Nursing Studies BSc (Hons) Top Up
If you already hold a Diploma or Advanced Diploma in Nursing Studies, top it up to a full degree with this online course, and fit study easily around your shifts. From September 2012 you'll need a degree in order to qualify as a nurse, so it’s a good idea to get ahead now and start reaping the career rewards.
Our top up degree has been specifically designed by experienced professionals to enhance and improve your existing skills. Our range of innovative teaching materials gives you a varied and enjoyable learning experience and our professional online tutors will support you all the way. We've developed cutting edge learning materials for areas such as Asthma, Diabetes, Public Health (with an international perspective), Minor Injuries and Evidence Based Practice, that can be taken as part of the top up, or studied independently to improve your personal development.
A course with high professional standards
Reassuringly, this degree is accredited for registered nurses by the Strategic Health Authority, proving its quality and relevance to the nursing profession. That’s largely due to the fact that we work hard to listen to employers in the health and social care sector when designing and updating this course. That means you can rely on this course to refresh your skills and keep you up to date with current practice, as well as enhancing your employability.
There’s room in your life for online study
Studying online gives you the flexibility to study at the most convenient time and place for you. Course modules still operate within a fixed semester or term time, but you can choose to study during the day, in the evenings or at the weekend rather than having to attend fixed lectures. For people working in nursing, it would be very difficult to work any other way, due to the demands of shift patterns, so this type of study is ideal. Alter the pace as you go and as your workload fluctuates, taking the time you need to complete the course.
Course Length:
18 months – 5 years of part time study
Start Dates:
September, January and April
Entry Requirements:
You'll need all of the following:
- a Diploma or an Advanced Diploma in Nursing Studies (Adult or Mental Health)
- to be registered with the Nursing and Midwifery Council or equivalent
- to be working in a relevant area eg voluntary, public or private health and social care settings.
You'll need to provide full details of your qualifications and copies of certificates once a decision has been made by the academic team.
During your application, you'll undergo a personal Assessment of Prior Learning (APL) which may give you exemptions from up to 50% of the course. The process will identify:
- your current academic credit level
- your learning preferences.
You'll also normally require one of the following English Language qualifications:
- GCE O level English Language C
- GCSE English C
- IELTS 7 (in all categories)
- TOEFL (internet based) 94.
We may accept other equivalent English Language qualifications so please provide full details with your application.
Fees:
| Per Module | Modules | Total | Start | |
| UK | £300 | 4/8 | £1,200/£2,400* | Sept/Jan/Apr |
| Non UK | £405 | 4/8 | £1,620/£3,240* | Sept/Jan/Apr |
Fees from September 2012
Information for fees, modules and payment plans for 2012/2013 will be available soon. If you would like us to contact you when details are available, please complete our online enquiry form.
Career Information:
You'll gain organisational and management skills so you can work within clinical practice, nursing management or research and be competent in your role. This places you at the heart of health and social care, enabling you to assess, diagnose and treat both acute and chronic conditions.
Course Leader:
Modules Summary:
If you have not studied in a while and feel you may need that extra support, then you can also choose to complete our Attaining Academic Proficiency module, which won't count towards your degree, but may help to prepare you to return to study.
If you have a Diploma in Nursing Studies, then you will need to choose SIX optional modules from the list below as well as the Independent Studies module.
If you have an Advanced Diploma in Nursing Studies then you'll only need to choose TWO optional modules from the list below, as well as the Independent Studies module.
Student Profile:
Career Information
You'll gain organisational and management skills so you can work within clinical practice, nursing management or research and be competent in your role. This places you at the heart of health and social care, enabling you to assess, diagnose and treat both acute and chronic conditions.
Modules
If you have not studied in a while and feel you may need that extra support, then you can also choose to complete our Attaining Academic Proficiency module, which won't count towards your degree, but may help to prepare you to return to study.
If you have a Diploma in Nursing Studies, then you will need to choose SIX optional modules from the list below as well as the Independent Studies module.
If you have an Advanced Diploma in Nursing Studies then you'll only need to choose TWO optional modules from the list below, as well as the Independent Studies module.
