BSc (Hons) - Children's Nursing

Year one

You will focus on understanding children's health and development and enhancing your communication skills with children and families. Placements will be in both hospital and community settings.

• Applied Biological Sciences for Health
  This module provides a comprehensive introduction to the fundamental concepts of anatomy and physiology essential for clinical practice. You will explore key homeostatic mechanisms and the anatomical and physiological aspects of human body systems, including cardiovascular, respiratory, gastrointestinal and more. The module emphasises how biological sciences underpin clinical decision-making and practice. Upon completion, you will be able to effectively describe body system regulation, identify anatomical structures, and demonstrate the application of biological knowledge in clinical settings, enhancing your capability to inform and support health-related decision-making.
• Professional Practice and Accountability
  This module explores the legal, ethical and professional principles essential for effective decision-making in health and social care. You will examine relevant legislation, ethical frameworks and the complexities of professional accountability. Key topics include legal duty of care, safeguarding and the role of professional regulatory bodies. By completing this module, you'll be equipped to apply legal and ethical standards to practice, navigate professional responsibilities, and uphold high standards of accountability and conduct within health and social care settings.
• Developing Evidence Based Practice
  This module focuses on honing your skills for critically evaluating the evidence that underpins nursing practice. You will learn to identify and utilise a range of information sources, appreciate various research methodologies, and apply these to clinical practice. By the end of the module, you'll be able to integrate research into practice, promoting informed decision-making and enhancing professional practice.
• Introduction to Communication and Interpersonal Skills
  In this module, you will develop essential communication and interpersonal skills crucial for delivering culturally sensitive and compassionate nursing care. You will learn techniques for effective conversations, gather and convey sensitive information accurately, and enhance self-awareness in dynamic healthcare environments. By the end of the module, you'll be proficient in using communication strategies to build therapeutic relationships and manage interactions with empathy and professionalism.
• Concepts of Health and Social Policy
  This module examines the multifaceted determinants of health, including biological, psychological, social, cultural and spiritual factors, and their influence on wellbeing throughout life. You will explore holistic health concepts and apply principles of health promotion and prevention within diverse populations. The module also covers health policy, literacy and economics, offering insights into the social and political contexts of healthcare. By integrating these perspectives, you will develop the skills needed to promote person-centred care and address the complex needs of individuals across different cultural settings.
• Introduction to Children’s Nursing
  This is the first of four field specific modules and starts early in the first semester. It is an opportunity to work with the child students and focus on the most important aspects of children’s nursing. This module introduces you to the holistic needs of children, young people and their families. You will explore family and child-centred care, developmental theories, cognitive and speech development, and the role of play. The module also covers nutrition, hydration, safeguarding and the legal aspects of children's nursing. By the end of the module, you'll understand key psychosocial impacts on child development and be able to discuss theoretical concepts and practical applications in children's nursing. You will also have an opportunity to explore the anatomy of the lungs and safeguarding interactively in our immersive suite. This module prepares you for your first placement in either a hospital or community setting.

Year two

You will learn about complex care, sick children, children with long term conditions, children's mental health, palliative and end of life care. There is an opportunity for you to organise your own enrichment placement to get your own unique nursing experience.

