Acute and Critical Care: Foundations for Practice

Program Overview

This module provides advanced knowledge in caring for adults with acute and critical illnesses. It covers patient assessment, monitoring, and the impact of illness on body systems. Students can study this module as a standalone or as part of the PGCert Critical Care or Acute Care: Practice Development programs. The module includes topics such as critical care concepts, patient assessment, haemodynamics, ECG interpretation, and ethical issues.

Program Outline

Degree Overview:

The aim of this module is to develop advanced knowledge of the principles underpinning the care of adults experiencing acute and critical illness. You will need to complete an induction prior to commencement of your first module. We have a comprehensive online induction package to welcome you to both the university and your programme of study. The running of this module is dependent on there being sufficient numbers of interest. This module can be studied at level 6 or 7 and is co-taught, with students from both levels of study learning together. You can complete this module as a stand-alone module (COA) or as a core module to support the completion of the PGCert Critical Care and/or Acute Care: Practice Development.

Outline:

This module covers the foundations of acute/critical illness presentation, including patient assessment, monitoring, and the effect of acute/critical illness on body systems. Areas of study include:

• Concepts of critical care and national policy drivers.
• Patient assessment and monitoring.
• Haemodynamics and fluid balance.
• Introduction to 12 Lead ECG and arrhythmia recognition.
• Effect of acute / critical illness on body systems; including: respiratory, cardiac, renal and nervous systems.
• Pathophysiology and treatment of shock.
• Principles of pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics.
• Ethical, moral and legal issues.

Assessment:

Assessment, Feedback, and Teaching and Learning methods Full details are available in the programme specification. Timetables The teaching timetable should be available from the end of August. Access to the timetable is through the Student Hub – you will be able to access the Student Hub after you have completed online registration.

Careers:

Having completed this module you may wish to bring these 20 credits into the PG Cert Acute and Critical Care: Practice Development. Please discuss this opportunity with the module leader before completion of this module.