Full Time option suitable for:

Domestic(EEA) applicants: Yes
International (Non EEA) applicants currently residing outside of the EEA Region. No

Part Time option suitable for:

Domestic(EEA) applicants: Yes
International (Non EEA) applicants currently residing outside of the EEA Region. No

This programme is designed to meet the professional development needs of Registered Nurses who wish to specialise in Paediatric Critical Care Nursing.  Specifically applicants should be registered as an RCN, RCN/RGN with a minimum of one year’s experience in Paediatric Intensive Care. Applicants registered as an RGN with a minimum of 2 years experience in Paediatric Nursing may be considered for the programme. Applicants should be employed in either the Intensive Care Unit of Our Lady's Hospital Crumlin, or the Children's University Hospital, Temple Street. Places are allocated on the programme subject to availability and place on waiting list.

The Graduate Diploma in Critical Care (Children’s) is an academic and clinically based programme designed for students who wish to deepen and broaden their knowledge and expertise in care of critically ill children. The programme builds upon and advances students’ existing knowledge, skills and values to promote students’ capacities for critical thinking and critical self-appraisal. It promotes a student-centred, child and family focused, and dynamic approach to learning with a cohesive academic and clinical foundation. The programme is enhanced by a variety of clincial experts in the field of critical care from partner hospitals. This programme actively fosters informed, relevant, skilled, ethical, innovative, reflexive, careful, research-led clinical and educational practice in the critical care environment. This aims to develop ‘fit-for-purpose’ professional practitioners and dynamic leaders in critical care. It also aspires to develop skilled, knowledgeable, and questioning practitioners.        

A wide variety of current, validated, pedagogical approaches and innovative, creative technologies are integrated and utilised in this programme, to ensure excellence in all teaching and learning processes and to enhance the overall student experience. Educational activities are student-centred, incremental and aligned, and assessments are carefully-planned, timely and appropriate; the comprehensive engagement of our clinical partner sites in this programme's design and delivery and the resultant valuable student learning opportunities, are major strengths. Learning takes place in multiple environments across the university and the critical care practice environments in children's hospitals. The programme is delivered by experts in the fields of scholarship, education, practice discipline and patient advocacy; this ensures that learners experience a coherent, cumulative, research-based educational programme that meets all academic and professional regulatory standards and requirements, as well as societal and social justice exigencies. Key approaches to teaching and learning are  student centred, underpinned by relevant theories of adult learning. Students are encouraged to engage in professional and personal development though reflective practice.

The Graduate Diploma Critical Care Nursing (Children) course aims to build upon and advance the registered nurse’s repertoire of knowledge, skills, attitudes and professional values, in order to prepare the nurse to assume the role of a nurse specialist in this area of care. The course aims to develop the practitioner’s capacities for caring and competent practice in paediatric intensive care nursing, in order to prepare the nurse to provide a patient-centred service within health care.

The specific aims of the course are:

• To build upon and advance the student’s repertoire of knowledge, skills, attitudes and professional values that were developed during the course of his/her basic training and arising out of his/her experiences in clinical practice
• To provide the student with the requisite knowledge, skills, attitudes and professional values for the advancement of his/her role in the care of children and their families in critical care, including critical analysis, creative thinking, decision making and communication
• To develop a greater understanding of the theory which underpins critical care nursing practice, including nursing theory, theory in the social and behavioural sciences and theory in the biomedical sciences
• To provide learning experiences that advance the student’s professional development and personal growth and experiences that affirm the student’s capacity to be a self-directed learner
• To advance the student’s sense of professional awareness, and commitment and a sense of professional responsibility and accountability in paediatric critical care nursing
• To enable the student to value learning as a continuous process and as a necessary process in the context of his/her professional role in paediatric critical care nursing

View All Modules Here

Programme Structure:
The course may be taken over 1 year full-time or 2 years part-time. Assessments are varied (assignments/short examination questions/MCQ/case presentation/practical examination/online discussion boards) and occur at intervals throughout and at the end of the trimesters. Students will attend college on one day per week and learning experiences are also undertaken in planned block weeks of study, at local hospital sites.

Curriculum 
You will complete six modules in total, to include two core modules and four specialist modules.

Core Modules:

NMHS42230  - Leadership and Organisational Dynamics (Autumn Trimester)

NMHS43270  - Research Methods Applied to Healthcare (Spring Trimester)

Specialist Modules:

NMHS43700 Fundamental Concepts Children's Critical Care (Autumn Trimester)

NMHS43720 Advanced Children's Critical Care (Spring Trimester)

NMHS43730 Specialist Considerations in Children's Critical Care (Spring Trimester)

NMHS42460 - Clinical Practicum: Paediatric Critical Care Nursing (Autumn & Spring Trimesters)

GradDip Critical Care Nursing (Children) (X617) Full Time
EU          fee per year - € 9670
nonEU    fee per year - € 18480

GradDip Critical Care Nursing (Children) (X748) Part Time
EU          Year 1 - € 4990
nonEU    Year 1 - € 9380
EU          Year 2 - € 4820 ^aa
nonEU    Year 2 - € 9090 <sup>aa

aa</sup>Second Year Fee applies to Students in 2nd Year in 2023 and who were a 1st Year Student on the programme in 2022/23
***Fees are subject to change

Funding

If the fees for your programme are being paid by a third party (full or partial), please ensure your funding organisation/sponsor/hospital contacts student.payments@ucd.ie. Please note this is not a student facing email address.

Student Queries

If you have any queries about your fees, please contact the Student Desk:

www.ucd.ie/askus

https://www.ucd.ie/students/studentdesk/

Application Fee

Please note that all applicants are required to pay the €50 application fee. Your application cannot be processed fully unless the application fee has been paid.

More information about fees is available on the UCD website at the link below:

General information about UCD Fees

Entry Requirements

• Applicants should be registered as an RCN, RCN/RGN with a minimum of one year's experience in Paediatric Intensive Care

• Applicants registered as an RGN with a minimum of two year's experience in Paediatric Intensive Care may be considered for the programme

Documents Required

• Transcript(s) including date and grading of degree award (non UCD Graduates only) & notarised English translations where relevant
• Nurse applicants: A current photocopy of NMBI registration
• Copy of Birth Certificate or Personal Page of Passport
• Signed Declaration Form from Employer (original form)
• Completed Professional Reference Form  (original form)
• Completed Clinical Competence Assessor Nomination Form signed by the nominee
• Evidence of proficiency in English language (applicants whose first language is not English)

Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL)

RPL may be granted in respect of individual modules if applicants can demonstrate that the modules' learning outcomes have been achieved through prior credentialled or experiential learning. In some cases, where an applicant does not meet the prerequisites for entry to a programme, an RPL application may be considered. Further information can be found in respect of this here.

"I had been working as a bedside staff nurse in the PICU for 14 years when I did the Graduate Diploma in Critical Care Nursing (Children). I  completed the course in 2018 and was successful in securing the role as ECLS Coordinator in CHI at Crumlin. It is a complex and constantly evolving role that is dependent for its success on the ability of the post holder to co-ordinate, train, support, develop and influence senior clinical and management staff in a way to maximise best use of resources. The Graduate Diploma through UCD provided me with a strong knowledge-base to have confidence in taking the role. The presentations, practical and team activities contributed significantly  to develop my  communication and collaboration skills."

Sunimol Joseph

Clinical Nurse Manager 3, Extracorporeal Life Support (ECLS) Co-ordinator, Children's Health Ireland. 

The following entry routes are available:

* Courses will remain open until such time as all places have been filled, therefore early application is advised