Community Health Studies (SPQ)

This part-time course is for registered nurses wishing to pursue a career in community nursing. It leads to a postgraduate diploma in Community Health Studies, a recordable specialist practitioner qualification with the Nursing & Midwifery Council (NMC) in district nursing.

The course aims to:

• Develop a critical awareness and understanding of discipline specific knowledge, informed by current practice and scholarship.
• Judiciously apply the evidence-base to clinical situations that are complex and justify decisions to the inter-professional team.
• Develop discipline specific competencies to Masters practice level demonstrating self-direction and the ability to act autonomously in the management of patient care, within the scope of professional practice.

The Postgraduate Diploma course consists of three core generic modules and one core specialist module equating to at least 600 hours of student engagement. The focus of learning and teaching is to link theory with practice and therefore the modules are split into 50% theory and 50% practice. The theory covered during the modules aims to prepare you for the supervised clinical practice you will be undertaking during the course.

For the practice element of the course, you will work alongside a practice teacher or sign-off mentor. A total of 600 hours in practice must be achieved during the programme.

You must have the agreement of your employer to release you for the necessary theory and practice hours.