Welcome
On behalf of the University of South Australia, I would like to warmly welcome you to NURS 5118; the final course of the Graduate Certificate in Critical Care Nursing Program. I am excited to witness the extension of your learning and enhanced application of your new knowledge relating to the area of critical care nursing.
In this course you will build on the knowledge and skills acquired in NURS 5117, and apply this to more complex critical care patients.
Similar to the first course, the discussion forum will provide us with a platform to communicate and explore various topics related to critical care on a weekly basis. There are four assessments in this course, the Portfolio, comprising of the Clinical Portfolio and one self-reflective essay, a Clinical Audit, an Objective Structured Clinical Assessment (OSCA) and your overall contribution to the discussion forum. The largest assessment item is the Clinical Audit, which involves conducting an audit on a current procedure or policy related to critical care, within your current clinical environment. You will be continually supported through the discussion forum and be supplied with helpful resources to conduct your clinical audit task. Your attendance at the workshops is highly recommended.
Effective student time management is essential for this course as the assessment tasks intensify in requirements. It is important to allocate regular study time each week. If you begin to experience difficulties please contact me in order for appropriate support strategies to be offered. Referrals to the many educational support services available by the University can be made when required.
I hope you enjoy the upcoming study period and please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
Dr Joanne Harmon
Course Coordinator
Course Lecturer
Course Teaching Staff
* Please refer to your Course homepage for the most up to date list of course teaching staff.
Contact Details
Course Overview
Prerequisite(s)
NURS 5117 Critical Care Nursing 1
Corequisite(s)
There are no corequisite courses to be completed in conjunction with this course.
Course Aim
To enable registered nurses to develop the specialist knowledge and skills to manage and lead the provision of comprehensive, evidence based nursing care to critically ill clients across the lifespan.
Course Objectives
On completion of this course, students should be able to:
CO1. Demonstrate clinical competence in nursing management of clients with complex critical illness
CO2. Integrate best available evidence in the nursing management of critically ill clients
CO3. Effectively collaborate with members of the health care team to achieve optimal outcomes for clients with critical illness
CO4. Demonstrate comprehensive understanding of ethical practice in the nursing management of critically ill clients
CO5. Differentiate the professional standards, codes, guidelines, and legislation relevant to the specialist critical care nursing role
CO6. Critically analyse the scope of practice and accountability of the specialist critical care nurse in the management of clients with critical illness.
CO7. Critically analyse the leadership role of the specialist critical care nurse.
Upon completion of this course, students will have achieved the following combination of Graduate Qualities and Course Objectives:
CO1 | • | • | • | • | • | • | • |
CO2 | • | • | • | | | | |
CO3 | • | • | • | • | • | • | • |
CO4 | • | | • | • | • | • | |
CO5 | • | • | | | • | • | • |
CO6 | • | • | • | | • | | • |
CO7 | • | • | • | • | • | • | • |
Graduate Qualities
A graduate of UniSA:
GQ1. operates effectively with and upon a body of knowledge of sufficient depth to begin professional practice
GQ2. is prepared for life-long learning in pursuit of personal development and excellence in professional practice
GQ3. is an effective problem solver, capable of applying logical, critical, and creative thinking to a range of problems
GQ4. can work both autonomously and collaboratively as a professional
GQ5. is committed to ethical action and social responsibility as a professional and citizen
GQ6. communicates effectively in professional practice and as a member of the community
GQ7. demonstrates international perspectives as a professional and as a citizen
Course Content
Evidenced based practice in critical care nursing, comprehensive nursing assessment including advanced data collection and interpretation, clinical reasoning, problem solving and decision making, comprehensive care planning and nursing management of the patient with complex critical illnesses, use of technology, paediatric and obstetric considerations (including resuscitation), retrieval of the critically ill patient, clinical leadership, nursing accountability, clinical governance, scope of practice, professional, legal and ethical aspects of nursing care.
