NMHS32830 Foundation in Intensive Care Nursing

Academic Year 2024/2025

The FICN Course is designed to provide the participant with the core nursing skills required to safely, professionally and holistically care for critically ill patients in the Intensive Care Unit. This course builds on initial generalist nursing education. Critical care nursing encompasses safe, professional and effective organisation and management of the critically ill patient. On completion of the course, the participant will be able to demonstrate her/his role in relation to patient-centeredness, patient safety, professional accountability and the need for accurate communication with all members of the multidisciplinary team, patients and their families.

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Curricular information is subject to change

Learning Outcomes:

On completion of the Course, the participant will be able to:
1. Build on existing nursing knowledge in order to discriminate between variations of normal and abnormal patient assessment findings, and appraise alterations of physiology and pathophysiology pertinent to patients in the critical care area.
2. Establish an in-depth understanding of the nursing management of the critically ill patient requiring invasive or non-invasive haemodynamic monitoring; and invasive or non-invasive ventilation, relevant to the critical care area.
3. Appraise the principles of prioritisation of care for the critically ill patient
4. Focus on applying the principles of effective communication, patient safety and professional accountability in the provision of patient-centred care in the Intensive Care environment.

Indicative Module Content:

Disease and treatment related complications

Nursing assessment and management

Physical and psychological support

Student Effort Hours: 
Student Effort Type Hours
Practical

39
Specified Learning Activities

59
Autonomous Student Learning

86
Online Learning

66
Total

250
Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
E-Learning, videos, skill based workshops, practice MCQs, feedback 
Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations
Learning Requirements:

 Must be Registered General Nurses with the Nursing & Midwifery Board of Ireland
 Must be employed at St. Vincent’s University Hospital
 Muse be working in the Intensive Care Unit for the duration of the course
 Must have access to a personal computer or laptop 
Must have basic information and communication technology (ICT) skills


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Not applicable to this module.
 
Assessment Strategy  
Description Timing Open Book Exam Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade
Individual Project: Poster and abstract n/a Alternative non-linear conversion grade scale 50% Yes

90
Practical Skills Assessment: Assessment of Clinical Competencies n/a Pass/Fail Grade Scale Yes

10

Carry forward of passed components
Yes
 
Remediation Type Remediation Timing
In-Module Resit Prior to relevant Programme Exam Board
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 
Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

The Course Coordinator gives feedforward by providing suggestions and guidelines for the participant on how to complete the final assessment, and where relevant, drafts of this assessment may be submitted for review and feedback 3-4 weeks prior to final submission, at a time specified by the Course Coordinator. In terms of clinical practice, participants are given feedback by the clinical assessor, and if applicable, a personal Competency Development Plan (Higgins et al., 2010) is agreed to support and focus the participant improve performance in relevant clinical competency/competencies. Once the grade is published on UCD Gradebook, the participant may seek assessment feedback from the Course Coordinator to enhance future learning. This may take the form of verbal and/or written feedback.