Postgraduate Credit Health Assessment for Advanced Clinical Practice

The advanced health assessment module is designed for suitably qualified and practising healthcare professionals who are preparing for advanced clinical practice.

The advanced health assessment module is designed for suitably qualified and practising healthcare professionals who are preparing for advanced clinical practice.

Student support

General University support:

The University Library is the key source of academic information for students. The Library provides access to a wide range of online information sources, including e-books, e-journals and subject databases as well as printed material. Study spaces are available in each of our libraries, including social, quiet and silent areas. In addition to our day to day ‘on campus’ support, please use our 24/7 online chat service Library Assist.

The University Library also provides students with academic skills support via the Skills for Learning programme. Students can attend workshops or ask for one-to-one help with topics such as academic writing and referencing. This support is available both on campus and online from Skills for Learning.

Course Specific Support

Module Lead – will provide academic and pastoral support for the duration of the module.

You will be able to demonstrate advanced understanding and application of consultation skills and assessment frameworks when conducting a comprehensive history-taking and complex health assessment.

Demonstrate the breadth of knowledge, skills and behaviours required as an advanced clinical practitioner when undertaking a physical examination applying the principles of inspection, palpation, percussion and auscultation across the major body systems.

Using a systematic approach demonstrates the ability to distinguish, articulate and justify from the available data any normal and abnormal findings within the assessment to make a professional autonomous clinical decision when formulating a collaborative plan of care.

Demonstrate competency and understanding as an advanced clinical practitioner in assessing undifferentiated conditions and formulating management plans for presentations within clinical practice under the supervision of the clinical supervisor.

Course learning outcomes

Please see: Appendix 1 – Course Learning Outcomes & Module Mapping#

Overview of assessment

Please see: Appendix 1 – Course Learning Outcomes & Module Mapping

Teaching, learning and assessment

This module is designed to support the development of advanced clinical assessment capabilities through a combination of taught sessions, practical skills development, independent study and supervised clinical practice learning. Learning and teaching strategies include interactive lectures, clinical skills demonstrations, guided practice of physical examination techniques, case-based learning, group discussion, and directed self-managed study supported through Canvas resources.

A key component of the module is the integration of supervised clinical practice learning, which enables students to apply and consolidate the knowledge, skills and behaviours developed during taught sessions within their own clinical environment. Students are expected to undertake regular supervised clinical practice throughout the module and maintain a Clinical Practice Assessment Document (CPaD) and reflective learning journal to evidence their ongoing development.

To achieve the practice-based learning outcomes, students must have access to a suitable clinical environment that provides exposure to a range of patient presentations, including patients with undifferentiated, undiagnosed and long-term conditions. Examples may include primary care, urgent treatment centres, emergency departments, walk-in centres or other appropriate clinical settings. Students are required to identify a suitably qualified clinical supervisor who will support, assess and verify their development within practice. Clinical supervisors must have appropriate expertise in the assessment and management of clinical presentations and experience of clinical supervision. This would typically include an Advanced Clinical Practitioner, General Practitioner or Consultant. Where necessary, students may undertake additional placement experiences in alternative clinical settings to ensure sufficient exposure to relevant patient presentations and opportunities to achieve the required competencies.

The module learning outcomes are structured around four interrelated domains of advanced clinical practice development:

LO1: Demonstrate advanced understanding and application of consultation skills and assessment frameworks when undertaking comprehensive history-taking and complex health assessment.

LO2: Demonstrate the knowledge, skills and professional behaviours required to undertake systematic physical examination using inspection, palpation, percussion and auscultation across the major body systems.

LO3: Apply a systematic clinical reasoning approach to interpret assessment findings, distinguish between normal and abnormal presentations, justify clinical decisions and formulate collaborative plans of care.

LO4: Demonstrate competence in the assessment and management of undifferentiated presentations within clinical practice, developing management plans under the supervision of an appropriately qualified clinical supervisor.

Assessment is designed to evaluate both simulated and real-world application of advanced clinical assessment skills. Students must successfully complete both assessment components:

• Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) – Students will undertake a comprehensive patient assessment, including history-taking, physical examination and documentation of findings. This assessment evaluates achievement of Learning Outcomes 1 and 2.

• Clinical Practice Assessment Document (CPaD) – Students must demonstrate and evidence a range of comprehensive advanced clinical assessments undertaken in practice across multiple body systems. The portfolio must include verification of a minimum of 60 hours of supervised clinical practice learning and achievement of the required performance outcomes. This assessment evaluates Learning Outcomes 2, 3 and 4.

Students must achieve a pass in both the OSCE and the Clinical Practice Assessment Document to successfully complete the module.

Postgraduate Loyalty Discount:

You can get 20% discount on a taught postgraduate course if you’re a University of Wolverhampton Graduate.

The University offers a generous 20% Loyalty Discount to students progressing from an undergraduate programme to a taught postgraduate on-site programme, where both courses are University of Wolverhampton Awards.

There is no time limit on how long ago you completed your degree as long as this is your first Masters level qualification.

The discount applies to the first year of enrolment only. Students who receive a loyalty discount are not entitled to any further tuition discount or bursary. For full terms and conditions click here.

Self-funded:

If you are paying for the fees yourself then the fees can be paid in 3 instalments: November, January and April. More information can be found by clicking here.

Sponsored - Your employer, embassy or organisation can pay for your Tuition fees:

Your employer, embassy or organisation agrees to pay all or part of your tuition fees; the University will refer to them as your sponsor and will invoice them for the appropriate amount.

We must receive notification of sponsorship in writing as soon as possible, and before enrolment, confirming that the sponsor will pay your tuition fees.

Financial Hardship:

Students can apply to the Dennis Turner Opportunity Fund for help with course related costs however this cannot be used for fees or to cover general living costs.

Charitable Funding:

You might also want to explore the possibility of funding from charitable trusts. Please contact Association of Charitable Foundations, Directory of Social Change or Family Aid. Most charities and trust funds offer limited bursaries targeted to specific groups of students so you will need to research whether any of them are relevant to your situation.

You can find more information on the University’s Funding, cost, fee and support pages.

Telephone

01902 32 22 22

Email

enquiries@wlv.ac.uk

Online

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