Health Assessment - Level 6

Today, nurses and allied health professionals are encouraged to expand their skill set. This course is for Health Care professionals who will be required to undertake basic physical or mental health patient assessment, usually as first responders in hospital or community clinical settings, reporting your findings to the senior clinician with whom you work, or to underpin non-medical prescribing. Birmingham City University has strong partnership links with regional NHS Trusts and Community Education Provider Networks.

What's covered in the course?

Through a combination of lectures, skills workshops, online clinical learning resources, work with your clinical mentor and other health professionals, plus your own self-directed study, you will be able to apply the principles of history-taking and physical/mental health examination to assess patients in your care. You will be taught the techniques to assess the human nervous system, cardio-vascular, respiratory, gastro-intestinal and musculo-skeletal systems, plus the issues of which to be aware when caring for someone with mental health problems. In addition, there is teaching on the genito-urinary system, laboratory blood tests, tissue viability and wound care. Students work in primary and community care, emergency care and rapid response teams, hospital wards or specialist services/clinics.

The module leader has 25+ years experience in acute care (Minor Injury Units, ED, Urgent Care, GP Out of Hours Care) and other lecturers are from their specialist clinical environment, providing a window of opportunity for students to access their specific area of expertise.

Lectures are held at City South Campus in either Bevan House or Seacole Building – the latter has a state-of-the-art library with superb electronic resources. You will also be able to access the Skills Practice and Care Enhancement (SPACE) facility in order to hone your newly-acquired skills.

Why Choose Us?

• Our Health and Life Science Faculty has lecturers with a wide range of contemporary clinical expertise including that of defence medicine
• We understand and respond to the needs of local healthcare workers, shaping programmes that empower students to develop their skills in the workplace
• We have well-established links with local employers and Health Education England (West Midlands) which enable alignment of manpower development and the training and education required to underpin a high-quality workforce
• Once enrolled, your student status allows you to access our resources for many months after completion of your module, supporting you in the principle of life-long learning
• Having  achieved  successful completion of one module with us, you will be able to easily continue in post-qualifying study and practice in order to gain a BSc, BSc(Hons) or MSc award

This module aligns with the Professional Practice programme philosophy and is designed to be flexible and practice-led. You will have the opportunity to develop skills of enquiry, reflection and problem solving.

Course breakdown

• Taking a History
• Common cardiac conditions
• Cardiovascular assessment
• Respiratory assessment
• Abdominal Assessment
• Assessment of the Genito-Urinary Tract
• Musculo-skeletal assessment
• Cranial nerve assessment
• Peripheral Nervous System assessment
• Interpretation of Blood Results
• Principles of Mental Health assessment
• Wound assessment and care
• Record-keeping
• Review of top-to toe assessment