92433 Assessment and Therapeutics in Health Care 2
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Subject handbook information prior to 2021 is available in the Archives.
Credit points: 6 cp
Subject level:
Undergraduate
Result type: Grade and marksRequisite(s): (92430 Assessment and Therapeutics in Health Care 1 AND 91562 Health and Homeostasis 1 AND (92432 Health and Society OR 92431 Human Life Course Development))
Description
This subject builds on 92430 Assessment and Therapeutics in Health Care 1. Students explore the process of clinical judgement at a foundational level in the care of adults admitted to hospital for elective or emergency surgical procedures. Students are encouraged to develop a holistic approach to facilitate patients' recovery and discharge to the community. This involves recognition of individuals' responses to various factors including the presenting health problem, pre-existing comorbidities, therapeutic interventions and psychosocial factors. Skills in health assessment, holistic patient-centred and clinical care, professional communication including clinical handover and documentation, team work, application of evidenced-based practice, health promotion and health education are further developed in the clinical setting.
Subject learning objectives (SLOs)
| A. | Perform a health assessment using validated assessment techniques to identify alterations and the impact on patients' functional health patterns and establish priorities and goals for care (RN Standards for Practice 1, 4, 6 and 7). |
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| B. | Interpret data and utilise clinical judgment to implement appropriate interventions including beginning skills in the management of acute situations (RN Standards for Practice 5 and 6). |
| C. | Demonstrate effective, culturally safe communication within the interprofessional team, developing collaborative relationships with healthcare professionals and patients to deliver optimal care (RN Standards for Practice 2). |
| D. | Demonstrate an understanding of patient, environmental and organisational safety including risk management to support safe working environments and practices for self, patient and colleagues (RN Standards for Practice 1 and 3). |
| E. | Identify appropriate evidence based therapeutic nursing and pharmacological interventions related to patients in acute care settings (RN Standards for Practice 1, 5 and 6). |
| F. | Demonstrate appropriate NMBA Practice Standards including effective documentation, academic and professional writing, verbal and non-verbal communication techniques in academic and clinical settings using English Language (RN Standards for Practice 1-7). |
Teaching and learning strategies
In this subject, students will participate in a range of teaching and learning strategies that are designed to encourage you to engage with nursing care of adults in an acute care clinical setting.
Online learning guide
This subject benefits from the provision of an online learning guide. The guide provides students with an overall plan for the subject and learning strategies and resources to enable achievement of expected learning outcomes for each week of semester. The guide includes preparatory activities such as listening to patient handovers, lecture overviews, clinical laboratory worksheets and follow up activities including clinical language activities. Access to websites, online videos and literature contribute to these learning resources.
Lectures
Online lectures are provided to enable students to clarify, discuss and develop subject concepts. This is strongly supported by the online learning guide including preparatory and follow up activities
Clinical skills, collaboration, communication and simulation
Students participate in clinical laboratory sessions that focus on integration of key concepts and skills. In these sessions, students are introduced to a range of nursing skills, including assessment and interventions and simulation activities. Simulation activities are practical learning experiences designed to give students exposure to a range of scenarios that may be encountered in practice. Activities include the use of audio-visual aids and clinical equipment set-ups with mannequins, teaching staff or students as simulated patients/consumers. Students learn and practice clinical and interpersonal skills in groups with case scenarios in the laboratories. These practice scenarios incorporate the development of professional communication skills including professional and therapeutic communication required for nursing practice. Students are provided feedback and with the opportunity to collaborate and develop skills to work effectively as a team member. Students’ development of clinical skills is assessed through an Objective Skills Clinical Examination in preparation for clinical placement. The needs of students for whom English is an additional language will be taken into account.
Case Scenarios
Cases are used to help students explore health related scenarios. Cases depict patients/consumers and their families in an acute care surgical setting. Students use these scenarios to learn concepts, interpret information, form clinical judgements and develop creative solutions. Critical thinking is developed through analysis, interpretation of and reflection on issues or situations.
