Course Coordinators:

Iain Everett
Phone: +61 8 8313 4308
Email: iain.everett@adelaide.edu.au

Sindy Millington
Phone: +61 8 83132996
Email: sindy.millington@adelaide.edu.au

Julia Muller Spiti
Phone: +61 8 8313 6284
Email : julia.mullerspiti@adelaide.edu.au

On successful completion of this course students will be able to:

1. Recognise the signs of cardio-respiratory distress; and differentially diagnoses potential causes based on history-taking and clinical assessment.

2. Analyse and interpret diagnostic tests and monitoring used to assess the adequacy of the cardio-respiratory systems.

3. Discuss the aetiology and pathophysiology of common cardio-respiratory disorders potentially resulting in cardio-respiratory failure.

4. identify the priorities and formulate an effective nursing care plan to manage a patient with the potential to, or is experiencing cardio-respiratory distress.

5. Demonstrate an understanding of the indications, rationales, setup, operation, application, monitoring, and troubleshooting required for managing a patient requiring technology to optimise their cardio-respiratory condition.

6. Plan, implement and evaluate holistic plans of care in collaboration with the health care team

7. Identify and evaluate the current clinical issues in critical care nursing and considers the implications for your clinical area

8. Identify, critically appraise and integrate current evidence based guidelines and consensus statements to inform competent clinical practice

Prescribed texts

Aitken, L Marshall, A & Chaboyer, W 2015, ACCCN’s critical care nursing, 3rd edn, Mosby Elsevier, Sydney.

OR

Curtis K, and Ramsden C 2016, Emergency and Trauma Care for Nurses and Paramedics. 2nd edn, Elsevier, Sydney.

AND

Talley, NJ & O’Connor, S 2014, Clinical examination: a systematic guide to physical diagnosis, 7th edn, Churchill/Livingstone, Elsevier, Sydney.

AND

Wesley, K 2011, Huszar’s basic dysrhythmias: interpretation and management, rev. 4th edn, Mosby, St Louis.

Reading lists, web-links, library resources, essay writing guides, study guides, referencing guides, TURNITIN

• Use of MyUni, Articulate Storyline for resource materials / lectures
• Use of announcements, discussion boards, quizzes, lecture recordings, external web-links
• Materials will be made available during the semester

This course will be delivered through a blended learning mode:

Up to five hours face-to-face sessions per week (on-campus) including: a blend of lectures and tutorials utilising the principles of; ‘Problem-Based Learning’.

Lectures
The lecture locations will be made available on the MyUni website. Articulate storyline Lectures/office Mix will be available on the MyUni Canvas course to facilitate students preparation for specific weeks, and therefore students are required to review these reosurces prior to attending class.

Reading
There are several prescribed texts for this course and an online reading list that will be made available on MyUni in the Canvas course. The readings have been carefully chosen. The required and recommended readings have been selected to optimise knowledge on the topic and so that they will continue to be of use after graduating.

Clinical Practice and Skill Acquisition
This course supplements theoretical knowledge acquisition with field based learning. Students are required to complete clinical skills and work a minimum of 300 clinical hours in their specialty setting during the semester.

The information below is provided as a guide to assist students in engaging appropriately with the course requirements. The delivery mode of this course is mainly face-to-face lectures and tutorials on campus (up to five hours contact per week). Although attendance is not compulsory in this course, students are strongly encouraged to attend the classes. Many of the lectures and tutorials presented in this course will involve problem-based learning using real-life case studies and will have a close link to your clinical specialty.

Reading
There are several required texts for this course. The online reading will be made available via Canvas course on MyUni. However you are strongly advised to research and read widely each topic in this course. You are expected to invest about 24 hours per week of study to successfully complete this course.

It is recommended that you plan your time commitment to the course at the beginning of the semester. This includes all study activities, attendance at lectures / tutorials, readings and assessments; some weeks it will be more and others less.

The course content will include the following:

WEEK	TOPIC
1	Respiratory anatomy & physiology Respiratory assessment; monitoring & diagnostics
2	Acute respiratory failure Common respiratory disorders
3	Pain, analgesia & procedural sedation Thoracotomy & UWSD management Oxygen therapy
4	Non-invasive & Mechanical ventilation
5	Cardiovascular anatomy & physiology Cardiac monitoring; Anti-arrhythmic pharmacology
6	Sinus & Atrial arrhythmias Junctional & Ventricular arrhythmias
7	Atrio-ventricular blocks Cardiac pacing
8	12-lead ECG interpretation Axes; bundle branch & fascicular blocks
9	Differentiation of broad complex tachycardias Other ECG findings               Acute Coronary Syndromes
10	Haemodynamic monitoring Shock states
11	Inotropes & vasoactive pharmacology Transfusion
12	Hypertension & hypertensive crisis Vascular emergencies

Clinical Practice and Skill Acquisition
This course supplements theoretical knowledge acquisition with field based learning. Students are required to complete clinical skills and work a minimum of 300 clinical hours in their specialty setting during the semester.

It is our endeavour to have Small Group Discovery (SGDE) experiences for many of our tutorial based exercises during our face to face time with students. Groups will be allocated to work together on clinical scenarios and problems that will be explored for solutions/actions that reflect evidence based care, professional team work and best practice.

