PGDip

Community Health Studies (Specialist Practitioner Community Children's Nursing)

Are you a registered nurse working in the community and looking to further your career?

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Key Course Details

  • Start Date

    September

  • Location

    Pontypridd

  • Campus Code

    A

Fees

Step into leadership and management by completing our Nursing and Midwifery Council registered Specialist Practitioner Qualification in Community Children's Nursing (SPQCCN).

DESIGNED FOR

Our course prepares you to become a Specialist Practitioner in Community Children’s Nursing following the NMC (2022) Standards of Proficiency for Community Nursing Specialist Practice Qualifications.

Career paths

  • Specialist Practitioner in Community Children’s Nursing

Skills Taught

  • Autonomous and evidence-based practice
  • Leadership and management
  • Assessment including critical thinking, decision making, and problem-solving
  • How to improve quality in healthcare settings
  • Health education and health promotion

We make a difference in practice, not just on paper. Our courses are designed by people who offer jobs - and taught by people who have real work experience.


Course Highlights

NMC Approved Course

Receive a Specialist Practitioner Qualification recorded with the Nursing Midwifery Council.

Funded Learning

Funding from Health Education and Improvement Wales is currently available to current Community Children’s Nurses working in a community setting.

Boost Your Knowledge

You will develop essential knowledge to lead and manage caseloads and teams, allowing you to develop into Band 6 and 7 roles.

Career Progression

This qualification is required for progression within Community Children’s Nursing Teams in Wales.

Module Overview

The course runs from September to August and is part-time over two years. There is a requirement to complete theoretical and clinical hours for each module. You will receive an All-Wales Practice Assessment Document (PAD) for the mandatory clinical proficiencies. The course is delivered using a distance learning approach.

There are three modules in Year One aimed at developing the student’s specialist knowledge and skills within autonomous practice, assessment and care planning, and evidence-based practice.

Autonomous Practice in Specialist Community Nursing
Aims to develop the student’s specialist knowledge and skills to work effectively as an autonomous and accountable professional, while safely managing greater complexity and risk within community practice.

This refers to the children and young people they care for, the caseloads they manage, and the services they work in - both autonomously and integrated with other agencies, professionals, and disciplines.

Assessing and Planning Care as a Specialist Community Practitioner
Looks to facilitate the development of the practitioner’s knowledge, skills, and decision-making in the assessment and care planning processes.

Providing and Evaluating Evidence-Based Care
Aims to further develop knowledge and skills to deliver a range of interventions in the provision and evaluation of care based on best practice.

There are three modules in Year Two aimed at developing the student’s knowledge and skills in promoting health and wellbeing, leadership and management, and improving quality in community healthcare.

Promoting Health and Well-being in the Context of Specialist Community Practice
Looks to extend the knowledge and understanding of interventions aimed at maximising health protection and promoting health and well-being for people, families, communities, and populations related to their field of practice.

This module will enable the community nurse to develop specialist skills to work effectively with people who use services and their carers to make positive choices to improve their physical, mental, and behavioural health.

 

Leading and Managing Teams in the Coordination of Community Care
Aims to enhance the ability to demonstrate critical analysis of leadership styles and management theories. Students will apply this knowledge and these skills when coordinating projects and services.

The module will enhance the students' understanding of theories and frameworks for effective collaboration to improve health and well-being.

Quality Improvement in Specialist Community Practice
Aims to develop specialist knowledge and skills around research and quality improvement methodologies, frameworks and tools. These will enable effective leadership and implementation of quality improvement initiatives within their area of community practice.

Course Highlights

How you'll learn

This course is delivered online using our Hydra digitally immersive simulation. There are authentic assessments including making a poster, VIVA, literature review, devising a health improvement tool, a report, and a presentation.

Teaching Staff

Community Health Studies teaching team members are experienced in their field of practice, and all hold the Specialist Practice Qualification. They all participate in the wider community to ensure they stay current in their field of practice. They also regularly attend Wales-wide, pathway-specific, clinical, and educational forums.

The team is supported throughout the course by members of the wider academic team, who bring their specific expertise to the classroom, as well as by specialists from practice, ensuring that up-to-date, relevant, and evidence-based practices are explored.

