ICU Postgraduate Nursing Course with Graduate Certificate

This course aims to prepare registered nurses to work as Specialist Nurses in Intensive Care. The course provides opportunities for students to expand their knowledge and skills by integrating theory and intensive care nursing practice in order to engage in clinical decision making.

St Vincent’s Hospital Sydney (SVHS) offers students the opportunity to undertake a Graduate Certificate in Clinical Nursing (Intensive Care) in conjunction with the SVH ICU Postgraduate Nursing Course over a 12 or 18 month period. The SVH ICU Postgraduate Nursing Course incorporates three units of study that articulate with the Australian Catholic University (ACU) postgraduate programs. 

• Intensive Care Nursing 1 
• Intensive Care Nursing 2
• Clinical Practice (Semester 1 & 2)

Intensive Care Nursing 1 (ICN1)

Intensive Care Nursing 2 (ICN2)

Clinical Practice (CP)

The aim of this unit is to provide opportunities for students to expand their knowledge and skills by integrating theory and Intensive Care nursing practice, in order to engage in clinical decision making.  The unit focuses on enabling students to utilise a multi-conceptual approach competently when caring for the patient.  Students will be required to reflect upon practice and to critically evaluate nursing interventions in terms of evidence-based practice. Content includes;

• Structured Clinical Rotations: students may gain clinical experience in the following areas: General Intensive Care Unit; Cardiothoracic Intensive Care Unit; Emergency Department; Aneasthetics; and Acute Coronary Care.
• Educational and Clinical Support: Emphasis is placed on adult learning principles, which encourage individuals to take responsibility and accountability for personal and professional development.  All clinical areas have Clinical Nurse Educators to provide guidance and support.  The Nurse Educator’s responsibility is in teaching participants effective learning strategies such as independent and/or self-directed learning.  This type of learning contributes to personal and professional growth, promotes lifelong learning and enables the individual to pursue excellence in patient care.
• Clinical Study Days: 112 hours have been allocated as Study Days for clinically focused learning.  Content of these Study Days is designed to complement the theoretical content of tertiary programs.  Teaching and Learning strategies may include lectures and tutorials, clinical visits, literature appraisal, discussions, assessments, self-directed learning opportunities and presentations.
• Clinical Assessments: Student progress throughout the Clinical Practice Units will be assessed on an individual basis utilising a variety of assessment methods and tools.  Assessments will include specialty clinical competencies; standardised learning contracts for clinical rotations, professional performance reviews, and written assessments such as clinical incident analyses, and a procedure development portfolio
• Clinical Leadership/Management: Following consultation with Nurse Managers, experience may be gained in leadership within the Intensive Care Unit.

Course duration

The SVH ICU Postgraduate Nursing Course commences February and concludes December of each year; Affiliated ACU subjects (NRSG524 and NRSG525) must be completed either concurrently with the SVH ICU Postgraduate Nursing Course within 12 months or within 18 months from the commencement of the ICU Postgraduate Nursing Course.

• Clinical Practice (Semester 1 & 2) runs concurrently with Intensive Care nursing units over 10 months with lectures conducted during 2 eight-hour study days per month. All lectures are delivered in a face-to-face format.

Affiliation with Australian Catholic University (ACU)

Applications

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