• Pharmacology and Medicine Therapeutics
  This module focuses on equipping you with the knowledge and skills to effectively manage medication within clinical practice. You will explore pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics, understand drug safety and therapeutic monitoring, and apply these principles to diverse health conditions. There are field-specific sessions in which this subject is explored in terms of children and young people. By the end of the module, you'll be able to apply medicine therapeutics to patient care, ensure safe and effective medication management, and comply with relevant legislation and policies.
• Living with Long Term Conditions Across the Lifespan
  This module provides a comprehensive understanding of the causes, presentations and management of long-term conditions throughout life. You will examine the pathogenesis of common disorders, explore relevant policy frameworks, and discuss the holistic management of conditions in partnership with patients and their families. By the end of the module, you'll be skilled in recognising and addressing deterioration in mental, physical, cognitive and behavioural health, ensuring effective and empathetic care in diverse settings. This module enables you to think about families, children and young people in a broader context and the lifelong implications of health issues in childhood.
• Learning from the Lived Experience
  This module immerses you in the analysis of personal narratives to deepen your understanding of health and social care. By engaging with real-life accounts, you will critically examine how individual experiences reflect contemporary policies and care frameworks. You will develop skills in thematic analysis and reflect on how these narratives can shape your future practice and enhance interprofessional collaboration. By the end of the module, you will be skilled in integrating lived experiences into your professional approach, fostering a more empathetic and informed care practice.
• Communication and Relationship Management in a Therapeutic Context
  This module equips you with the skills to effectively manage communication and build therapeutic relationships within healthcare settings. You will critically evaluate different communication strategies, including motivational interviewing and cognitive behaviour therapy techniques, and apply them to enhance therapeutic interactions. By exploring theoretical concepts and evidence-based approaches, you'll learn to navigate complex communication scenarios, such as delivering difficult news and addressing distress. By the end of the module, you’ll be able to employ appropriate strategies to foster supportive relationships with individuals, families and multidisciplinary teams, ensuring professional and empathetic engagement in therapeutic contexts.
• Complex Care Needs of Children and Young People
  This is the first of two field-specific modules in your second year. You will study this module at the beginning of your second semester. This module builds on your learning from year one and placement experiences, and develops your knowledge and understanding of the care needs of children and young people with complex conditions. You'll explore care environments, ethical implications of life-limiting conditions, and the role of children's nurses in end-of-life care. Topics include palliative care, respite services, safeguarding, mental health issues and inclusion of children with disabilities. You will also learn about grief, bereavement, care packages, discriminatory behaviour, relevant laws, and safeguarding and consent in complex care. This module has an interactive day in which we use technology and our healthcare facilities to explore real-life situations.
• Managing Acute Care Needs of the Child and Young Person
  This is the second of the two field-specific modules and starts at the beginning of the second semester. The two modules run side by side and cover a wide range of conditions and situations that you will encounter as a children’s nurse. This module will build on your learning from year one and placement experiences. This module aims to enhance your knowledge of nursing children and young people to provide child-centred care in acute settings. You'll learn to identify and interpret signs and symptoms in deteriorating children, explore the children's nurse's role in acute care, and understand acute trauma and surgical interventions. Key topics include safeguarding, managing pain, holding and restraint techniques, peri and post-operative care, trauma, wound care, burns, sepsis and head injury. There is an interactive session on this module which enables you to explore case studies in real time and have the opportunity to manage the care of these children and young people.

Year three

Your knowledge and skills will be further expanded and you will learn about neonatal and emergency care. You will also develop your management and service improvement skills, which will help you to prepare for a future staff nurse role.

• Clinical Decision Making and Complex Care
  You will focus on consolidating your professional competence in clinical decision making for managing complex care within contemporary health and social care settings. This module will enhance your understanding of providing integrated care across mental, cognitive, behavioural and physical health. You'll learn to synthesise knowledge for delivering safe, effective and person-centred care for individuals with co-morbidities and complex needs. By the end of the module, you'll be equipped with the skills necessary to address the challenges of pharmacology and prepare for a prescribing qualification following registration.
• Contemporary Issues and Change Management in Professional Practice
  Consolidate your knowledge to enhance service quality in professional practice. This module enables you to critically examine evidence, synthesise it, and build a case for change in your area of practice. You will justify strategies for change with a critical understanding of theories, models and the psychology of change. Topics include literature search techniques, research methodologies, drivers for change, change theories, planning and implementing change, the role of change agents, and evaluation of clinical practice through audits and feedback from service users and staff. This module enables you to explore the evidence regarding an area of practice from children’s nursing and consider changes that might be implemented to improve the service delivered.
• Public Health
  Explore and evaluate public health and social care agendas and their impacts on individuals, groups and communities. This module equips you to critically discuss health inequalities, analyse the roles of health professionals in public health, and develop skills in data interpretation to address community health needs. Key topics include health concepts, political influences, community empowerment, digital health technology, public health policies, disaster management, genomics, health metrics, and collaborative public health interventions. This module enables you to look holistically at health inequalities and explore how these could affect families, children and young people in a broader context.
• Leading and Managing Health and Social Care
  This module prepares you to work professionally within an organisation, enabling you to lead and manage care in a dynamic environment. You will explore organisational cultures, leadership and management models, emotional intelligence, communication and relationship-building. Key areas include coaching, supervision, risk assessment, clinical governance, learning from errors and performance management. This module also covers political awareness and the impact of organisational behaviour on care delivery. This module enables you to explore your practice in relation to these topics and think about situations that you have been part of in practice.
• Consolidation of Children’s Nursing Practice
  This is the final field-specific module and is delivered towards the end of your final year. This enables you to bring together the wide range of experiences and knowledge you have gained during the course. The module will also explore some more advanced aspects of children’s nursing. You'll critically evaluate evidence-based practices, appraise innovative approaches within current healthcare climates, and reflect on the impact of leadership and teamwork. The module covers evaluation tools, feedback, audit, problem-solving, and the roles of regulatory bodies. You'll also explore high-dependency care, emergency care, neonatal care, parental mental health, workload analysis, safeguarding and de-escalation of complex situations. By the end of the module, you'll be able to apply your learning to a variety of contexts in children's nursing. There will be an opportunity for you to develop your mentorship skills in teaching practical skills to your peers.