This module is a core module for the PGDip/MSc Advanced Clinical Practice programme. It is also an option module within the MSc Healthcare Practice programme and may be taken as a free standing module. The module prepares health and social care professionals with advanced knowledge, skills and capabilities to expertly make clinical decisions through assessment, diagnosis and management of patients presenting with an undifferentiated illness.

This module will enable registered healthcare practitioners such as nurses, paramedics and physiotherapists to develop their knowledge and skills in clinical reasoning and physical examination techniques. Healthcare practitioners are provided with the opportunity to equip themselves to deliver a high standard of care in health assessment techniques, critically explore differential diagnosis and develop management plans that are evidence based and in partnership with their client group. The emphasis of the module is on integrating subjective and objective data into the clinical reasoning process and on synthesis of evidential practice in the context of undifferentiated urgent care. The educational delivery and ethos of this module emphasises and builds on autonomous self-directed learning for independent practice.

Aims

This module will enable students to meet the capabilities outlined under the clinical practice pillar emphasised in the Advanced Clinical Practitioner (ACP) Framework (NHS England, 2017).

To equip healthcare practitioners with the knowledge and skills to undertake complex clinical decision-making.

What and how you will learn on this module

Presentation of Health Assessments:

• Comprehensive approach to physical assessment across the lifespan (including: mental health, abdominal, respiratory, ENT, neurological, musculo-skeletal, cardiovascular, peripheral vascular, genitor-urinary and dermatology).

• Normal/ abnormal physiological processes across the life span.

• Related psycho-social, spiritual and cultural perspectives.

• Integrate appropriate strategies in assessing vulnerable adults and children.

• Assessment of risks and vulnerability

Communication

• Comprehensive approach to health history taking.

• Documentation and referral to the multi-disciplinary team.

• Developing effective client/ practitioner relationships.

• Communication models and developing therapeutic relationships.

Legal and professional issues

• Accountability, professionalism and ethics of working as an autonomous and independent health care practitioner.

• Informed consent for patient assessment and management.

Clinical Reasoning

• Integrated patient-centred model: application of discipline specific knowledge, cognitive skills (critical, creative, reflective, logical, and analytical thinking), and metacognition combined with intuitive knowledge.

• Stratifying risk and safety netting in the undifferentiated patient diagnosis.

• Managing patients in effective, safe and personalised ways.

• Patho-phsiology related to diagnoses

Inter/intra-professional working

• Collaborative roles and responsibilities.

• Health promotion considerations.

• Negotiation and conflict resolution.

• Case-Based learning that encompass

Reflectivity

• The principles of reflectivity in clinical decision-making for patients with a range of health conditions.

• Examining own performance in the context of shared healthcare provision.

Academic practice

• Database searching

• Referencing and avoiding plagiarism

• Critical Thinking Skills Toolkit

Course length: 10 Teaching Days

Assessment

Focussed case study analysis (2500 words) and Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs) with Viva Questions.