The Skills for Registration module is a Year 2, 20 credit module of the mental health nursing with registered nurse status (MSc) programme, delivered across semester 1 and will provide students with the knowledge and skills to undertake nursing procedures effectively to provide compassionate, evidence-based person-centred nursing care. The module aligns with the expectations outlined by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), the professional regulator for nurses, midwives and nursing associates in the UK. The NMC set standards of education, training, conduct and performance to ensure that nurses are educated to a high standard in order to deliver safe and effective care at the point of entry to the professional register (NMC, 2018). Available at https://www.nmc.org.uk/standards/code/
Students will benefit from practice-based placements across the Cheshire and Mersey region, including Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust, whose placement portfolio includes Acute, Forensic (high, medium and low secure), Psychiatric Intensive Care (PICU) and Child and Young People’s Mental Health Services (CYPMHS). The first practice placement learning opportunity, Practice Placement 3, forms part of this module. This is a 10-week placement facilitated during Part 2 of the programme. Students will be supported in clinical practice by their Practice Supervisor, Practice Assessor and their University of Liverpool Academic Assessor.
The theory and skills taught in this module will develop the student’s proficiency in holistic safe practice. This knowledge will help students to assess patient needs and plan their care. It will also help students to provide and evaluate care, and work towards leadership and coordination of care utilising a holistic approach.
Learning and teaching will be delivered via synchronous and asynchronous sessions, engaging a mix of online and classroom-based activities which encourage both critical reflection and examination of nursing practice. The acquired knowledge and skills will then be consolidated during the ten-week practice placement. In order to set the context for this module, pre-registration mental Health Nursing with Registered Status, users of the service are invited to partake in teaching, simulation and assessment to ensure the authentic alignment of theory to practice. The total theory hours for this module will be no less than 200 hours.
The assessments for this module will take the form of a practical exam and submission of a written assignment. Both assessments are completed at university. As part of the module the students must also undertake a numeracy package and an exam. Students must also successfully complete their Practice Assessment Document (PAD) and Ongoing Achievement Record (OAR) which constitute assessment around clinical skill acquisition and deployment which are facilitated during the practice placement opportunity.