Stage 3
Core Module
This is a key element of the course, bringing your skills of critical analysis, objective evaluation, problem solving and personal reflection together to undertake a substantial piece of research into an area of your choice.
Topics you'll cover include:
- The nature of evidence based-practice.
- Reflecting on practice.
- Using single cases and critical incidents to support practice development.
- Selection of evidence for practice.
- Critiquing evidence.
- Application of evidence into practice.
- Ethical issues in evidence-based practice.
- Evaluation of change within practice.
How will I be assessed?
It’s 100% coursework. You will need to submit a written dissertation.
Credits: 30
Optional Module
This module explores the various theoretical explanations of cognitive behavioural therapy. You will examine 4 case studies of common human problems: anxiety, depression, simple phobias and panic and agoraphobia.
We will cover:
- Cognitive behavioural explanations of anxiety and the associated theory base.
- Cognitive behavioural explanations of depression and the associated theory base.
- Cognitive behavioural explanations of simple phobias and the associated theory base.
- Cognitive behavioural explanations of panic and agoraphobia and the associated theory base.
- How cognitive behavioural theories can be applied to a range of human difficulties and problems.
How will I be assessed?
It’s 100% coursework.
Credits: 15
Optional Module
Topics you will cover in this module include:
- The nature of the relationship in cognitive behavioural practice.
- Interviewing skills.
- Nomothetic and ideographic models of assessment, their uses and abuses.
- Types of measurement, including observational and self report.
- Uses of cognitive behavioural assessment.
How will I be assessed?
It’s 100% coursework.
Credits: 15
Optional Module
At the end of the module you'll be able to:
- critically analyse ethical and legal issues relevant to health care practice and policy
- critically apply selected theoretical perspectives relevant to ethics in health
- understand and apply relevant ethical arguments and legal perspectives to a specific practice situation.
You will cover the following topics.
- Theories of ethics.
- Professional and interprofessional ethics.
- Legal principles relevant to health care.
- Autonomy, consent and confidentiality.
- Duty of care.
- Quality of life.
- Decisions at the beginning and end of life.
- Rationing of health care.
- Organisations in health care.
How will I be assessed?
It’s 100% coursework.
Credits: 15
Optional Module
Within health and social care the role of the mentor has evolved into that of an individual who has responsibility for students' learning in the practice setting, the quality of that learning and the assessment of skills. To fulfil this role therefore, you will need a critical understanding of key issues affecting teaching, learning and assessing.
Topics you'll cover include:
- Establishing effective working relationships.
- Facilitation of learning.
- Assessment and accountability.
- Evaluation of learning.
- Creating an environment for learning.
- Context of practice.
- Evidence-based practice.
- Leadership.
How will I be assessed?
It’s 100% coursework.
Credits: 15
Optional Module
This module allows you to choose an area of study (in agreement with your tutor) that interests you and that hasn’t been covered on the course. Alternatively, you could choose a topic that allows you to apply elements of what you’ve already learned to your workplace.
How will I be assessed?
It’s 100% coursework.
Credits: 15
Optional Module
Within all health care environments, health care professionals are involved in caring for the dying patient. Managing symptoms, supporting the client and carers, and using your own and others’ expertise to the benefit of the client, are all important aspects. With the development of end of life care initiatives, the need to provide the right level of care at the right time and in the right place has been emphasised as of paramount importance to all concerned.
We will cover the following topics.
- Assessment in palliative care.
- Concepts of loss and bereavement.
- Coping mechanisms.
- Ethical issues at the end of life.
- End of life care initiatives: Gold Standards Framework and Liverpool Care Pathways.
- Pain relief.
- Stages of grief.
- Symptom management.
- Anticipatory grief.
How will I be assessed?
It’s 100% coursework.
Credits: 15
Optional Module
Practicing therapeutic counselling or psychotherapy is not simply amassing the skills and knowledge required to make effective interventions. It also involves you, as the practitioner, in a process which may challenge your norms and perceptions, requires you to understand ethical codes of practice, and to consider the boundaries inherent within the therapeutic relationship. This module will ask you to address these issues in a structured and critical way to prepare you for practice.
Topics you will cover include:
- Socio-cultural origins and their influence on personal schema and communications.
- Communications theory.
