This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2016 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

NUR5411 - Advanced clinical assessment and diagnostic reasoning

12 points, SCA Band 1, 0.250 EFTSL

Postgraduate - Unit

Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered.

Faculty

Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences

Organisational Unit

School of Nursing and Midwifery

Coordinator(s)

Mr John Thompson

Offered

Clayton

First semester 2016 (Flexible)

Synopsis

This unit will enable students to develop the assessment and diagnostic knowledge and skills required for practice as a Nurse Practitioner. The content focuses on the acquisition and synthesis of information from a variety of sources, including patients' histories, physical examination and diagnostic tests, to differentiate between normal and abnormal findings and identify differential diagnoses. Factors which impact on health assessment will be explored. Skill development will be supported through the provision of adequate and appropriate clinical practice in the context of the workplace setting and students will be expected to work closely with their clinical mentors to achieve this.

Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this unit, students should be able to:

Demonstrate a structured approach to an advanced focused health assessment for each body system.
Perform advanced, comprehensive and holistic health assessment in an area of specialist practice.
Document relevant findings from patient assessment in a succinct and systematic manner.
Analyze the contribution of physical, emotional, psychological, social, and cultural factors to health assessment.
Outline common investigative options relevant to area of specialist practice.
Analyze clinical assessment findings to make decisions about investigative options.
Interpret and analyses results from diagnostic tests in the context of the patient physical assessment.
Synthesize findings from assessment and diagnostic tests to formulate clinical impressions and identify differential diagnoses.
Analyze the role of technology in supporting diagnostic reasoning in the specific clinical context.

Fieldwork

Students must be employed in an advanced practice role and supported in extended clinical practice activities.

Assessment

6 x Focused health assessment: Practical assessments (30 minutes each) (25%)
Clinical health assessment: Oral presentation (equivalent to 2,000 words) (15%)
Written assignment (3,000 words) (30%)
Written examination (2 hours) (30%)

Workload requirements

22 hours per week online activities and self-directed learning. Seven (7) contact days during semester.

Chief examiner(s)

Mr John Thompson

This unit applies to the following area(s) of study

Nursing

Co-requisites

Must be enrolled in course 4513. Master of Nursing students may enrol upon course coordinator approval.