Clinical placement
In this subject students complete 80 hours of clinical placement experience. Placements are provided in medical surgical wards in hospitals and clinical community settings in metropolitan locations. Under supervision, students provide nursing care to patients within interprofessional teams to develop and consolidate their knowledge, skills and attributes.
Content (topics)
Content will be based on evidence based nursing concepts and practices that promote recovery and health maintenance for patients experiencing an acute episode of health breakdown requiring admission to hospital for surgical intervention. Skills in health assessment introduced in Assessment and Therapeutics in Health Care 1 (ATCH 1) will be further developed and extended to include interventions and management for patients with alterations to their functional health patterns. Patient case study scenarios will be used to further explore the concept of ‘patient journey’ to understand the patient’s experience of hospitalisation and critical importance of discharge planning.
Skills introduced in Assessment and Therapeutics in Health Care 1 will be strengthened particularly in regard to health assessment, preventing and controlling healthcare associated infections, patient mobility and prevention of falls, hygiene, skin care including prevention of pressure injuries, nutrition, elimination and health education drawing upon the Essentials of Care program (NSW Health: Nursing and Midwifery Office 2014) and the National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards (ACSQHC 2011). Health promotion applied to patient care in an acute setting and therapeutic, pharmacological, medical and diagnostic strategies are discussed.
The subject focuses on patient-centred care delivered through working collaboratively with the interprofessional team to achieve patient oriented goals and outcomes. The importance of timely and effective communication will be emphasised in relation to collaborative care and team work within the interprofessional team. Communication frameworks designed to support this process including the ISBAR tool will assist students to practice and develop these skills.
The concept of clinical judgement will be further developed to enable evidence based safe practice in an acute care setting. The Clinical Reasoning Cycle (Levett-Jones 2018) model of clinical judgement will be utilised to further develop students’ clinical decision-making abilities.
Respect for cultural identity, ethical considerations and resource availability will be integrated throughout the subject.
Clinical placement will occur in medical surgical settings. Within this learning environment students will have the opportunity to utilise their knowledge and skills and identify further abilities that will enhance their practice. Students will be encouraged to focus on the management of episodes of acute care where appropriate whilst considering the wider context of the patient within the community and their health status including comorbidities - health/illness/disease continuum. Students will consolidate their skills in patient assessment, history taking and communication, and develop their ability to plan in implement evidence based nursing care.
Skills that will be covered in this subject include:
Personal care: Assisted ambulation; Hygiene: bed making, shower/bath, bed bath and oral care; Skin integrity: positioning, assessment and pressure area care; and Elimination: continence management and bowel care.
Clinical communication and documentation: Admission (surgical); Clinical handover; Care planning; Recording vital signs; Recording fluid intake/output; Using and maintaining patient records; Communicating clinical reasoning; Interprofessional communication; and Negotiating care with patient/clients and families.
Clinical assessment and monitoring: Vital signs: TPR and BP; Physical assessment; Pain assessment; Respiratory assessment; Pulse oximetry; Using a stethoscope; Cardiovascular assessment; Cardiac monitoring: lead attachment; Blood glucose monitoring; Neurovascular assessment; Abdominal assessment; Nutritional assessment; Assessment of fluid balance; urine analysis; Pre-operative assessment; and Post-operative assessment.
Clinical interventions and management: Wound care: aseptic non-touch technique, dry dressing technique and removal of sutures/staples; Oxygen therapy; Pre-operative education; and Post-operative education.
Privacy and dignity: Respectful care; and Confidentiality.
Promoting self-management: Health education and health promotion.
Risk and safety: Hand hygiene; Hand washing for invasive procedures; Infection control; sharps safety.
Medications, intravenous therapy and blood products: Safe checking, administration, documentation and disposal of medication (oral and subcutaneous); Medication calculations; Oral and subcutaneous medication administration; and Other non-parenteral medications.