Teaching and Learning Arrangements
External (Online delivery) | 13 weeks |
Workshop (On campus ) | 8 hours x 3 days |
Unit Value
9 units
Learning Resources
Textbook(s)
You will need continual access to the following text(s) to complete this course. Where possible the Library will make the book available for student use. Please check the Library catalogue before purchasing the book(s). The Library will always seek to purchase resources that allow an unlimited number of concurrent users, however availability is dependent on license arrangements with book publishers and platforms. http://www.library.unisa.edu.au
Aitken, L, Marshall, A, Chaboyer, W (2015). ACCCN's Critical Care Nursing (3rd edition). Elsevier.
F Gill, T Kendrick and M Greenwood (2015). ACCCN's Practice Standards for Specialist Critical Care Nurses (3rd edition). Online version.
Materials to be accessed online
learnonline course site
All course related materials can be accessed through your learnonline course site which you will be able to access from the my Courses section in myUniSA.
myUniSA
All study related materials can be accessed through:
https://my.unisa.edu.au
Materials dispatch
Assessment
Assessment Details
Details of assessment submission and return are listed under each assessment task. Assessment tasks will be returned to you within two to three weeks of submission.
If the Course Coordinator allows submissions in hard copy format, you will be required to attach an Assignment Cover Sheet which is available on the learnonline student help (
https://lo.unisa.edu.au/mod/book/view.php?id=1843&chapterid=567) and in myUniSA.
Assessment Summary
1 | Portfolio | 2500 words | - | 25% | 22 Nov 2019, 11:00 PM | learnonline, See assessment activities for details | CO1, CO2, CO3, CO4, CO5, CO6, CO7 |
2 | Report | 4000 words | - | 40% | See assessment description for activity details | CO2, CO5, CO6, CO7 |
3 | Objective Structured Clinical Assessment (OSCA) | - | 45 minutes | 20% | 14th Nov 2019 | In person | CO1, CO2, CO3, CO4, CO5 |
4 | Online activities | 1500 words | - | 15% | 25 Oct 2019, 11:00 PM | see assessment activities for details | CO1, CO2, CO3, CO4, CO5, CO6, CO7 |
Feedback proformas
The feedback proforma is available on your course site.
Assessments
Clinical portfolio workbook and self reflection
Clinical portfolio and self reflection
The Portfolio comprises of the Clinical Portfolio Workbook and a self-reflection paper.
The self-reflection paper involves the student performing reflective writing in relation to their own perceptions of their professional competence as a Registered Nurse working in a critical care environment. The essay will be marked according to the assessment criteria described in the marking rubrics, which are available on the learnonline course site.
Self reflection AND clinical portfolio Due date: 22nd Nov 2019 2300
Instructions:
1. Now that completion of the program is drawing near, reflect on how you have developed professionally during your studies. For example, describe your newly developed competence or if you did not achieve what you had hoped.
2. Choose 1 of the 15 standards outlined in the ACCCN Practice Standards (2015) and articulate how you feel you have met this standard. Use an example in your clinical practice to support your response.
3. Discuss your professional goals and career aspirations as a newly graduated Critical Care Nurse and how you will go about achieving these goals.
Word limit 1000-2000 words. submit online.
Clinical Portfolio Workbook
Must be completed in collaboration with your designated Clinical Preceptors in order to pass the course.
The skills outlined for Critical Care 2 and any skills requiring completion from Critical Care 1 as discussed previously with the Course Coordinator need to be completed and record of achievement provided. It is to be delivered in person or mailed (ensuring it will be received in time) to the Nursing and Midwifery School Office by 5 pm, Friday 22nd November 2019.
Please ensure you contact your lecturer at least two weeks in advance if you are nearing completion of the semester and are experiencing difficulties completing the required sections of the workbook.
Report (Clinical Audit)
Assessment Activities
Part A - Develop a Clinical Audit Plan | 25% | 6 Sep 2019, 11:00 PM | learnonline |
Part B - Conduct the Clinical Audit | 75% | 8 Nov 2019, 11:00 PM | learnonline |
REPORT: Clinical Audit (referred to as the Report in this Course Outline) is divided into 2 parts; the clinical audit plan (Part A) and conducting the audit (Part B).
