Autonomous Practice in Specialist Community Nursing - District Nursing

• Developing autonomous practice proactively and innovatively in complex, challenging and unpredictable situations.
• Applying specialist community knowledge and advanced skills to own intended field of practice.
• Autonomously manage and evaluate complex episodes of care from referral to service and admission, to discharge from caseload, or referral to other appropriate services or agencies.
• Acting as a professional role model and advocate for the profession.
• Developing professional curiosity – exploring, understanding and evaluating situational context.
• Demonstrating a professional duty of candour and taking responsibility to raise concerns, including safeguarding.
• Demonstrating advanced risk-assessments, applying critical thinking and decision-making skills, justifying and recording rationale for actions taken.
• Application of the principles informing professional practice including, legal, regulatory, governance requirements, policies, and professional and ethical frameworks to community practice.
• Leading and delivering person-centred, compassionate, anti-discriminatory and inclusive care based on evidence based best practice.
• Leading and promoting multi-disciplinary and partnership working.
• Developing a greater understanding of how to influence health and social care strategies at all levels.
• Understanding process and requirements to work effectively with practice supervisors and practice assessors to develop to a level of competent practice in the proficiencies as outlined in the Practice Assessment Document. Reflecting on own personal and professional values, maintaining own well-being and health.
• Developing further numeracy, literacy, digital and technological skills in the delivery of safe and effective specialist community care.
• Developing effective study skills.
• Searching for, analysing and reviewing the literature and evidence base. Hierarchy of evidence, application of evidence to autonomous practice

You will be taught using a range of methods from lectures and seminars, demonstrations, both face to face and virtually via our online learning systems. Session will consist of a mixture of real time, directed and self-directed learning and will involve the use of recorded sessions. Immersive, simulated learning will also be utilised.

Sessions will be delivered by and involve specialist practitioners from clinical practice, people who use services and their families and University lecturers.

Case study presentations will be utilised within the sessions enabling students to link the theory to practice when considering their assessment.

There will be a requirement to achieve clinical proficiencies requiring a total number of 100 hours clinical experience during the module.

You must be a registered nurse working within a community nursing service and be supported by your employer to apply to study the module.

A suitably trained practice assessor and practice supervisor should be available to support you in clinical practice, to assess competence within the practice assessment document. The practice assessor must hold the relevant Specialist Practice Qualification in District nursing.

Formative assessment:
You will complete a case study on which to base your summative assessment.

Summative assessment:

• Part 1:  A visual representation (poster) of information illustrating critical decision making/ risk assessment and associated rationale when working autonomously in a complex / challenging situation in the community setting to include a 10 minute critical discussion which allows in depth analysis of the poster contents.
• Part 2:  A pass at minimum competent level in the proficiencies detailed within Platform 1 of the All-Wales Practice Assessment Document for SPQ in the students defined field of practice.

You will be assigned an academic supervisor who will assist you with your academic work.

• Library services
• IT services
• Academic supervision
• Student support services including study skills if required