Master of Nursing (graduate entry) - units of study descriptors

NURS 5001 Nursing Concepts: Bodies & boundaries
NURS 5002 Social Contexts of Health
NURS 5003 Observation in Nursing Practice
NURS 5004 Applied Nursing Practice
NURS 5005 Biomedical Therapies & Nursing
NURS 5006 Illness Experience & Nursing Care
NURS 5007 Mental Health Nursing Practice I
NURS 5008 Care & Nursing Practice I

NURS 6001 Biological Parameters & Nursing Observations
NURS 6002 Maternity, Child & Adolescent Nursing I
NURS 6003 Nursing Care for Chronic Conditions
NURS 6004 Nursing & the Politics of Health Care
NURS 6005 Acute Care & Nursing Practice II
NURS 6006 Mental Health Nursing Practice II
NURS 6007 Community Nursing
NURS 6008 Inquiry & Research in Nursing

NURS 5001 Nursing Concepts: Bodies & boundaries
Mallett Street campus
6 Credit points
Pre-requisites: None
Classes: Lectures, tutorials and independent learning

In this unit of study the concept of embodiment will be used to examine nursing and nurses’ practice, exploring both the physical body and the lived body as experienced and interpreted by the patient and the nurse. This unit is closely related to two other units of study: Observation, Assessment & Nursing and Applied Nursing Practice.
The unit explores the relevant literatures on: how different cultures have evolved social practices to govern the body and its products and functions; and why the study of these is central to successfully and safely providing nursing care for patients. Students will also study the legislative and regulatory frameworks relating to nurses’ professional and legal boundaries and the origins and purposes of these governing frameworks. The ultimate purpose of the unit is the mindful application of the insights gained here to understanding the clinical context of nurses’ care of the physical body and the patient’s experiences of nursing care.

NURS 5002 Social Contexts of Health
Mallett Street campus
6 Credit points
Pre-requisites: None
Classes: Lectures, tutorials and independent learning

All ideas, beliefs and understandings about health and illness are intrinsically connected to particular social and historical contexts. This unit of study explores a range of such ideas and beliefs from different societies and different historical eras. A major component of this unit will be Indigenous health and history, including Indigenous ideas and beliefs about health and illness. The unit also explores established theories about health and illness from western and non-western perspectives. Drawing on these theories the unit critically analyses the relationship between social factors (for example ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status, employment) and patterns of health and illness in contemporary Australia. A focus on contemporary Indigenous Australian health is an important aspect of this unit of study. Current issues related to health and illness in Australia and its region are also explored in this unit.

NURS 5003 Observation in Nursing Practice
Mallett Street campus
6 Credit points
Pre-requisites: None
Classes: Lectures, tutorials, independent learning, clinical visits and clinical placements

This unit of study provides an opportunity to observe and assess approaches to health care such as the biomedical model, the role of preventative and community-based care and complementary and alternative treatments. Observation of specific issues surrounding Indigenous approaches to health care and the increasing aged and chronically ill populations will be explored.
The unit focuses on the roles and relationships among nurses, patients and other health professionals in practice settings. Regular clinical visits, with an experiential and reflective approach to learning, provides opportunities for students to gain insight into the provision and receipt of nursing care across a broad spectrum of nurses’ working environments. Students will learn how to observe for symptom clusters associated with common illnesses and the processes of clinical nursing assessment will be introduced during the clinical visits.

NURS 5004 Applied Nursing Practice
Mallett Street campus
6 Credit points
Pre-requisites: None
Classes: Lectures, tutorials, independent learning, clinical visits and clinical placements
This unit of study builds on the unit, Observation in Nursing Practice, and will further develop the principles of caring, communication and critical thinking within nursing practice. Practices concerning patient hygiene and comfort, specific observations of the body, infection control (including asepsis and standard and additional precautions, and environmental safety) will be studied. Nursing practices, which are designed to assist those experiencing hospitalisation, will be addressed, including: maintenance of fluid status, skin integrity, mobility, the effective levels of pain relief and oxygenation. This knowledge will be extended to incorporate the experience of both patients and nurses when the body fails to function as expected, particularly where surgery is required. There will be regular clinical visits and a period of clinical placement to further develop the knowledge and skills gained in the unit, Observation in Nursing Practice.