- Professional codes of conduct, their origins and interpretations.
- Professional communications.
- The use of self in psychotherapeutics.
- Beginnings, middles and endings in psychotherapeutics.
- Dependency.
- Confidentiality vs duty of care.
How will I be assessed?
It’s 100% coursework.
Credits: 15
Optional Module
When you become a newly qualified nurse, you will be required to undergo a period of preceptorship (a period of training that is supervised by an expert.) This module will enhance your practice by asking you to think theoretically and to reflect.
You will cover:
- Understanding the purpose of preceptorship.
- Discovering your learning needs as a newly qualified nurse.
- Identifying issues in your clinical practice area.
- Finding the evidence base.
- Making sure the evidence is valid and reliable.
- Reviewing the evidence.
- How to influence practice.
How will I be assessed?
It’s 100% coursework. You'll create a reflective learning log and examine the theoretical basis of your clinical area.
Credits: 15
Optional Module
There is a growing need for nurses in both primary and secondary care to address the issues of drug administration, basic therapeutics and the use of drugs in clinical conditions.
In this module, we will cover:
- Drug administration.
- Diagnostic reasoning.
- Pharmacokinetics.
- The use and effect of drugs in a variety of clinical conditions and mental health.
- Alternative perspectives on health and care.
- Numeracy – mathematics applied to the administration of drugs.
How will I be assessed?
It’s 100% coursework. You will complete a 3,000-word assignment.
Credits: 15
Optional Module
Psychotherapists and counsellors need to be able to communicate with psychiatrists, other members of mental health teams and medical staff in primary care and other medical settings. Therefore, this module will introduce you to the basic concepts of psychopharmacology (the study of drug-induced changes in mood, sensation, thinking and behaviour) in relation to distinct psychopathologies (forms of mental distress).
You will begin to appreciate the neurological science behind chemical interventions and the strengths and weaknesses of the approach. Furthermore you will gain an in-depth understanding of several psychopathologies and the diagnostic tools used to identify these.
Topics we’ll cover will include:
- Diagnostic classification (ICD and DSM)
- Diagnostic reliability and validity
- Strengths and limitations of diagnostic classification
- Psychiatric medications ie antidepressants, anti-psychotics (standard and atypical), tranquillisers, hypnotics, beta-blockers
- Common medications used in chronic physical health problems eg diabetes, cardiac conditions, cancer
- Drug interactions and side effects.
How will I be assessed?
It’s 100% coursework.
Credits: 15
Optional Module
This module explores Evidence Based Practice; the practical skills and knowledge required in searching for the best available evidence and the critical understanding of different sources of evidence, in order to promote and implement clinically effective care and decision- making.
The focus of this module is on the critical evaluation of evidence and how this evidence can be used to increase clinical effectiveness. It has relevance for all health care professionals, but is particularly useful for those who have an interest in developing their skills of using research in practice, those who participate in clinical decision making and for students who require grounding in the essential elements of evidence based practice prior to undertaking a work based project or service improvement.
In this module we will cover:
- The context of Evidence Based Practice
- Types of evidence and knowledge.
- Research methodologies e.g. quantitative and qualitative methods
- Finding and Reviewing the evidence e.g. Literature Search strategies and Critical appraisal skills/ use of critical appraisal tools
- Decision making and implementation of evidence based practice
- Dissemination and facilitation of change through EBP in practice development.
How will I be assessed?
It’s 100% coursework.
Credits: 15
Optional Module
You’ll develop knowledge and understanding of the assessment, diagnosis and management of people presenting with minor injuries. This will provide healthcare professionals with a solid theoretical foundation to inform future practice. Whilst the module does include examination techniques, it is not possible to assess the application of this knowledge within the students own clinical setting. As with all aspects of clinical practice, this would need to be agreed with the student’s employer, in line with regulatory body guidance and other national and local guidelines.
In this module we will cover:
- Clinical history taking examination and documentation
- Anatomy and physiology relevant to minor injuries
- Musculoskeletal examination
- Assessment of neurological function related to the limbs
- Assessment and management of common minor injury presentations eg: minor wounds, burns, minor head injuries, soft tissue injuries, eye injuries
- Analgesia relevant to minor injuries
How will I be assessed?
