MBARN5100 Paediatric Nursing Course description

In this course, the students are expected to acquire advanced knowledge of paediatric nursing of premature children, children with congenital malformations, children with chronic diseases, and acutely and/or critically ill children, all of whom are in a vulnerable, critical and potentially life-threatening situation. The paediatric nurse's area of responsibility also includes the children's caregivers and siblings. This knowledge is intended to form the basis for the students being able to perform different medically prescribed and technical procedures, while at the same time paying attention to the general and special needs of the patient and caregivers and their experiences and reactions to illness, treatment and the high-tech environment. The knowledge will enable the students to act quickly and in an ethically and professionally sound manner in an emergency.

Moreover, they are expected to develop in-depth knowledge of relevant research and quality-related work (professional development, quality assurance or quality control work) in the field of paediatric nursing, and thereby understand the importance of research and quality-related work in paediatric nursing. This is intended to enable the students to document, develop the quality of and quality-assure paediatric 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 paediatric 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 paediatric nurse's functions and areas of responsibility
• has in-depth knowledge of distinctive features of children's fundamental needs
• has advanced knowledge of the development and psychosocial needs of children
• has in-depth knowledge of interaction with children and parent-child attachment
• has in-depth knowledge of quality work, including methods for quality improvement and quality control
• has in-depth knowledge of children's experiences, reactions and needs in connection with acute, critical or chronic illness, in a multicultural perspective
• has in-depth knowledge about the experiences, reactions and needs of parents and siblings when a child is acutely, critically or chronically ill, in a multicultural perspective
• has in-depth knowledge of the rights of children and parents in health institutions
• has in-depth knowledge of palliative care and caring for children and their families when children die
• has knowledge of nursing ethics and different ethical guidelines
• is capable of analysing problems relating to paediatric nursing 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 theories on health, quality of life, stress and coping as they apply to children, parents and siblings
• is capable of analysing and taking a critical approach to theories on children’s development, interaction and attachment
• is capable of analysing and taking a critical approach to theories on communicating with children and their caregivers
• is capable of analysing and taking a critical approach to theories wholly or partly compensatory nursing in the event of serious self-care deficits in relation to a child's fundamental needs
• is capable of analysing and taking a critical approach to different sources of information and of using them to structure and formulate paediatric nursing argumentation
• is capable of using relevant methods for research and quality-related work in an independent manner in the field of paediatric nursing

Competence

The student

• is capable of analysing relevant ethical issues in paediatric nursing based on discipline knowledge, research, experience and patient knowledge
• is capable of communicating in writing about issues, analyses and conclusions in the field of paediatric nursing
• is capable of contributing to new ideas and innovation processes in professional practice

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 paediatric nurse’s function and responsibility for caring for acutely and/or critically ill children.
  • The students prepare their own research questions.
  • Carried out in groups of 3-5 students.
  • Scope: 3,000 words (+/- 20 %).
  • The syllabus selected by the students must be used in the assignment.
  • The assignment must be written in accordance with the section Assessment of written work in the Assessment chapter of the programme description.
  • The students receive written feedback from the lecturer.

• The paediatric nurse’s function and responsibility for meeting the fundamental needs of premature children.
  • The students prepare their own research questions based on a patient situation with a child who has a gestational age of < 28 weeks.
  • Individual assignment.
  • Scope: 3,000 words (+/- 20 %).
  • The syllabus selected by the students must be used in the assignment.
  • 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 receive written feedback from fellow students and oral feedback from the lecturer.

• Attendance in compulsory activities
  • Group work
  • Seminars

A written in-depth assignment, written individually or in groups of up to three students. The assignment shall consist of a project outline for a piece of quality or research work. The project outline shall be based on a literature review and must be written in accordance with the section Assessment of written work in chapter 10 Assessment 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%).

Approved by the Doctoral Committee 24 May 2018.

This PhD course is open for candidates at the PhD Program in Educational Sciences for Teacher Education, other PhD candidates and academic employees.

Language: English (and Norwegian, dependent on the language of participants).

This course is one of two PhD courses on Action Research. Course 2 builds on Course 1. In this second course, epistemological, methodological and ethical perspectives on action research will be presented, discussed and related to examples of research projects. Reflections on connections between epistemological conceptual frameworks and practical choices in educational action research are emphasized.

Completed Course 1, or that candidates / students can document competence equivalent to Course 1. In such cases, the student must apply for approval from the head of the program.

On completion of the course, the candidate will have achieved the following learning outcomes:

Knowledge

The candidate

• has in-depth knowledge of epistemological and methodological perspectives on Action Research projects
• has in-depth knowledge of the role of the researcher in action research projects

Skills

The candidate:

• has gained methodological competence in understanding and engaging in Action Research at a sufficiently high level to develop knowledge in his/her field of study.
• can give academically competent written presentations of a relevant topic within action research

General competence

The candidate:

• can identify and establish constructive connections between theories, empirical data, and practices based on developed methodological competence in Action Research
• has sufficient ethical competence to identify relevant ethical challenges in his/her research process.

Students are expected to read the syllabus before the course to be able to participate actively in discussions.