Assessment
Assessment task 1: Online Quizzes
| Intent: | The purpose of this assignment is to assess student knowledge and understanding of weekly subject content and ability to interpret data and make clinical decisions based on information explored in pre-reading, lecture and laboratory resources and content. |
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| Type: | Quiz/test |
| Groupwork: | Individual |
| Weight: | 40% |
| Length: | Four (4) quizzes with twenty (20) questions in each quiz, 35-minute time restriction. |
Assessment task 2: Medication Safety Case Analysis
| Intent: | Medication errors can impact patient outcomes, therefore safe and appropriate administration of medicines is an important part of patient safety. The intent of this assessment is to prepare students for clinical practice by developing their understanding of the types of medication errors and the reasons these occur, and to develop strategies for students’ own clinical practice to prevent medication errors. |
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| Type: | Case study |
| Groupwork: | Individual |
| Weight: | 30% |
| Length: | 1200 words |
Assessment task 3: Clinical Reasoning Cycle Test
| Intent: | The purpose of this assessment is to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate their ability to use the Clinical Reasoning Cycle to assess, plan, implement and evaluate appropriate nursing care of a patient; recognise and respond to the deteriorating patient and organise care underpinned by therapeutic communication. |
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| Type: | Quiz/test |
| Groupwork: | Individual |
| Weight: | 30% |
| Length: | 60 minutes |
Assessment task 4: Clinical placement
| Intent: | Students undertake a two week clinical placement experience that will prepare them for practice in the real clinical workforce. Students will have the opportunity to practice skills to consolidate their learning and receive feedback from tutors during participation in the weekly laboratory sessions prior to attending the clinical placement experience. |
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| Type: | Laboratory/practical |
| Groupwork: | Individual |
| Weight: | Mandatory task that does not contribute to subject mark |
| Length: | 80 hours |
Required texts
Berman, A., Snyder, S., Levett-Jones, T., Burton, P. & Harvey, N. 2018, Skills in clinical nursing, Melbourne, VIC, Pearson Australia.
Berman, A., Snyder, S., Levett-Jones, T., Dwyer, T., Hales, M., Harvey, N., Moxham, L., Langtree, T., Parker, B., Reid-Searl, K. & Stanley, D. (eds) 2018, Kozier and Erb’s fundamentals of nursing: concepts, process and practice, 4th edn, Melbourne, VIC. Pearson Australia.
Gatford, J. & Phillips, N. 2016, Nursing calculations, 9 Edn, Melbourne, VIC. Elsevier.
Levett-Jones, T. (ed.) 2018, Clinical reasoning: learning to think like a nurse, 2nd edn, Melbourne, VIC.Pearson Australia.
Tiziani, A. 2017, Havard’s Nursing Guide to Drugs, 10 edn, Chatswood, NSW, Elsevier.
Recommended texts
Stein-Parbury, J. 2018, Patient & Person, 6 Edn, Chatswood, NSW, Elsevier.
Reid-Searl, K., Dwyer., T & Moxham. L 2018 Preparing for Clinical Placement - Nursing Students Clinical Survival Guide, 4th edition, Melbourne, VIC, Pearson Australia.
References
Refer to UTSOnline for access to up to date references for this subject.
Other resources
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Improve your academic and English language skills
Marks for all assessment tasks such as assignments and examinations are given not only for what you write but also for how you write. If you would like the opportunity to improve your academic and English language skills, make an appointment with the HELPS (Higher Education Language & Presentation Support) Service in Student Services.
HELPS (Higher Education Language & Presentation Support)
HELPS provides assistance with English language proficiency and academic language. Students who need to develop their written and/or spoken English should make use of the free services offered by HELPS, including academic language workshops, vacation intensive courses, drop-in consultations, individual appointments and Conversations@UTS (www.ssu.uts.edu.au/helps). HELPS staff are also available for drop-in consultations at the UTS Library. Phone (02) 9514 9733.
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