The first year of the Adult Nursing course is designed to develop your understanding of holistic healthcare and nursing practice with people across the lifespan in each of the fields of practice. You will share learning with students from all fields of practice and undertake placements and simulated practice experience with children, adults and the elderly. As well as examining these areas through study and simulated practical skills, you will gain invaluable practical experience by completing a number of placements which expose you to different populations and fields of nursing practice.

You'll study the principles of nursing practice and nursing skills underpinned by relevant biological, pharmacological, psychological and social sciences and will gain an appreciation of the health and social needs of people and their families. Core clinical skills will be covered and your academic and digital skills will be developed in order to gain an understanding of professional practice. The generic nature of our first year means that it might be possible to swich fields of practice before progressing to your second year, although this is subject to availability of places.

Essential Nursing Care - 40 credits
Principles of Nursing - 40 credits
Health and Wellbeing - 40 credits
Modules in the second year
You will develop your clinical nursing, communication, health promotion and managerial knowledge and skills further including studying modules specific to the adult nursing field of practice. These will build on the biological, pharmacological, and psychological and social sciences knowledge gained in the first year in relation to therapeutic nursing and practice. There are also further core modules shared between all students that will develop your knowledge in health communication and promotion and clinical decision making including the study of research, management and evidence-based practice. Field specific clinical placements may be spent in hospital and community settings in your second year.

At the end of the second year you also have the opportunity to undertake an elective/civic engagement experience, either overseas or in the United Kingdom (UK). In the UK electives can be arranged in hospices, prisons and other specialist units. These may include citizenship experience such as voluntary contribution to an organisation as part of your professional development. International electives can be in health care settings in any continent of the world. Examples of countries where students have visited recently include Australia, Sri Lanka, The Philippines, Thailand, Tanzania, Greece, Canada and the USA.

The elective, whether in the UK or Internationally, enables you to experience differences in culture and environment, develops your leadership and independence, and may also enable you to gain exposure to an alternative nursing career, clinical practice environment, healthcare system and/or language. The experience will benefit you as a Registered Nurse and future nursing leader and allows you to inform a personal area of interest related to your future career and nursing practice. It also gives you the opportunity to further develop your self-confidence and organisational skills, through arranging your own elective experience with the support and guidance of academic staff.

Core modules
Promoting Health and Self-Management - 20 credits
Clinical Decision Making - 30 credits
Therapeutic Nursing in Adult Care - 40 credits
Evaluating Nursing Care in Adults - 30 credits
Modules in the third year
The final year of your BNurs Adult Nursing course will prepare you for your transition from student nurse to a registered nurse. This year is made up of three modules and practice placements, two modules are shared with other nursing field students and will focus on your leadership and management development as well as your research and use of evidence. You will study a field specific module, relevant to adult nursing, that integrates and builds on prior learning from year one and two. This will develop your ability to undertake in-depth assessment, diagnosis and related clinical decision making in your field of practice, for patients requiring complex nursing care.

Medicines management and future readiness to undertake a postgraduate prescribing programme will form part of this module and will facilitate final completion of the complete range of communication skills and nursing procedures required by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (2018).

Adult Nursing clinical placements may be in hospital and/or community settings and it may be possible to select a placement for your final management experience in line with your first employment as a registered nurse.

Core modules
Leading and Managing Nursing in Practice - 40 credits
Research Methods - 40 credits
Assessment, Diagnostics and Decision Making in Complex Nursing Care - 40 credits
Please visit our Programmes and Modules Handbook for further details.

Please note: The modules listed on the website for this programme are regularly reviewed to ensure they are up-to-date and informed by the latest research and teaching methods. Unless indicated otherwise, the modules listed for this programme are for students starting in 2023. On rare occasions, we may need to make unexpected changes to compulsory modules; in this event we will contact offer holders as soon as possible to inform or consult them as appropriate.