Graduate Certificate of Nursing Practice (Intensive Care)

Description

The Graduate Certificate course is designed to prepare nurses to meet contemporary challenges in intensive care nursing within the specialist field of critical care nursing and to progressively build upon knowledge and skills required to comprehensively care for critically ill patients. The course responds to the demands of industry and partnership/collaborating hospitals for nurses with sophisticated specialty skills and knowledge. The course links Deakin University with existing partners and a number of other collaborating hospitals, all of which have a high demand for specialist intensive care nurses.



The use of learning technologies such as Deakin Studies Online (DSO), teleconferencing, eLive, iLectures and in Spring mini movies will facilitate student engagement in a large proportion of the specialist units.



Team-Based Learning (TBL), a specific educational strategy that involves individual preparation, team discussions and immediate lecture feedback, is conducted at the Melbourne Campus at Burwood. Team-Based Learning assists students to further develop their critical thinking, problem solving and teamwork skills by applying recently learnt knowledge to real clinical issues.



A compulsory introductory four day program on the Melbourne Campus at Burwood is normally held in the second week of February.

On completion of the Graduate Certificate course, students are eligible to continue studies towards the Graduate Diploma of Nursing Practice (Intensive Care), and/or the Master of Nursing Practice. The Master of Nursing Practice (by coursework) may be entered directly from a Graduate Certificate of Nursing Practice (Intensive Care) [requires an additional 8 credit points of study] or following completion of a Graduate Diploma of Nursing Practice (Intensive Care) [requires an additional 4 credit points of study].



Students wishing to complete the Master of Nursing Practice by research and undertake the 4 credit point minor thesis must have completed HNN727 Research in Nursing and

Requirements

The course is open to registered nurses who possess a Bachelor of Nursing degree, or an equivalent approved qualification. In addition, applicants must be currently registered as a Division 1 nurse with the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia and will normally have completed at least 12 months recent acute care nursing experience. Students may also be required to attend an interview as part of the selection process.

Selection criteria
As the course is offered collaboratively between the University and a range of partnership/ collaborating hospitals, student selection into the course is a joint process. Students normally are employed within a collaborating hospital to support and provide a sound clinical learning environment for the clinical program requirements of the course. Where concurrent employment is not possible, clinical practicums may be negotiated.

Notes

Clinical practice
Students normally are employed within a collaborating hospital for a minimum of 24 hours per week to support and provide a sound clinical learning environment for the clinical program requirements of the course. Where concurrent employment is not possible, clinical practicums may be negotiated.