The plan involves choosing the audit topic, devising a clinical question, comparing your clinical setting's practice or service that you have chosen to audit against current standards, developing the audit design, describing the population, and finally developing the timeline to conduct the entire audit.
Part A- Due date 6th Sept 2019 2300. Submit online
Part A: Assignment instructions:
1. Choose your topic for the clinical audit and respond to the following steps;
a) How did you come to choose this topic? Is there relevance to your clinical setting?
b) Highlight the importance for improvement in patient outcomes related to this topic.
2. Once the research topic has been chosen, formulate a comprehensive problem statement, followed by the clinical question. State both of these.
3. Compare your clinical setting’s practice/service you are auditing with peer-reviewed literature as well as guidelines from other organisations (if applicable) from national and international perspectives. Present your review in your audit plan.
4. Identify and discuss the relevant standards or best-practice benchmarks related to the audit topic – these will be the basis of subsequent data-collection.
5. What audit design will you use and why? Describe this in your plan.
6. Describe your chosen audit population, ensuring it will clearly represent the group you are wanting to audit.
7. Develop and describe your timeline for conducting the audit.
Part B: Due date 8th Nov 2019 2300. Submit online
Part B involves carrying out the audit. In this assignment you will need to describe what method/s you used to collect the data, how you analysed the data, the conclusion/s you will draw and a statement making recommendations for a change in practice (if applicable).
Part B Assignment instructions:
1. Develop and describe your data collection plan.
2. Collect and collate the data and provide the ‘raw’ data in the appendix.
3. Clearly display the analysed data that you have collected, i.e. in table format for example.
4. Evaluate the validity of the data collected and if this influences the results obtained.
5. Refer to the relevant practice standards and benchmark documentation outlined in your Audit Plan to compare the results of your data analysis. Describe the comparisons.
6. Translate your evidence into practice (changing practice on basis of a clinical audit).
a) Develop practice improvement strategies.
b) Develop an action plan for change.
7. Identify and manage the ethical issues for this clinical audit (if relevant).
Both assignments in this assessment item will be marked according to the assessment criteria described in the marking rubrics, which is available on the Learnonline course site.
Please ensure that you review the marking criteria when planning and completing the assignments.
Objective Structured Clinical Assessment (OSCA)
Workshop
The workshop is delivered over three days, your attendance at the workshops is highly recommended. The fourth workshop day is the OSCA.
Day one- Workshop- 13th September 9.30-12.30 pm.
For this half day workshop students will attend an off-campus workshop.
Day two and three workshop- UniSA HHHS 12 and 13th Nov
Day four will be the OSCA.
14th Nov
This will be a half day 9.00-12.00. The OSCA will take place on November the 14th, therefore please ensure you have allocated study leave to attend. You will be notified of your allocated times closer to the date.
You must receive a pass grade for the OSCA to pass this course.
The OSCA scenario will be based on the content covered during this semester, and you will be asked to respond to a clinical scenario using the simulation equipment in the Horizon Hospital and Health Service (the simulation environment at the University).
Please refer to the OSCA information provided to you on the Learnonline course site for additional information.
Online activities
Online forum
Weekly contribution to the discussion forum
Due date: please ensure your last post is made by 25th OCT 2300 2019
This involves student participation in the online discussion forum on a weekly and topic basis.
Students are required to have at least one insightful contribution per topic, per week. The forum responses are to clearly define and clarify issues, demonstrate critical thinking and analysis, and draw on current evidence and experience.
Weekly postings to the Reading Discussion Forum, to be completed during Weeks 1-10 (250 X 10 weeks = 2500 words equivalence).
- The online discussion forum is a space for your weekly reflection and discussion on the readings/ questions/ your progress through your clinical portfolio each week where you are able to discuss and develop your ideas.
