The Leading in Mental Health Nursing 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, skills, understanding and enactment of leadership, and the values and responsibilities of all nurses within the profession to reflect upon the demands of professional practice and recognise vulnerability in themselves and others. 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 practice placement learning opportunity, Practice Placement 6, forms part of this module. This is a 12-week placement facilitated during Part 3 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 introduce students to the professional context of leadership within mental health nursing, with reference to relevant current policy. Leadership styles and skills including models of leadership, gender issues, motivation, developing effective communication, awareness and critical analysis of current health and social care leadership literature will be explored. The concept of complex healthcare needs in care-planning and delivery, and appropriate interventions / referrals will be explored including common complexities and specialisms (e.g. Alzheimer’s Disease, Children and Young Person’s Mental Health Services (CYPMHS), Secure Services and Trauma-Informed Care).
The theory and skills taught in this module will help students to extend their understanding of risk management and aversion, legislation, national frameworks and health policies which relate to national collaboratives and partnerships. It will also help students to confidently take leadership and management decisions in measuring, evaluating and managing risk, vulnerability and patient safety. Learners will demonstrate consistent application of partnership-working in nursing care, and shared assessment, decision-making and goal setting when working with people, their families, communities and populations of all ages.
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 leadership and management in nursing practice. The acquired knowledge and skills will then be consolidated during the twelve-week practice placement. In order to set the context for this module within the Mental Health Nursing with Registered Nurse Status MSc Programme, 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 assessment for this module will be the submission of a written assignment, and successful completion of their Practice Assessment Document (PAD) and Ongoing Achievement Record (OAR) which constitute assessment around clinical skills during the practice placement.