Specialist Core Skills in Cardiac

This course will focus on clinical decision-making in cardiac practice, providing practitioners working in the cardiac field with the specialist skills and knowledge to manage the care of patients with cardiac problems.

The course will build on previous skills and knowledge and enable practitioners to explore specialist issues in-depth. The major focus will be on clinical decision-making in cardiac practice.

The key takeaway from this course is the development of decision-making skills that will allow you to actively participate in clinical decision making.

Who is it for?

This course is aimed at registered nurses working within the cardiac setting and will focus on the assessment, care and management of patients with underlying cardiac disease.

Timetable

The course is run over five days.

Benefits

This is a Nursing Studies top-up degree programme course. If you wish to complete a top-up degree, please apply directly on the Nursing Studies programme webpage.

If you would still like to complete this course as a CPPD student but would like to complete a top-up degree at a later date, please note that you will only be able to transfer a maximum of 30 credits which have been awarded within 5 years prior to the start date of the programme (top-up degree).

Credits

This course is worth 15 credits toward eligible programmes.

The focus of the course is on the role development of cardiac care practitioners and course content includes:

Biology

• multi-organ dysfunction syndrome
• pharmacology related to antiarrhythmic medication

Nursing

• respiratory assessment including X-Ray interpretation
• ECGs
• cardiac assessment
• cardiovascular Emergencies
• mechanisms of arrhythmias
• implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs)
• congenital and inherited cardiac conditions
• using evidence in practice
• simulation
• preparation for case study

Assessment

The assessment for this course is a graded OSCE. You will be given a cardiology scenario specific to your area of practice. The purpose of this OSCE is to assess your clinical assessment and decision-making skills. You will be expected to:

• Systematically assess the patient using the ABCDE approach.
• Interpret, appraise and evaluate patient data correctly, and utilise this information to manage patient care.
• Demonstrate effective clinical decision-making skills and provide a plan of care and treatment that is underpinned with evidence-based practice.
• Critically reflect on own performance.
• 3,000-word case study

This course is run both at level 6 and at level 7.

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 be registered in the United Kingdom as a nurse.
• You must be working in a relevant clinical cardiac area.

English requirements

For those students whose first language is not English, the following qualification is also required:

• IELTS: 7.0