Course Catalogue

Nursing and Advanced Practice

1.To prepare health care professionals to prescribe, safely, appropriately and cost-effectively as independent and/or supplementary prescribers, in accordance with both legal and the professional requirements of relevant professional bodies (NMC, HCPC, RPS).

2. To address the specialist educational needs of nurses, and allied health professionals working within specialist areas and with specific client groups.

3. To prepare health care professionals to exercise advanced clinical reasoning, critical thinking and creative problem solving with regard to the unique challenges associated with medicines management among infants, children and young people, the elderly and other specific client groups.

Outline Syllabus:

• Clinical Pharmacology including the Effects of Co-morbidity. Pharmacology including pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics. Anatomy and physiology as applied to prescribing practice including the unique anatomical and physiological differences across the lifespan. Basic principles of drugs to be prescribed – absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion including adverse drug reactions (ADR), interactions and reactions. Impact of physiological state in, for example the elderly, young, pregnant or breast feeding women, on drug responses and safety.
• Issues in administration: vehicles, formulations, taste, routes, concordance, excipient use, etc. Pharmacology mathematics. Error prevention and sources of medicines information. Consultation, Decision-Making and Therapy including Referral
• Models of consultation. Accurate assessment, communication and consultation with patients and their carers. Concepts of working diagnosis or best formulation. Development of a management plan. Confirmation of diagnosis – further examination, investigation, referral for diagnosis. Prescribe, not to prescribe, non-drug treatment or referral for treatment. Influences on and Psychology of Prescribing
• Patient demand versus patient need. External influences, for example companies/colleagues. Patient partnership in medicine-taking including awareness of cultural and ethnic needs.
• Conformance – normalisation of professional prescribing behaviour.
• Achieving shared understanding and negotiating a plan of action. Prescribing in a Team Context
• National and local guidelines, protocols, policies, decision support systems and formulae (rationale, adherence to and deviation from). Understand the role and functions of other team members.Documentation, with particular reference to communication between team members including electronic prescribing.
• Auditing, monitoring and evaluating prescribing practice.
• Interface between multiple prescribers and the management of potential conflict.
• Budget/cost effectiveness (including prescription charges, exemptions, components of cost to the NHS/ dispensing fees).
• Issues relating to the ethics of dispensing.
• Evidence-based Practice and Clinical Governance in relation to Non-Medical Prescribing
• National and local guidelines, protocols, policies, decision support systems and formulae-rationale, adherence to and deviation from.
• Continuing professional development – role of self and organisation.
• Management of change.
• Risk assessment and risk management, including safe storage, handling and disposal.
• Clinical supervision. Reflective practice. Critical appraisal skills.
• Auditing and systems monitoring. Identifying and reporting ADRs and near misses. Legal, Policy and Ethical Aspect. Legal basis, liability and indemnity. Legal implications of advice to self-medicate including the use of complementary therapy and “over the counter” (OTC) medicines.
• Safe keeping of prescription pads, action if lost, writing prescriptions and record keeping. Awareness and reporting of fraud. Drug licensing. Yellow card reporting to the Commission on Human Medicines.
• Prescribing in the policy context. Manufacturers’ guidance relating to literature, licensing and “off-label” (including the special considerations with regard to off-label and unlicensed drug use in children.
• Ethical basis of intervention. Informed consent, with particular reference to client groups in learning disability, mental health, children, the critically ill and emergency situations.
• The ethical, documentation, legal and accountability issues related to the prescribing of botulinum toxin and related products Professional Accountability and Responsibility
• NMC & HCPC standards for Professional Practice. Accountability and responsibility for assessment, diagnosis and prescribing. Maintaining professional knowledge and competence in respect of prescribing.

Module Overview:
Aimed at healthcare professionals, this module allows you to prescribe, safely, appropriately and cost-effectively as independent and/or supplementary prescribers, in accordance with both legal and the professional requirements of relevant professional bodies (NMC, HPC, RPSGB). It:

• gives you knowledge to address the specialist educational needs of nurses, pharmacists and allied health professionals working within specialist areas and with specific client groups
• prepares you to exercise advanced clinical reasoning, critical thinking and creative problem solving with regard to the unique challenges associated with medicines management among infants, children and young people, the elderly and other specific client groups

*Please Note: Students who wish to undertake V300 Independent and Supplementary Non-Medical Prescribing (NMP), as part of the PgDip Specialist Community Practitioner Children's Nursing programme, must have at least one year post registration experience. Students wishing to undertake this module must also be deemed competent by, and obtain permission and support from their employer. All students who wish to undertake V300 Non-Medical Prescribing will have to complete an additional 'North West Non-Medical Prescribing Application form' which will be approved by the prescribing programme team prior to commencement on the NMP programme.

Additional Information:
In addition to the graded assessments list above, competency will also be assessed in the following ways, all of which will be recorded as PASS or FAIL only: i. Numeracy exam (Part B of the formal exam) – a pass threshold of 100% must be achieved ii. Objective Structured Clinical Exam (OSCE) iii. Clinical Assessment Document iv. Law exam – a pass threshold of 50% must be achieved’ The Lecture hours include 1 hour for the Law exam and 1 hour for the OSCE.

Minimum Pass Mark (%): 50 – all assessment elements must be passed individually to pass the overall module.

Language of Programme All LJMU programmes delivered and assessed in English The programme has been benchmarked against the following documents: Part 1: Standards framework for nursing and midwifery education, Part 2: Standards for student supervision and assessment, Part 3: Standards for prescribing Programmes. (NMC 2018) Standards for Prescribing (HCPC 2019). A Competency Framework for all Prescribers (RPS 2016) Programme accredited by Nursing and Midwifery Council and Health Care Professions Council Validated target and alternative exit awards Continuing Professional Development - Independent and Supplementary Prescribing.

NMC registrants must be registered within five years of successfully completing the programme and if they fail to do so they will have to retake and successfully complete the programme in order to qualify and register their award as a prescriber External Quality Benchmarks All programmes leading to LJMU awards have been designed and approved in accordance with the UK Quality Code for Higher Education, including the Framework for Higher Education Qualifications in the UK (FHEQ) and subject benchmark statements where applicable. The University is subject to periodic review of its quality and standards by the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) Published review reports are available on the QAA website at www.qaa.ac.uk Programmes which are professionally accredited are reviewed by professional, statutory and regulatory bodies (PSRBs) and such programmes must meet the competencies/standards of those PSRBs.

Criteria for admission Minimum Academic Entry Requirement: A first Degree must normally be in a Health related area. Non-graduates may, in exceptional circumstances, gain entry to the programme by virtue of a strong portfolio which provides evidence of significant achievement. These must meet the following criteria: Have a Diploma of Higher Education in a related area (e.g. nursing or public health) and written work equivalent to the standard of a First Degree, for example: papers presented at conferences, publications, reports and innovative proposals, successful project management experience.

Professional Requirements: NMC registrants: registered nurse (Level 1), midwife or SCPHN, registered with the NMC for a minimum of one year prior to applying for entry to the programme, normally one years’ relevant experience in the clinical field in which they are intending to prescribe. HCPC registrants: eligibility to prescribe, three years’ relevant post-qualification experience in the clinical area in which they are intending to prescribe, working at advanced practitioner or equivalent level.

Recruitment: A coordinated approach to recruitment is established between the local NHS organisations and Liverpool John Moores University. Confirmation of satisfactory references and DBS check are also required. Completion of NWNMPEG application form. The prescribing courses are available to practitioners working in both the NHS and independent sector. You must meet NMC or HCPC entry criteria alongside any specific entry requirements set by your employer