MINT5100 Intensive and Critical Care Nursing Course description

In this course, the students are expected to acquire advanced knowledge of intensive care nursing in relation to acutely and/or critically ill patients in a vulnerable, critical and life-threatening phase. The students should acquire in-depth knowledge of intensive care patients' psychosocial and existential needs and methods for reducing stress and suffering.

Moreover, students are expected to develop in-depth knowledge of relevant research and quality-related work (quality improvement and quality control work) in the field of intensive care nursing, and thereby understand the importance of research and quality-related work in clinical intensive and critical care nursing. This is intended to enable the students to document, develop the quality of and quality-assure intensive care nursing.

The students are expected to develop an awareness of hoe organisational, financial and legal factors influence nursing and the specialist health service and be able to see this in relation to their responsibility to practise intensive care nursing, be a leader in their field and work in a team. This course also covers knowledge of the working environment in a specialist unit and how stress factors in a working environment can be prevented and reduced.

Admission to the programme.

After completing the course, the student is expected to have achieved the following learning outcomes defined in terms of knowledge, skills and competence:

Knowledge

The student

• has advanced knowledge of the intensive care nurse's functions and areas of responsibility
• has in-depth knowledge of the experiences, reactions and needs of patients and next of kin in connection with acute and/or critical illness in an age-related and multicultural perspective
• has knowledge of nursing ethics and different ethical guidelines
• is capable of analysing intensive care nursing problems on the basis of the discipline's history, traditions, distinctive nature and place in society

Skills

The student

• is capable of analysing and taking a critical approach to different sources of information and of using them to structure and formulate intensive care nursing argumentation
• is capable of analysing and taking a critical approach to existing theories and methods in intensive care nursing
• is capable of using relevant methods for research and quality-related work in an independent manner in the field of intensive care nursing

Competence

The student

• is capable of analysing relevant ethical issues in intensive care nursing based on discipline knowledge, research, experience and patient knowledge
• is capable of contributing to new ideas and innovation processes in clinical practice

• Intensive care nursing in a historical perspective.
• Intensive and critical care nursing:
  • Prevention
  • Treatment
  • Pain and stress relief
  • Rehabilitation
  • Palliative care
  • Teaching and guidance
  • Administration and management
  • Research and quality-related work
• Ethical theories.
• Ethical argumentation and decision-making theory.
• Addressing intensive care patients' psychosocial and existential needs.
• Evidence-based intensive care nursing.

Lectures, group work, seminars and self-study.

The following coursework requirements must be met before a student can receive an assessment for the course:

• The intensive care nurse's function and responsibility for preventing and treating delirium
  • Individual assignment.
  • Scope: 3,000 words (+/- 20%).
  • The assignment must be written in accordance with the section Assessment of written work in the Assessment chapter of the programme description.
  • The syllabus selected by the students must be used in the assignment. The students must find at least two relevant research articles and make use of them in the assignment.
  • The students receive written feedback from the lecturer.

• The intensive care nurse's function and responsibility for addressing intensive care patients' nutritional needs
  • Carried out in groups of up to three students.
  • Scope: 3,000 words (+/- 20%).
  • The assignment must be written in accordance with the section Assessment of written work in the Assessment chapter of the programme description.
  • The syllabus selected by the students must be used in the assignment. The students must find at least two relevant research articles and make use of them in the assignment.
  • The students receive oral feedback from fellow students and the lecturer.

• Attendance in compulsory activities
  • Simulation
  • Group work

A written in-depth assignment written individually or in groups of up to three students from the Master's Programme/Advanced Programme in Intensive Care Nursing. The assignment should either comprise a project description for a research work or quality-related work, or a systematic overview of research on a relevant topic.

The project description must be based on a literature review and be written in accordance with the section Assessment of written work in the Assessment chapter of the programme description.

Five weeks are set aside for work on this assignment.

Up to four hours of supervision is provided per assignment. Students who fail the assignment are offered two more hours of supervision.

Scope: 5,000 words (+/- 20%). The title of the assignment will be included in the transcript of grades.

All aids are permitted, as long as the rules for source referencing are complied with.

Grade scale A-F. For group exams, all the students in the group are awarded the same grade. Students who are awarded a fail grade (F) are given one opportunity to submit a reworked version of the assignment.

All answer papers are assessed by two examiners, one of whom must be external.

INTEN6100 and MINT5100 overlap 100%.