which is now the Faculty of Physician Associates at the Royal College of Physicians. University of Birmingham staff have taken a key role in the development of the programme at a national as well as a regional level in response to need identified by local healthcare providers. Successful completion of the programme will qualify you to practise as a Physician Associate in the UK.
Please note: the UK PA training programme does not qualify you to work in the USA.
The course
The course leaders regard integration of theory and practice as fundamental to clinical learning.
Regulation
All students will be registered with the Faculty of Physician Associates at the Royal College of Physicians. Graduates currently join a Managed Voluntary Register.
This is a very intense course with a large amount of knowledge and skills to acquire in a relatively short time. You will need to dedicate at least 50 hours each week to learning, much of it by yourself and with your learning set.
At the University of Birmingham we believe in very close integration between the theory learning (‘the hip is a ball and socket joints and the femur anatomy is as follows’ and clinical learning (‘when people fracture their hips it happens like this, they present like this, and your understanding of the hip anatomy enables you to understand why and how hips fracture’). You will also link theory and practice by learning, say, how to examine a hip on each other, on a simulated patient and (often) on a real patient before you see such a patient in a clinical environment.
Birmingham-trained Physician Associates have been very successful in the NHS jobs market with most of our graduates on NHS Agenda for Change Band 7 (starting at £31,383 p,a.) or higher.
Our graduates are working all across the UK (although about half have stayed in the West Midlands) and in a wide range of specialties including: general medicine, acute medicine, cardiology, paediatrics, breast surgery, trauma and orthopaedics, mental health, emergency medicine and General Practice. Many have also chosen to go into teaching and research (part-time while maintaining clinical duties), with five of our graduates currently teaching here at Birmingham.
The number of NHS Trusts and Practices seeking Physician Associates (and the average number working for each Trust/Practice) has increased rapidly throughout the last few years, and we would expect that number to continue to increase at a similar pace over the next few years.
