Studying our Nursing Associate Practitioner Foundation course will provide you with the specialist knowledge and skills to professionally practice compassionate, safe and effective care to monitor, protect and safeguard people in a range of settings. To equip you with the core clinical skills for nursing associates, you will be given an Introduction to Nursing Associate Interventions where you will develop your confidence in performing a range of interventions and procedures for patient care. In doing so, you will learn to use evidence-based and best practice approaches to consider both the physical and psychological wellbeing of patients. Building on this, you will learn to identify, monitor and provide patient-centred care based on individual needs in our Nursing Associate Interventions and Person-Centred Care unit.  

You will then apply these skills to meet the health needs of patients and carers in our Application of Nursing Associate Theory and Practice unit. Here, you will have the opportunity to develop your skills for person-centred and holistic care for people from diverse backgrounds in workplace settings. This will allow you to be adaptable and flexible to meet the needs of different people through understanding their experiences and journeys through healthcare in our Integration of Nursing Associate Theory and Practice unit. With a focus on patient safety, you will examine the delivery and coordination of care as well as the healthcare policies and legislation that influence this. In addition, you will also develop the ability to safely administer medicines and educate others about the pharmacological aspects of care.  

Combined with other components including life sciences, psychology and sociology present in our Understanding Health for Healthcare Practitioners unit, you will examine the structure and functions of a healthy body and mind to better understand people and the determinants of health and health inequalities. Aside from the clinical skills required of a nursing associate, it is essential that you develop the communication skills and professionalism to work in the field with colleagues and the general public. To help you with this, our unit in Consolidating Nursing Associate Practice will develop your ability to teach, advocate and support the development of the role of the nursing associate in the workplace for patients, carers and the public.   

Shifting the focus from individual healthcare, our unit in Exploring Health and Primary Care Services in the Community will introduce you to principles of community healthcare and nursing associate practice in a primary care environment and how this interacts with other care settings. You will explore social, health and behaviour theory in out-of-hospital environments and analyse policies that influence the areas of community and primary care. This will have implications in your study of our unit in Public Health Principles and Practice for Nursing Associates where you will explore theory and policy around public health, health promotion and the prevention of ill health. With the community approach discussed in the unit above, you will explore the health needs of your chosen community and consider the application of public health principles in this setting.