Professional/Short course Advancing Practice in Clinical Examination and Diagnostic Reasoning for Urgent, Emergency and Primary Care Practitioners
40 credit level 6 or level 7 module
You may be able to study these modules at Level 6 (BSc level) or Level 7 (Masters level) depending on your academic circumstances. Please contact the CPD Team or the Module Leader for advice if you are unsure which level would be best for you.
About
The Advancing Practice in Clinical Assessment, Reasoning and Differential Diagnosis for Urgent, Emergency and Primary Care Practitioners (APiCA) module, available at either level 6 (UZWK9N-40-3) or level 7 (UZWK9M-40-M), has been developed to prepare practitioners with a professional registration in healthcare for a clinical role as an advancing autonomous practitioner working within a range of settings such as pre-hospital; community; primary; urgent; or emergency care.
This module will prepare you to take a focused history; examine patients using a systems based approach; request appropriate diagnostic tests; interpret these; make a differential diagnosis and construct an evidenced based management plan for a range of patients and service users presenting with an undifferentiated range of symptoms. This will require demonstration of a higher degree of complex decision-making skills, expertise and knowledge in managing risk and diagnostics effectively and safely in the clinical context and environment within which you work.
On successful completion of this module, you will be able to:
At level 6
- demonstrate the ability to safely assess and evaluate a range of patient presentations through comprehensive history taking and clinical examination, applying advanced knowledge of underlying anatomy and pathophysiology.
- exercise clinical judgement to identify differential diagnoses to develop safe, evidence-based treatment and management plans.
- appraise and apply clinical decision-making theories to inform advanced clinical judgement, ensuring safe, person-centred management.
- demonstrate clinical judgement in managing safety, uncertainty, and risk, through the application of governance frameworks, professional standards, and evidence-based strategies to ensure high-quality, person-centred care.
At level 7
- demonstrate the ability to safely assess and evaluate a range of patient presentations through comprehensive history taking and clinical examination, applying advanced knowledge of underlying anatomy and pathophysiology.
- exercise critical clinical judgement to identify differential diagnoses to develop safe, evidence-based treatment and management plans.
- critically appraise and apply clinical decision-making theories to inform advanced clinical judgement, ensuring safe, person-centred management.
- demonstrate advanced clinical judgement in managing safety, uncertainty, and risk, through the application of governance frameworks, professional standards, and evidence-based strategies to ensure high-quality, person-centred care
Entry requirements
You must be:
- a practitioner with current professional registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Council or General Pharmaceutical Health Council or Health and Care Professions Council.
- working in an appropriate clinical environment, through either a permanent or honorary contract, with a single clinical mentor for the duration of the module.
- working with patients on first presentation within a range of settings such as prehospital; community; primary; urgent; or emergency care.
Careers / Further study
This module can contribute towards the PGCert Health and Social Care, MSc Clinical Practice, MSc Advanced Practice, and the Professional Development Awards. If you have any queries, please contact the Professional Development team (pd@uwe.ac.uk).
The Level 6 module can contribute towards:
- BSc(Hons) Specialist Practice (District Nursing)
- BSc(Hons) Health and Social Care
- MSc Specialist Practice (District Nursing)
- MSc Advanced Practice
- Professional Development Award
The level 7 module can contribute towards:
- MSc Specialist Practice (District Nursing)
- MSc Advanced Practice
- Professional Development Awards
How to apply
Please click on the Apply Now button to apply for your CPD module, which you can take as a stand-alone course or as part of an undergraduate or postgraduate (Masters level) programme.
Please note: Priority will be given to applications received through our funded educational contracts. Unfortunately no places will be available on this course for applications received outside of this funding. Please check with your employer as a funded contract place may still be available to support your learning.
For further information
- Email: pd@uwe.ac.uk
- Telephone: +44 (0)117 32 81158
Structure
Content
The course syllabus typically includes the following:
Skills
- Appraising evidence for healthcare practice
- Drivers for healthcare delivery
- Introduction to use of frameworks for clinical reasoning
- Systematic history taking and consultation skills
- Use of advanced physical assessment techniques
- Risk assessment frameworks for clinical reasoning, documentation and management
- Clinical findings related to head to toe physical assessment with application to related disease processes
- Advanced interpersonal skills
- Review of systems: Cardiovascular examination; Head, neck, ears, eyes, nose and throat examination; Respiratory examination; Abdominal examination; Neurological examination; Musculoskeletal examination
- Note taking and documentation skills recording contemporaneous accurate notes of examination, diagnosis, treatment and evidenced based management plans
- Clinical examination skills using a systems based approach with an additional focus on musculoskeletal trauma diagnosis and management.
- Injury and physical and mental illness management in same day care settings
- X-ray interpretation
Context of physical assessment and clinical reasoning
- Complex decision-making and risk management including decision making theory and clinical reasoning approaches including the appropriate use of clinical decision making protocols
- Legal and ethical issues concerning autonomous practice in 24 hour settings and in relation to scope of practice within current professional frameworks
- Making safe and appropriate referrals
- Assessment and management of patients with undifferentiated presentations across the life span
- Evidence-based practice and clinical guidelines.
Learning and Teaching
A variety of approaches will be used which may include e-learning, lectures, practical sessions, seminars, experts from practice, analysis of case studies, problem-based learning, online patient scenarios and self-directed study.
Supervised physical assessment practice sessions undertaken throughout the module.
Study time
There is a total of 400 hours to be allocated:
- scheduled learning and teaching study hours - 96 hours
- independent study - 229 hours
- placement study - 75 hours.
Assessment
Assessment of this module comprises the following:
1. Practice Competency Document
Successful completion of identified competencies. Learners will include clinical logs demonstrating evidence-based critical reflection of different episodes of care to inform their achievement of competencies. The practice competency document will be assessed in practice by the identified mentor. The assessment will allow the student to demonstrate developing practice and autonomous clinical decision making.
2. An Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE)
The student will be expected to take a clinical history from a standardised patient and perform the relevant clinical examination. The student will be expected to suggest a provisional diagnosis and a safe management plan relative to autonomous practice. An oral discussion will follow to allow the student to demonstrate autonomous clinical decision making.
Formative assessment:
- Feedback will be provided by formative OSCE within the practical sessions.
- Formative assessment will take place through clinical mentorship and feedback.
Prices and dates
Supplementary fee information
Please visit the full fee information page to see the price brackets for our modules.
Dates
Please click on the Apply Now button to view dates.
Features
Study facilities
The College of Health, Science and Society has an excellent reputation for the quality of its teaching and the facilities it provides.
Take a personalised virtual tour of the Health Professions facilities and experience what a typical day could look like here for you.
If the course you are applying for is fully online or blended learning, please note that you are expected to provide your own headsets/microphones.