Placements

Students on the Community Health Studies programme are required to be working within a community service with access to a suitably qualified Practice Supervisor and Practice Assessor.

The University maintains close and effective links to the surrounding health boards and beyond where support networks are in place to allow students to work and study to meet successful outcomes in line with the NMC expectations.

Facilities

The distance learning delivery of the course facilitates access to our online student Advice Zone, Library Services, and support services which include Subject Support Officers, Study Skills, Wellbeing Services, and the Students Union.

Careers and Employability

Graduate careers

Undertaking this Community Children’s Nursing course ensures you will graduate with the knowledge, skills, competencies and capacity to provide safe and effective nursing care in community settings. Additionally, having employees with an SPQ is valued by nursing managers, commissioners and the Welsh Government.

Possible career paths

Students who complete a Specialist Practitioner Qualification in Community Children's Nursing can expect career progression within community services. 

Careers support

Our careers service offers a range of advice and guidance to students. We can link you up with industry, we can help you with interview skills and CVs and help you to focus on your own direction of travel.

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

Typical qualification requirements:

  • Applicants must be an NMC registered nurse (level 1), have a first degree and be employed in a setting where specialist community care is delivered relevant to the applicant's chosen field of specialist practice.
  • An Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check on the Child & Adult Workforce and Child & Adult Barring List and subscription to the DBS Update Service is required. (Overseas equivalent required for non-uk applicants).

Additional requirements include:

  • Applicants must be supported and nominated for a place on the course by their employer. They must declare good health and good character.
  • All applicants are required to attend an interview. For further support on preparing for interview and what to expect at interview, please read our application advice.
  • The University normally requires a minimum 5 GCSEs including Mathematics/Numeracy and English at Grade C or Grade 4 or above, or their equivalent, but consideration is given to individual circumstances. 

International applications welcomed

We welcome international applications with equivalent qualifications of our entry requirements. For more details related to your country of residence please view our dedicated country pages.

English language requirements

International applicants will need to have achieved an overall of IELTS 6.0 with a minimum of 5.5 in each component/TOEFL 72 overall and a minimum of 18 in reading, 17 in listening, 20 in speaking and 17 in writing or equivalent.

Equivalents can be located on our country.

If you have previously studied through the medium of English IELTS might not be required, please visit our country specific page for further details. If your English Language pages is not featured, please contact us.

If you do not meet the English entry criteria please visit our Pre-Sessional course pages.

Contextual offers

Recognition of prior learning and clinical experience that can be mapped to the programme learning outcomes and NMC standards of proficiency, will be considered in line with USW RPL/RPEL processes.

USW prides itself on its student experience and we support our students to achieve their goals and become a successful graduate. This approach helps us to support students who have the potential to succeed and who may have faced barriers that make it more difficult to access university.

 

We're here to help

Whether you a have a question about your course, fees and funding, the application process or anything else, there are plenty of ways you can get in touch and we'd to talk to you. You can contact our friendly admissions team by phone, email or chat to us online.

 

Fees and Funding

Further Information

This course is currently funded by Health Education and Improvement Wales (HEIW), and it is available to current Community Children’s Nurses working in a community setting.

Please refer HEIW's website.

Additional Costs

As a student of USW, you’ll have access to lots of free resources to support your study and learning, such as textbooks, publications, online journals, laptops, and plenty of remote-access resources. Whilst in most cases these resources are more than sufficient in supporting you with completing your course, additional costs, both obligatory and optional, may be required or requested for the likes of travel, memberships, experience days, stationery, printing, or equipment.  

An enhanced DBS is required. The update service is recommended.

Cost: £64.74 annually for enhanced DBS and £16 for the update service.

A1 poster summative submission required.

Cost: £11 from Print and Design USW

University Quality Assurance

At USW, we regularly review our courses in response to changing patterns of employment and skills demand to ensure we offer learning designed to reflect today’s student needs and tomorrow’s employer demands.

If during a review process course content is significantly changed, we’ll write to inform you and talk you through the changes for the coming year. But whatever the outcome, we aim to equip our students with the skillset and the mindset to succeed whatever tomorrow may bring. Your future, future-proofed.