ASSESSMENT TASK	TASK TYPE	WEIGHTING	COURSE LEARNING OUTCOME
Search Strategy & Synopsis	Formative	NGP	3, 7, 8
Literature Review	Summative	30%	7, 8
Essay	Summative	30%	1 - 8
Written Exam	Summative	40%	1 - 5, 7, 8
Clinical Skills Diary	Summative	NGP	1 - 8

Clinical Skills Diary: NGP
The assessment of skills will occur throughout the semester. Students will be assessed by the Critical Care registered nurses and/or Clinical  Titleholders, with whom they work. Please refer to the information provided in the Clinical skills Diaries regarding skills assessment criteria. The diaries will be graded Pass or Fail and are a hurdle requirement ie. Students' must pass this assessment to pass the course.

 Search Strategy & Synopsis – Formative (NGP): 1000 words. The aim of this assessment is to introduce the topic for your essay,and provide a justification for the topic; outline the key points and issues to be critiqued; describe the search strategy used to source information; and include a reference list of at least 5 contemporary preliminary references. Choose your topic from those presented to you below:Discuss the recent advances (within the last 10 years) that have occurred in the management of one of the following topics in your specialty area:
    Acute respiratory failure
    Arrhythmia management
    Myocardial infarction

Literature Review – Summative (30%): 2000 words. Following on from Assessment 1 (Search Strategy & Synopsis), students are required to produce Annotated Bibliography and justification for the inclusion of 10 articles ( not in word count )related assignment.
Before you start the assignment make sure the topic you have chosen is not too broad. Narrow your search down until you find a specific recent advance in the management of either Acute Respiratory failure, MI or Arrhythmia. Focus on something that interests you.
Find your most relevant 10 articles on the topic and familiarise yourself with their content. Out of the 10 choose 5 and write an annotated bibliography for each. Also, justify why you have chosen these articles (sample, methodology, clinical context…?).
1. Bibliography list of the 10 articles (not in the word count)
2. Annotated Bibliography and justification for inclusion:
· Reference of article;
· Annotated Bibliography (200-250 words);
· Justification for inclusion (max 100 words). 

Essay – Summative (30%): 2500 words. Following on from Assessment 1 & 2 (Literature Review) students are required to submit an essay on their chosen topic to demonstrate understanding of certain key concepts associated with the course and communicate this understanding in a formal, structured way. Discuss the recent advances that have occurred in management of one of the following subjects in your specialty area: Please consider the implications for specialist nurses when writing the paper.
acute respiratory failure
arrhythmia management
myocardial infarction.
In your discussion you must include reference to the following areas:
assessment
pathology/ pathophysiology
nursing management
medical management

Written Exam – Summative (40%): 2 hours with additional 10 mins reading time (2000 word equivalent). This assessment includes multiple choice and short answer questions and is designed to ensure summative knowledge of the course material. Students will be expected to be able to analyse patient situations. The examination will be two hours in duration and will examine the theory taught in Foundations of Critical Care. The exam will be held on a Wednesday during the University Exam week(s) and date confirmed later in semester.
Clinical Skills Diary - Summative (NGP). The assessment of skills will occur throughout the semester. Students will be assessed by the critical care registered nurses and clinical titleholders, with whom they work. Please refer to the information provided in the Clinical skills record. A series of mandatory clinical skills must be completed in order to pass the course.

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/.

Turnitin is used to submit all assignments in this course. Turnitin is a plagiarism software tool that enables the student to identify any
matching text before final submission.

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.

Clinical Skills Diaries should be submitted in person to the students' respective Course Coordinator by 1630hrs on or before the due date.

Best aspects of this course
Facilities are nice, the content is largely clinically relevant and benefits my learning.
Shared teaching is good to break up voices.
The face to face lectures enable for clarification and further discussion on topics to enable better understanding.
The lecturers have been fantastic! They have not only taught our course the vital information required via interesting lectures, but have also been very supportive throughout the course.
Although each lecturer has come from a different area of nursing they have done a wonderful job in bringing together the ICU, Cardiac and Emergency nurses and taught us in fulfilled, safe environment, where all students felt comfortable in asking questions and participating in class activities.
Tutorials are the best. The lecturers are very knowledgeable and it is a great learning environment. Enjoyed interacting with other students from different disciplines and hospitals. Actually, having hands on learning experience with experts. The topics were well set out, very appropriate for my context of nursing, and interesting!

The face to face classes. By having regular interactions with tutors in an open environment learning is better facilitated. Points of difficulty can be discussed there and then. If the course were to be delivered online this would not happen.

Areas for improvement
The content was considered a heavy workload and the contact hours difficult in the setting of shift work.
More clinical scenarios and examples that relate to practice environments were requested.
The weekly resources to be made available in timely manner to facilitate students’ preparation.
Making explicit the required advanced practice knowledge for ventilation, haemodynamics etc for specific clinical specialties.
Electronic eportfolio and new learning platform  were identified as additional stressor this semester for some students and therefore the Mahara eportfolio was discontinued and clinical skills diary reimplemented.