Nursing Science BSc (Hons)

The module covers a broad range of topics including;

Contextual health issues: globalisation of health and emerging health priorities and health transitions. Determinants and indicators of health, measuring health (epidemiology). Health inequalities, including gender, location, income/social class, ethnicity. United Nations sustainable goals and future targets. Global public health, war, conflict and migration. Climate change and disasters.

Politics and policies: how policy is made and implications of policy on the patient’s experience. Global health care systems. The State, non governmental organisations, the market and the voluntary sector, including family. The social, medical and traditional models of health. Economic development and emerging economies. International assistance. Geopolitics and the health threats. Human rights and social justice. Poverty. Universal health care. User involvement.

Nursing professional issues: Workforce investment – getting it right. Global and local shortages of skilled professional nurses and other healthcare staff. Migration. Health equity through action.

This module occurs in semester 1 of the BSc (Hons) Nursing Science Programme. In this module you will be supported and encouraged to engage with published research and other types of evidence that inform nursing practices. You will be given the opportunity to explore research terminology, methodologies and methods through the consideration of relevant research studies in an enquiry-based learning (EBL) approach. The aims of the module will be to support and develop your knowledge about research so as to increase your confidence as a consumer of the research evidence underpinning nursing practice. Skills will be developed that allow appreciation of the variety of approaches to research used in healthcare research and you will be able to critically examine the quality of research and discuss the value within nursing.

On this module you will explore the following topic areas:

* Life-Long Learning and Professional Practice: The introduction of evidence to inform nursing practice. Ethical issues in research.
* Research methodological approaches and their value to nursing and healthcare practice: methodologies and methods used in research. Critical evaluation of research quality.
* Data Management and Metrics: Research Governance, ethics and protecting vulnerable people.
* Evidence Based Practice: This will include debate around the hierarchies of research evidence and the production of protocols and guidelines that inform nursing practice.

This module will enable you to develop life long learning skills that will benefit your future career pathway in nursing.

This module occurs in semester 1 of the BSc Nursing Science Programme.

There are three domains of public health practice: ‘health protection’; ‘health improvement’; and ‘health services’. During this module you will explore public health under two of these domains: ‘health improvement’ and ‘health services’. You will come to appreciate that improving health requires nurses to work with individuals, families, communities and professionals from a range of disciplines within and outside the health sector. To achieve this you will critically analyse the roles of different professionals so that you understand how this can strengthen your patient-centered care and support your delivery of health improvement projects relevant to your area of practice.

This module aims to develop: understanding of fundamental public health concepts; critical awareness of key public health issues; and consolidate assessment, communication, including solution focused therapy, multi-professional team working, and evaluation skills relevant to nurses who engage in public health practice.

On this module you will explore the following topic areas:

*Health improvement. You will research the information you need to describe the health status of your service population and profile their health needs. You will study screening, the practical application of health promotion approaches, and the role of advocacy and solution focused therapy in promoting health and wellbeing. This will equip you to help people make healthy choices, reduce health inequalities, and prevent people dying prematurely.


*Health services. You will examine negotiation of health promoting projects, including managing meetings and promoting effective multi-professional team working across agencies. By focusing on reducing health inequalities you will consider how clinical audit can identify ways of improving services or patient outcomes.

In this module you will learn about the evidence and theoretical perspectives that underpin nursing skills and you will be able to practice these in a safe environment to increase your confidence. This module will also introduce you to physiological control and homeostasis of the human body through exploration of four key health issues of global significance. These include cardio-vascular disease, tuberculosis, diabetes and obesity (WHO 2014). Within this module you will examine normal anatomy and physiology of body systems and organs and the pathogenesis of these diseases. By studying this you will not only develop your knowledge of normal body function but also the consequences that disease has on an individual and/or population. On the module you will also learn about the evidence-based management of disease. There will be an opportunity to critically evaluate the evidence for treatment and debate how global health issues can be addressed.

The purpose of this extended literature review is to enable you to examine ways in which research evidence can be used to develop nursing and healthcare practices. In this module you will learn how to make informed use of published research and other sources of information, and learn how to engage with research findings in order to evaluate and enhance practice and health situations. Lectures will provide you with the background theoretical knowledge, while in seminars, individual and group activities will help you to facilitate reflection on previous health, healthcare and nursing experiences. You will be supported in finding and critically appraising research which will be collated as evidence to underpin a contemporary healthcare or nursing practice issue. You will draw on your learning and experiences of the other modules on the BSc (Hons) Nursing Science programme to help you engage with this module. For example, you will use your skills and knowledge of research methodology and methods to help you to critically evaluate the quality of the research underpinning your dissertation topic of interest. A workshop discussion with your lecturer and your peers will help you to facilitate your initial ideas for your dissertation topic.
The assessment strategy is central to the development of critically analytical professional practitioners. You will engage in the production of an independent, negotiated extended literature review that analyses, in depth, an aspect of heath or nursing practice that is of interest to you.

Academic skills when studying away from your home country can differ due to cultural and language differences in teaching and assessment practices. This module is designed to support your transition in the use and practice of technical language and subject specific skills around assessments and teaching provision in your chosen subject. The overall aim of this module is to develop your abilities to read and study effectively for academic purposes; to develop your skills in analysing and using source material in seminars and academic writing and to develop your use and application of language and communications skills to a higher level.

The topics you will cover on the module include:

• Understanding assignment briefs and exam questions.
• Developing academic writing skills, including citation, paraphrasing, and summarising.
• Practising ‘critical reading’ and ‘critical writing’
• Planning and structuring academic assignments (e.g. essays, reports and presentations).
• Avoiding academic misconduct and gaining credit by using academic sources and referencing effectively.
• Listening skills for lectures.
• Speaking in seminar presentations.
• Presenting your ideas
• Giving discipline-related academic presentations, experiencing peer observation, and receiving formative feedback.
• Speed reading techniques.
• Developing self-reflection skills.