- There will be weekly discussion threads started for your reflections by the teaching team.
- Remember this is not a place for you to summarise the readings - it is for you to voice your own thoughts and ideas about what you are reading and doing in your clinical setting.
- Ideally your first weekly post will be by Thursday midnight and you are expected to post at least once more by Sunday midnight as you discuss that week's materials within your online group.
- We understand students are shift workers- if you are doing a week of night shift then please let the course coordinator know if this is the case.
- Importantly this is a discussion forum, so don't contribute your second post at the start of the next week on Monday- that isn't really engaging in discussion and you will not earn full credit for this.
- The initial response should be substantive, and approximately 250 words in length, not including references. You should include references, if appropriate, in your postings.
- Subsequent posts should also be substantive, drawing from our readings and from your experience. Importantly, the assessment of discussion board posts will be on quality and depth of posts, not quantity.
- To receive full credit, you are expected to make a meaningful contribution to an ongoing discussion; simply posting “me too” or “thank you” posts on the boards does not count as participation.
Please ensure your last post is made by the 25th of October 2300
Refer to the marking rubric for this assessment item on the Learnonline course site for more detail.
Submission and return of assessment tasks
See above under Assessment details.
Exam Arrangements
This course does not have an exam.
Variations to exam arrangements
Variation to exam arrangements does not apply to this course.
Supplementary Assessment
Supplementary assessment or examination offers students an opportunity to gain a supplementary pass (SP) and is available to all students under the following conditions unless supplementary assessment or examination has not been approved for the course:
- if the student has achieved a final grade between 45-49 per cent (F1) in a course
- if a student who has successfully completed all of the courses within their program, with the exception of two courses in which they were enrolled in their final study period, a supplementary assessment or examination may be granted where the final grade in either or both of these courses, is less than 45 percent (F1 or F2) and all assessments in the courses were attempted by the student. Supplementary assessment will not be available for a course under investigation for academic integrity until the investigation is completed, and determined that it did not constitute academic misconduct.
More information about supplementary assessment is available in section 7.5 of the Assessment Policy and Procedures Manual.
http://i.unisa.edu.au/policies-and-procedures/codes/assessment-policies/
Important information about all assessment
All students must adhere to the University of South Australia's policies about assessment:
http://i.unisa.edu.au/policies-and-procedures/codes/assessment-policies/.
Additional assessment requirements
Students are required to pass assessment items Portfolio and Objective Structured Clinical Assessment (OSCA) in order to successfully complete this course.
Students with disabilities or medical conditions
Students with disabilities or medical conditions or students who are carers of a person with a disability may be entitled to a variation or modification to standard assessment arrangements. See Section 7 of the Assessment Policy and Procedures Manual (APPM) at: http://i.unisa.edu.au/policies-and-procedures/codes/assessment-policies/
Students who require variations or modifications to standard assessment arrangements should make contact with their Course Coordinator as early as possible in order to ensure that appropriate supports can be implemented or arranged in a timely manner.
Students can register for an Access Plan with UniSA Access & Inclusion Service. It is important to make contact early to ensure that appropriate support can be implemented or arranged in a timely manner. See the Disability Hub for more information: http://www.unisa.edu.au/Disability/Current-students
Students are advised there is a deadline to finalise Access Plan arrangements for examinations. Further information is available at: http://i.unisa.edu.au/campus-central/Exams_R/Before-the-Exam/Alternative-exam-arrangements/
Deferred Assessment or Examination
Deferred assessment or examination is not available for this course. APPM 7.6.4
Special Consideration
Special consideration is available for this course. Note: Special consideration cannot be granted for a deferred assessment or examination, or a supplementary assessment or examination. APPM 7.7.6
Variations to assessment tasks
Variation to assessment methods, tasks and timelines may be provided in:
Unexpected or exceptional circumstances, for example bereavement, unexpected illness (details of unexpected or exceptional circumstances for which variation may be considered are discussed in clauses 7.8 - 7.10 of the Assessment Policy and Procedures Manual). Variation to assessment in unexpected or exceptional circumstances should be discussed with your course coordinator as soon as possible.
