This is the compulsory module for nurses and other registered healthcare professionals who wish to obtain the BSc (Hons) Healthcare Practice Top-up award. The module will enable participants to develop their understanding of a variety of research methods, to competently critique contemporary research evidence and to identify research questions that will enable the development of their own clinical practice through the planning of a service improvement.

Aims

The module will introduce students to the research process and enable them to apply research findings, and develop skills and knowledge in enhancing practice through service improvement planning.

What and how you will learn on this module 

How you will learn:

This module is delivered using a blended learning approach which integrates a variety of on-campus and online activities, supported by Canvas, the University’s virtual learning environment. A complementary range of activities are employed to engage you in the critical exploration of key topic areas, and the completion of formative tasks during the module also helps to keep you on track with the learning and gain feedback on your understanding of the content. A sense of community is developed and maintained with frequent opportunities for peer learning, enabling you to share your practice experiences and to learn from each other. 

Academic writing and critical thinking skills are developed through ‘The Critical Thinking Skills Toolkit’ and other academic practice activities embedded within the module, that have been designed to nurture the skills needed to facilitate you to become a thoughtful, objective and reasoned thinker. This will help you tackle the assignment(s) confidently, understand marking criteria, use evidence, take a reasoned approach, make structured arguments and engage with other points of view. 

What you will learn:

Advanced literature searching

• Literature search strategies e.g., PICO, key word searching

• Use of databases

• Understanding the quality of difference sources

• Sorting and selecting relevant literature

• Inclusion / exclusion criteria

Constructing a literature review

• Interpreting research reports

• Systematic approaches to analysing literature

• Critical appraisal of research reports

• Comparing and contrasting literature

• Preparing a written literature review

Critiquing research designs and methods related to practice development in healthcare settings

• Hierarchies of research methods

• Theories, conceptual frameworks and models

• Clinical audit versus research

• Quantitative research

• Qualitative research

• Self-reporting techniques

• Observational methods

Governance and Ethics in Healthcare Research and Clinical Audits

• Ethical guidelines and principles

• Informed consent

• Vulnerable subjects and safeguarding

Research findings for developing practice

• Formulating research questions based on evidence

• Barriers to utilising nursing research in clinical practice

• Tips for improving application of evidence-based practice

Service improvement in clinical practice

• Service improvement methodology

• Change management theory and models

• Planning change and role of stakeholders, change agents and human factors

• Models and tools for service improvement (e.g., PDSA)

• Evaluation and outcomes

Academic practice

• Database searching

• Referencing and avoiding plagiarism

• Critical Thinking Skills Toolkit

• Presentation skills

Course length: 10 Teaching Days

Assessment

Literature review (3000 words) and Presentation of service improvement plan (15 mins)