NMHS33210 High Dependency Nursing

Academic Year 2024/2025

Nursing patients in a high dependency unit involves safe, professional and effective organisation and management of the acutely ill patient. The Fundamentals of High Dependency Nursing Course is designed to provide the participant with the nursing knowledge, skills and attitude required to safely, professionally, effectively and holistically care for this patient cohort within the high dependency units of St. Vincent’s University Hospital. This course builds on initial generalist nursing education. 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.

Show/hide contentOpenClose All

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 normal, variations of normal and abnormal patient assessment findings, and appraise alterations of physiology and pathophysiology pertinent to high dependency patients.
2. Establish an in-depth understanding of the nursing management of the high dependency patient requiring invasive or non-invasive haemodynamic monitoring and non-invasive ventilation, relevant to the high dependency area.
3. Appraise the principles of prioritisation of care for the high dependency patient.
4. Focus on applying the principles of effective communication, patient safety and professional accountability in the provision of patient-centred care in the high dependency area.

Indicative Module Content:

Variations of normal and abnormal patient assessment findings; alterations of physiology and pathophysiology pertinent to high dependency patients.
Nursing assessment and management of the high dependency patient requiring invasive or non-invasive haemodynamic monitoring and non-invasive ventilation, relevant to the high dependency area.
Principles of prioritisation of care for the high dependency patient.
The principles of effective communication, patient safety and professional accountability in the provision of patient-centred care in the high dependency area.

Student Effort Hours: 
Student Effort Type Hours
Practical

25
Specified Learning Activities

69
Autonomous Student Learning

74
Online Learning

82
Total

250
Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
This is a blended learning course, combining online learning units with face-to-face practical workshops.

Participants undertake the learning unit, online, via the Hospital's learning platform, Moodle™, at their own pace. Unlike a didactic lecture, this places learning in the control of the participant as they can start, stop and reflect. The learning unit itself is multi-modal and comprises of evidence-based theory through accessing policies, guidelines and articles, websites and viewing relevant video clips, and is interspersed with quizzes and questions to test the participant's knowledge. The result is that didactic class time is re-purposed into a clinical skills workshop where the participant can inquire about the learning unit content, test their skills in applying knowledge, and interact with other participants in hand-on activities. 
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 one of the identified high dependency areas 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

Not yet recorded.

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.