Special circumstances, for example religious observance grounds, or community services (details of special circumstances for which variation can be considered are discussed in clause 7.11 of the Assessment Policy and Procedures Manual). Variations to assessment in expected circumstances must be requested within the first two weeks of the course (or equivalent for accelerated or intensive teaching).
Students with disabilities or medical conditions please refer to Students with disabilities or medical conditions.
Academic Integrity
Academic integrity is the foundation of university life and is fundamental to the reputation of UniSA and its staff and students. Academic integrity means a commitment by all staff and students to act with honesty, trustworthiness, fairness, respect and responsibility in all academic work.
An important part of practising integrity in academic work is showing respect for other people's ideas, and being honest about how they have contributed to your work. This means taking care not to represent the work of others as your own. Using another person's work without proper acknowledgement is considered Academic Misconduct, and the University takes this very seriously.
The University of South Australia expects students to demonstrate the highest standards of academic integrity so that its degrees are earned honestly and are trusted and valued by its students and their employers. To ensure this happens, the University has policies and procedures in place to promote academic integrity and manage academic misconduct. For example, work submitted electronically by students for assessment will be examined for copied and un-referenced text using the text comparison software Turnitin
http://www.turnitin.com.
More information about academic integrity and what constitutes academic misconduct can be found in Section 9 of the Assessment Policies and Procedures Manual (APPM):
http://i.unisa.edu.au/policies-and-procedures/codes/assessment-policies/. The Academic Integrity Module explains in more detail how students can work with integrity at the University:
https://lo.unisa.edu.au/mod/book/view.php?id=252142
Action from previous evaluations
Nil
Course Calendar
1 | 08 - 14 July | | | | |
| 15 - 21 July | Pre-teaching | | | |
| 22 - 28 July | Pre-teaching | | | |
2 | 29 July - 4 August | Topic 1 - Cardiac Conditions and Surgery | | | |
3 | 05 - 11 August | Topic 2 - Renal System | | | |
4 | 12 - 18 August | Topic 3 - Endocrine System | | | |
5 | 19 - 25 August | Topic 4 - Shock and Multi-Organ Dysfunction | | | |
6 | 26 August - 1 September | Topic 5 - Trauma | | | |
7 | 02 - 8 September | Topic 6 - Gastrointestinal Dysfunction and Overdose | | Report (Clinical Audit): Part A - Develop a Clinical Audit Plan due 06 Sep 2019, 11:00 PM | |
8 | 09 - 15 September | Topic 7 - Nutrition and Pain | | | |
9 | 16 - 22 September | Topic 8 - Retrievals and Transport | workshop
Friday 13th Sept
Medstar and Royal Flying Doctor Service
Details TBA | | |
| 23 - 29 September | Mid-break | | | |
| 30 September - 6 October | Mid-break | | | |
10 | 07 - 13 October | Topic 9 - Paediatrics and Obstetrics | | | Labour Day 7/10/2019
|
11 | 14 - 20 October | Topic 10 - Ethics and Decision Making | | | |
12 | 21 - 27 October | | | Online activities due 25 Oct 2019, 11:00 PM | |
13 | 28 October - 3 November | | | | |
14 | 04 - 10 November | | | Report (Clinical Audit): Part B - Conduct the Clinical Audit due 08 Nov 2019, 11:00 PM | |
15 | 11 - 17 November | | Workshop Day
Tuesday 12th November, on-campus, 9-5 pm
Wednesday 13th November, on-campus, 9-5 pm
Thursday 14th November- OSCA- time TBA
| | |
16 | 18 - 24 November | | | Clinical portfolio workbook and self reflection due 22 Nov 2019, 11:00 PM | |
17 | 25 November - 1 December | | | | |
18 | 02 - 8 December | | | | |