Intensive Care Core Skills

In intensive care, you need to make accurate assessments and difficult decisions on a daily basis. At City, we’ll help you hone the skills you use to care for patients.

This course is the first of two 15-credit courses. Intensive Care Core Skills is designed to boost your knowledge, whilst Intensive Care Role Development explores haemodynamics in more depth. Together, they are worth 30 credits and are recognised by employers.

Among the topics covered, you’ll explore respiratory failure and mechanical ventilation in conjunction with the core care needs of this patient group. You will also consider the ethics underpinning intensive care, from admitting patients to withdrawing treatment. We’ll also discuss the impact on patients and their families and explore the best ways to support them.

Who is it for?

This course is for registered nurses with 10-12 months of experience working in intensive care, and will motivate you to progress in your career to the next nursing band.

Timetable

Term 2

Timetable to be published soon.

Benefits

You will cover:

• respiratory failure, including ARDS
• patient physical assessment
• mechanical ventilation strategies
• ethical considerations of intensive care
• essential nursing care of patients requiring advanced respiratory support.

By the end of the course, you’ll be able to:

Knowledge and understanding:

• Critically evaluate the impact of intensive care on the individual's psychosocial requirements
• Critically consider the ethical basis upon which decisions are made within the intensive care setting.

Skills:

• Through the critical evaluation of patient data, rationalise key interventions in patient care
• Critically evaluate short and long-range goals associated with the intensive-care-patient continuum.

Values and attitudes:

• Reflect upon personal developmental needs and identify strategies to address these
• Critically consider the importance of patient-centered, collaborative and compassionate care.

Teaching

For this course, you’ll listen to lectures, attend seminars and join group discussions. You’ll be taught by an expert in the area with extensive experience working in intensive care.

Assessment

To pass the course, you’ll need to complete an assessment. This will include a 30-40 minute viva voce (oral exam) based on a patient with a respiratory or haemodynamic problem. You’ll then write a reflective report based on this and create an action plan.

Through our virtual learning platform, you’ll also complete informal assessments to test your knowledge. You will get feedback, so you know what areas you need to work on.

Credits

This course is worth 15 credits toward eligible programmes.

Non-EEA students can only apply as part of a programme, not as a stand-alone course.

You must have at least 10 months’ experience of working within intensive care and be currently working in an intensive care unit.

You must have a clinical mentor.

English requirements

If your first language is not English, one of the following is required:

• A first degree from a UK university
• A first degree from an overseas institution recognised by City, University of London as providing adequate evidence of proficiency in the English language, for example, from institutions from Australia, Canada or the United States of America.
• International English Language Test Service (IELTS) a score of 7.0 is required with no subtest below 7.0
• Pearson Test of English (Academic) score 72 required
• TOEFL 100 overall with 24 in Writing, 20 in Listening, 19 Reading and 20 Speaking
• Other evidence of proficiency in the English language, which satisfies the board of studies concerned, including registration with your professional regulator.

• Adam, S. K. & Osbourne, S. (2017) Critical Care Nursing: Science and Practice. 3rd edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Aitken, L, Marshall, A & Chaboyer W (2019) ACCCN’s Critical Care Nursing 4th edition Chatswood: Elsevier
• Hudak, C.M., Gallo, B.M. & Gonce Morton, P. (1997) Critical Care Nursing: A Holistic Approach. 7th edition. Philadelphia: Lippincott.