Program Overview

Course Overview

The PgC - Critical and/or Acute Care: Practice Development course is designed for healthcare professionals who are passionate about the deteriorating patient or the assessment and management of the critically ill adult. The course supports self-development while meeting the demands of the services in which you practice and national standards.

Key Details

• Recruiting to: UK / RoI / Settled in UK
• Course Location: Online
• Institute: Institute of Health
• Delivery Style: Blended Learning
• Course Duration: Part-time: 2 Years
• Course Start Point: January, September
• Award: PgC
• Open Days: All

Minimum Entry Requirements

• Applicants must have at least 6 months experience in an acute health care setting.

Tuition Fees

• Variable - UK
• Please visit the university website for the most up-to-date information on CPD fees

Course Structure

What You Will Learn

Within your chosen pathway, you will develop your knowledge and understanding to support competent practice in patient assessment, monitoring, and management. The course explores the initial effects of acute deterioration and critical illness on body systems, exploring altered pathophysiology, while providing a degree of flexibility for you to meet their own learning needs and interests.

Modules

According to your work environment, you will be advised to follow a specific pathway that will best suit your learning, experience, and expected achievement. The pathways contain different modules to best suit the knowledge and understanding required according to your clinical environment.

Pathway Modules

• Acute Care Pathway
  • Foundations for Practice
  • Acute Care Contemporary Issues
  • Optional module chosen from the CPD programme
• Critical Care Pathway
  • Core Assessment and Monitoring of the Critically Ill Adult
  • Critical Care: Contemporary Issues
  • Work-based learning module

Teaching & Assessment

How You Will Learn

You will learn through multiple methods of teaching, experiences, and the use of available resources to support independent learning. Within your workplace, you will require a Practice supervisor (mentor) and a practice assessor to support application of theory to practice and sign off your agreed competencies to support the end assessment.

How You Will Be Assessed

The process of assessment is clear and transparent across both pathways, using rubric marking grids to support the student in understanding the distribution of their grades. The process is moderated by secondary marking and external examiner review, before being processed and confirmed by the University Assessment Board.

Overview

Evidence of previous academic study is required. For PG Cert, evidence of prior degree is required.

Selection Criteria

• Students wishing to study this course must be working 0.5 or more WTE in a critical care or acute care environment as a registered health care professional.
• For the Critical Care Pathway, the student must have completed their Step 1 competencies in clinical practice, limiting the applicants to registered nurses only.
• All students require the support of their employer, a named mentor/clinical supervisor/assessor in practice.

Start Dates

• Critical Care Pathway: January
• Acute Care Pathway: September

Fees & Funding

Tuition Fees

• 2025 - 2026: Variable - UK
• Please visit the university website for the most up-to-date information on CPD fees

Funding

• The Critical Care Pathway is currently funded by Health Education England for nurses with settled status, working in critical care environments in England.
• Health Education England is not available for the Acute Care Pathway.

Additional Costs

• There will be some additional costs associated with the course, including stationery, textbooks, field trips, and membership fees, although some of these features are optional.