Course Coordinator: Krystle Halls
Phone: +61 8 8313 0930
Email: krystle.halls@adelaide.edu.au

 

1	Appraise the rationale and effectiveness of nursing assessment and interventions applied to seriously ill patients in the acute care setting.
2	Demonstrates advanced and focused physical assessment in clinical practice in an acute care scenario with recognition of clinical deterioration in a timely manner
3	Retrieves, critically evaluates and prioritises appropriate and timely interventions using best available evidence
4	Expresses critical thinking skills through critical evaluation and nursing reflection on practice and the effectiveness of interventions.
5	Demonstrates leadership through safe practice in accordance with legislation, professional codes and specialty competencies and guidelines in relation to current skills, knowledge and attitudes
6	Demonstrates Integration of clinical skills and rigorous academic knowledge to practice in an acute care scenario
7	Demonstrates advanced patient care within the multidisciplinary team using a culturally sensitive approach in an acute care scenario

Gilbert, J & Coyne E 2018, Acute Care Nursing, 1st edn, Cambridge Univeristy Press, Melbourne, Australia.

Available from:
Cambridge University Press
477 Williamstown Road
Private Bag 31
Port Melbourne
Victoria, 3207
email: enquiries@cambridge.edu.au
tel: +61 (03) 8671 1400 fax:: +61 (03) 9676 9966


Zoom Online Classroom technology
To connect to the online classroom you will require:
•    a computer – either a PC-based or a Macintosh-based machine
•    Internet access – there seems to be little difference between broadband and dial-up connections other than the speed of the initial connection
•    minimum of a 56K modem
•    a multimedia headset – it must have both earphones and microphone (These are available in computer variety stores).

The readings for this course are available electronically via MyUni.

Please note: it is your responsibility to organise printing should you prefer a hard copy of the readings.

Zoom Online Classroom
The online classroom (OC) technology will be used for lectures and tutorial discussions throughout the semester. The online classroom will run for 2 hours on a specific weeks and days identified in the MyUni course pages during this semester. Please take the time to review the resourses available on the Canvas course.

School of Nursing.

This course will be delivered through the Flexible Delivery Mode with Zoom Online Classroom Lectures.
Students will participate in Zoom online classroom; collaborative learning and will be provided with course materials.  There is also a one day workshop associated with this course.

The course content will include but not be limited to the following:

NSQHS
Principles of Clinical Deterioration
Primary Assessment using an A-E approach
Communication Strategies
Rapid Response Teams

On-line learning using ‘Zoom On-line Classroom’ (OC) and ‘MyUni Canvas’ are used in the delivery of this course. There is also a one day workshop associated with this course which will be timetabled in the course planner.

Assessment Task	Assessment Type	Weighting	Learning Outcome(s) being addressed
Reflective Practice	Formative	NGP	5
Clinical Assessment Sheet (CAS)	Summative	35%	1, 2, 4, 6
Written Assignment	Summative	50%	3, 5, 7
Quizzes	Summative	15%	1-4

Assessment 1: Reflective Practice 

Requirements

Describe and critically reflect on your role and the teamwork involved/witnessed in an
unexpected clinical deterioration in which you have been involved with or observed. Please
maintain patient confidentiality.

As a guide use the questions:

What?
What happened, what did I do, what did others do, what was good or bad about the experience?

So what?
So, what is the importance of this? What have I learned about this?

Now what?
What could I do differently?

Assessment 2: Clinical Assessment Sheet

Requirements

Identify a patient who experienced an episode of acute clinical deterioration. You may refer to
de-identified patient charts in your answer.

1. Provide a brief clinical history of the patient including presentation and diagnosis, as
well as a description of the identified clinical deterioration (not included in word count).
2. Identify the key clinical characteristics you used to assess that this patient was
deteriorating. You will need to discuss the relevant respiratory and cardiac
pathophysiology, linking them to the deterioration.
3. Perform and describe a comprehensive and systematic assessment focusing on the
principles of primary survey (A-E). Analyse and interpret your findings in the context
of the patient’s clinical condition.
4. Prioritise and provide rationale for the interventions required.

(A minimum of 10 current references are needed)

Confidentiality
Patient’s anonymity must be maintained. The use of a pseudonym is required. The pseudonym
must also be clearly identified in text. (for example: “Fred (pseudonym) was a 51 year male
admitted with an acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive airways disease”). Do not include
any other information that may potentially identify the patient or institution, including places,
dates, times or events.

Assessment 3: Written Assignment

Requirements

Considering the clinical deteriorations which you have observed and responded to in your
clinical team, identify an area (e.g., communication, teamwork, situational awareness- happy to
discuss any your ideas and these are just general examples to get you thinking) for
improvement to discuss in your essay.

Your essay must include:

1. Introduction of the area which you have identified as needing improvement.

2. A review of the current literature. Consider what is known on the chosen area, is this a
common area requiring improvement in other teams or workplaces? Ensure to provide
an overview of the current literature.
 
3. Identify a minimum of two strategies which could be implemented in your team to
address the area for improvement. Ensure to include a discussion of how these
strategies could be appropriately implemented- discuss what steps may need to be
taken.

4. Conclusion including a summary of your discussions and key points for the reader to
take away.

A minimum of 10 current (within 10 years) references are to be included

Assessment 4: Quizzes

Requirements

There will be three quizzes spread out through the semester. The questions will relate directly
to the readings and text chapters. These will be multiple choice and short answer questions
(maximum 10 questions in each quiz).

Assessments, unless otherwise stated in your Study guide, are to be submitted electronically via Assignments in MyUni on the due date identified in this Study guide. Instructions for assignment submission are available for all students under Tutorials at www.adelaide.edu.au/myuni/.
An assessment submitted via MyUni must be submitted as a .doc, .docx or .rtf file. If submitting a PowerPoint presentation for marking, the .ppt or .pptx must be submitted as .pdf file. It is also important to submit your file under your name, such as surname.firstname. MyUni stamps all the other details against your filename once you submit your assessment.

Word limit
You are advised to comply with word limits. You are, of course, not expected to achieve exactly the required length and a 10% leeway on either side is acceptable. However, a penalty of 5% of available marks will apply for word limit in excess of the 10% leeway.

Presentation
Your written work must comply with the formatting and referencing indicated in the Student handbook and style guide. Marks will be lost for failing to do so. 

Marking guides will be provided on the MyUni Course pages.

Plagiarism
The University of Adelaide Academic Honesty and Assessment Obligations for Coursework Students Policy & Coursework Students: Academic Dishonesty Procedures policy is available at www.adelaide.edu.au/policies/230/.  Students are reminded that plagiarism and other forms of academic dishonesty constitute a serious offence and can result in disciplinary procedures. Students are advised to read the policy on plagiarism found at www.adelaide.edu.au/policies/230.

The following processes should be observed:

Referencing: providing a full bibliographic reference to the source of the citation (in a style as determined by the School).
Quotation: placing an excerpt from an original source into a paper using either quotation marks or indentation, with the source cited, using an approved referencing system in order to give credit to the original author.
Paraphrasing: repeating a section of text using different words which retain the original meaning.
Please note that changing just a few words does not constitute paraphrasing.

Best aspects of this course:
The online classroom was advantageous because it involved wide discussion and not just question/answer. The
workshop was brilliant!
Provides different types of learning process: online class, case study, discussion group.
It corresponds well with the information given out in the other course 'Acute Care.'

Areas for improvement
This course is based on clinical deterioration, the topics of cardiac assessment as well as respiratory and neurological topics are involved, I believe that renal issues is another important topic that should be involved- this will be addressed by inclusion of clinician delivery of content.