It’s 100% coursework.
Credits: 15
Optional Module
In this module you will explore and examine the issues that relate to public health through an international lens in terms of determinants of health and through reflection on their own practice. Using essential elements of public health as a framework, you will be able to compare activities between regions/countries to inform your own knowledge in relation to your own area of public health.
In this module we will cover:
- Definitions and meanings of public health.
- Principles and essential elements of public health theory and practice.
- Reflection for learning
- The organisation of public health
- Accessing and using demographic and epidemiological data and information for public health
- Exploring inequalities in health – the socioeconomic determinants of health
- Multi disciplinary public health
- Exploring global public health activities
- Barriers to public health practice.
- An introduction to evaluating public health initiatives
How will I be assessed?
It’s 100% coursework.
Credits: 15
Optional Module
This module offers a logical and systematic journey from the understanding of associated anatomy, pathopyhsiology and mechanisms of Asthma through to present and contemporary perspectives of management. An international focus will be adopted in reviewing current policy relating to patient management and self management practices in addition to close scrutiny of national and local policies impacting on the students’ current arena of practice.
In this module we will cover:
- Epidemiology, incidence and prevalence
- Aetiology, natural history, genetics and atopy
- Anatomy and pathophysiology
- Signs and symptons/clinical manifestations
- Assessment of the patient
- Differential diagnosis/co morbidities
- Management of the condition
- Acute/Chronic Asthmas
- Current treatment options/Pharmacology, therapies
- Policy and Guidelines
- Monitoring review and audit
- Rehabilitation
- Multi disciplinary working
- Holistic impact on patient family and carers – bio psychosocial aspects
- Psychology of Breathlessness
- Patient knowledge skills and attitude – facilitating self management
- Consent, choice and concordance
- Public health
How will I be assessed?
It’s 100% coursework.
Credits: 15
Optional Module
This module will provide structured materials which will enable the practitioner to examine disease processes of both Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes, current modes of diagnosis, assessment, treatment and contemporary management of the disease in adults.
The module aims to deliver a specialist focus on self management which will enable you to provide an optimum care package for the individual with Diabetes.
In this module we will cover:
- Basic Principles of Diabetes & its Biochemistry
- Pathophysiology
- Clinical Manifestations/ features of Diabetes
- Clinical Assessment, Diagnosis and Treatment of Diabetes:
- Management of Type 2 Diabetes
- Management of type 1 Diabetes Mellitus
- Dietetic intervention
- Management in extraordinary situations/ Surgery/ other illnesses
- Complications of Diabetes
- Living with Diabetes
- Organisation of Care
- Patient knowledge skills and attitude – facilitating self management, motivation, self-efficacy, knowledge of illness, perceptions of severity and vulnerability
- Consent, choice and concordance
- Public health perspectives
How will I be assessed?
It’s 100% coursework
Credits: 15
You'll need all of the following:
- a Diploma or an Advanced Diploma in Nursing Studies (Adult or Mental Health)
- to be registered with the Nursing and Midwifery Council or equivalent
- to be working in a relevant area eg voluntary, public or private health and social care settings.
You'll need to provide full details of your qualifications and copies of certificates once a decision has been made by the academic team.
During your application, you'll undergo a personal Assessment of Prior Learning (APL) which may give you exemptions from up to 50% of the course. The process will identify:
- your current academic credit level
- your learning preferences.
You'll also normally require one of the following English Language qualifications:
- GCE O level English Language C
- GCSE English C
- IELTS 7 (in all categories)
- TOEFL (internet based) 94.
We may accept other equivalent English Language qualifications so please provide full details with your application.
Apply Now
Applications for Online courses are made through the main University of Derby website.
By clicking on "Apply now" below you will be redirected to the University of Derby website to continue your application process.
Fees
| Per Module | Modules | Total | Start | |
| UK | £300 | 4/8 | £1,200/£2,400* | Sept/Jan/Apr |
| Non UK | £405 | 4/8 | £1,620/£3,240* | Sept/Jan/Apr |
Fees from September 2012
Information for fees, modules and payment plans for 2012/2013 will be available soon. If you would like us to contact you when details are available, please complete our online enquiry form.
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