Unit Synopsis
In this unit, you will have the opportunity to practice fundamental nursing care in the aged care environment. You will apply the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) registered nurse standards for practice (2016). You will continue to explore the importance of the National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) Standards (2017) to all nursing practice in Australia and use the Patient Safety Competency Framework (PSCF) (Levett-Jones et al., 2017) in your practice as a nursing student. You will be expected to identify risk and recognise and respond appropriately to the deteriorating patient in the simulated and clinical environment. You will review the concept of scope of practice using the decision-making framework (DMF) (NMBA, 2020). You are required to participate in a compulsory three (3) day residential school or alternatively, an on-campus workshop prior to attending professional experience placement for this unit. This unit includes a 120 hour block professional experience placement in an aged care environment. You must meet specific mandatory health, safety and security requirements to be eligible to attend each professional experience placement. Professional experience placements may be limited in your community and you may be placed in other locations. Please be prepared financially and personally to cover the costs to relocate for placements. Due to the limited availability of placements, some block placements have start and/or end dates that fall outside standard term dates.
Details
| Level | Undergraduate |
|---|---|
| Unit Level | 1 |
| Credit Points | 6 |
| Student Contribution Band | SCA Band 1 |
| Fraction of Full-Time Student Load | 0.125 |
| Pre-requisites or Co-requisites |
Prerequisites: NURS11164 Effective Communication in the Health Care Environment or NURS11163 Recovery Approach to Mental Health NURS11165 The Profession of Nursing or NURS11159 Introduction to Nursing NURS11166 Health and Assessment in Nursing or NURS11160 Fundamentals of Clinical Nursing Practice. Co-requisites: BIOH11005 Introductory Anatomy and Physiology or BMSC11010 Human Anatomy and Physiology 1 NURS11169 Health Across Life Stages or NURS11157 Lifespan Approach to Health and Wellness for Nursing Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework). |
| Class Timetable | View Unit Timetable |
| Residential School |
Compulsory Residential School View Unit Residential School |
Unit Availabilities from Term 1 - 2026
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Assessment Tasks
| Assessment Task | Weighting |
|---|---|
| 1. In-class Test(s) | 0% |
| 2. Professional Practice Placement | 0% |
This is a pass/fail (non-graded) unit. To pass the unit, you must pass all of the individual assessment tasks shown in the table above.
Past Exams
All University policies are available on the Policy web site, however you may wish to directly view the following policies below.
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of policies are available on the Policy web site .
Term 2 - 2024 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 88.37% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 15.19% response rate.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Source: Student evaluation
In my opinion students need more days in Residential School to get more information and experience from tutors, and be prepared especially for hospital placement.
Residential school curricula will be reviewed and refined to ensure students are prepared for their respective clinical placements.
The clinical learning guide for the residential school has been reviewed and updated with the inclusion of critical thinking questions to support students' learning.
Source: Student evaluation
Overall the content provided was up to date and examples used in residential school were similar to real life experiences, helping improve our skills and knowledge surrounding the assessments/paperwork. Sometimes the content was hard to understand, possibly due to how it was worded or the resources we were given, however, it was easy enough to work around it.
Resources and content delivered in residential school curricula will be reviewed and refined as appropriate and will ensure the currency of knowledge and skills is relevant to first-year students.
All references and literature have been reviewed and updated in the clinical learning guide for the residential school to ensure currency of clinical knowledge and practice that are relevant to first-year students.
Source: Student evaluation
The Residential school provided by the unit was poorly executed. I was not prepared properly for placement, there was lots and lots of theory and little hands on learning. My educators did very well in the math exam aspect. I feel as though 6 days of residential in our first year and than expecting us to be competent in a hospital setting is ridiculous.
We will review and refine residential school curricula to ensure more learning opportunities are provided in the clinical practice space for residential schools.
The Unit Coordinators have collaborated closely with the Simulation Team to review and refine the learning materials in the residential school to ensure students are well-prepared for their clinical placements.
Source: Student evaluation
My clinical placement was an incredible experience, providing me with invaluable hands-on learning and support from a fantastic team. It helped build my confidence and deepen my understanding of patient care in a real-world setting.
Continue to ensure students' readiness for clinical placement experience by providing rigorous residential school curricula.
In Progress
Source: Student evaluation
Some of the questions on the maths quiz during res school weren't good. I also felt like a lot of them were guesses because we weren't prepared well enough for it.
To review and refine questions in the medication and maths quiz. Ensure students are adequately informed and prepared for the quiz before undertaking the task.
In Progress
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- Apply the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) Registered nurse standards for practice in the physical and psychosocial assessment, planning, implementation and evaluation of people in aged care, including those with cognitive impairment in the simulated and clinical environment
- Identify potential risks in the aged care environment and determine strategies to minimise the risk
- Recognise and respond appropriately to the deteriorating patient in the aged care context
- Develop strategies for self-care when managing decline in cognition in the older person with delirium and/or dementia.
- Demonstrate knowledge and application of safe supply and administration of non-parenteral medication.
Content in this unit incorporates a number of professional nursing requirements
Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia decision-making framework (DMF) - nursing
Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia Registered Nurse Standards for Practice
Thinks critically and analyses nursing practice
Engages in therapeutic and professional relationships
Maintains the capability for practice
Comprehensively conducts assessments
Develops a plan for nursing practice
Provides safe, appropriate and responsive quality nursing practice
Evaluates outcomes to inform nursing practice
Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia Nursing Code of Conduct
Legal compliance
Person-centred practice
Cultural practice and respectful relationships
Professional behaviour
Research in health
Health and wellbeing
International Council of Nursing Code of Ethics for Nursing
Nurses and People
Nurses and Practice
Nurses and the Profession
Nurses and co-workers
National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards
Clinical governance
Partnering with consumers
Preventing and Controlling healthcare-associated infection
Medication safety
Comprehensive care
Communicating for safety
Recognising and responding to acute deterioration
Patient Safety Competency Framework
Person-centred care
Therapeutic communication
Cultural competence
Teamwork and collaborative practice
Clinical reasoning
Evidence-based practice
Preventing, minimising and responding to adverse events
Infection prevention and control
Medication safety
Aged Care Quality Standards
Consumer dignity and choice
Ongoing assessment and planning with consumers
Personal care and clinical care
Services and supports for daily living
Organisation’s service environment
Feedback and complaints
Human resources
Organisation governance
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - In-class Test(s) | • | • | |||
| 2 - Professional Practice Placement | • | • | • | • | • |
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Communication | • | • | • | • | • |
| 2 - Problem Solving | • | • | |||
| 3 - Critical Thinking | • | • | • | ||
| 4 - Information Literacy | • | ||||
| 5 - Team Work | • | ||||
| 6 - Information Technology Competence | • | ||||
| 7 - Cross Cultural Competence | • | ||||
| 8 - Ethical practice | • | • | • | ||
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10 | |