NURS 5005 Biomedical Therapies & Nursing
Mallett Street campus
6 Credit points
Pre-requisites: None
Classes: Lectures, tutorials and independent learning

This unit of study builds on knowledge of the cellular and systemic organisation of the human body. A cell-tissue-body environment approach to pathogenesis will be used as a framework to facilitate the exploration of biomedical and pharmacological interventions and their relationship to nursing practices. This approach allows the student to develop an understanding of the applications of various biomedical therapies to disease processes with similar pathogenic derivations. The development of such conceptual schemas provides an understanding and approaches to the evaluation of medical interventions and their outcomes.

NURS 5006 Illness Experience & Nursing Care
Mallett Street campus
6 Credit points
Pre-requisites: None
Classes: Lectures, tutorials and independent learning

The ways in which individual people subjectively experience illness and care, particularly nursing care, is the focus of this unit of study. The unit examines theories of human consciousness, emotionality and embodiment. It addresses the use of qualitative research methodologies, and the findings of key studies, for exploring illness experiences. Many different illness experiences are examined, and attention is drawn to such factors as emotions arising in illness, issues of embodiment, and social attitudes to illness (for instance, stigmatisation of some illnesses). The nurse-patient relationship is critically examined, particularly in relation to emotions arising in this context, nurses’ attitudes towards a range of illnesses, and contemporary models of care. Students are involved in a research project that requires them to draw on theories about qualitative research methodologies.

NURS 5007 Mental Health Nursing Practice I
Mallett Street campus
6 Credit points
Pre-requisites: None
Classes: Lectures, tutorials, independent learning and clinical placements

This unit of study begins with the concept of mental health and illness by adopting the approach that mental health exists on a continuum. It examines a variety of mental health disorders and explores mental health care settings as therapeutic milieu utilising a multi-disciplinary model. Further, this unit of study explores the scope of mental health nursing practice. A particular focus is the systematic analysis and discussion of the therapeutic relationship and the dynamic components of interpersonal processes and the therapeutic use of self. Students will develop capabilities in establishing therapeutic relationships, micro counselling skills, assessment, and intervention skills for working with individuals and families experiencing mental illness. A variety of treatment modalities are explored, as is the scope of mental health nursing practice across diverse age, gender and cultural backgrounds. This unit of study examines the Australian ethico-legal context of mental health nursing, and compares historical developments in nursing to emerging trends in contemporary mental health nursing. This unit prepares the students for an extended mental health clinical placement, in either hospital, community or specialist units. This clinical placement provides opportunities to apply therapeutic interactive nursing capabilities in the mental health care setting as well as developing and consolidating overall nursing skills.

NURS 5008 Acute Care & Nursing Practice I
Mallett Street campus
6 Credit points
Pre-requisites: NURS 5004
Classes: Lectures, tutorials, independent learning and clinical placements

This unit of study will examine the integration of theoretical and clinical components of nursing knowledge to enable the provision of physical care to acutely ill people. Building on the theme of embodiment, the responses of an individual and others to an acute disruption in health will be explored. Using those illnesses commonly found in our community, the experiences of acute illness and how these illnesses impact individuals, families and communities will also be examined. The content of the unit is devoted to the area of medical/surgical nursing and focuses on the themes of disruption to health, the impact of illness, the processes of nursing care and the experience of illness on the individual and their family.

NURS 6001 Biological Parameters & Nursing Observations
Mallett Street campus
6 Credit points
Pre-requisites: None
Classes: Lectures, tutorials and independent learning

Intelligent observation and monitoring of patients' progress characterises that aspect of nursing that has often been referred to as the ‘art of nursing’. Technology enhances, complements, and increases the complexity of nurses' practices in observing and monitoring and can itself become the focus of practice without the development of embodied clinical expertise. This unit of study allows the students to develop an understanding of the scientific basis of nursing observations by establishing links to the physiological concepts that support the methodology used in observation and monitoring of people across the life span in nursing practice; and it also provides a basis for understanding how more sophisticated clinical capabilities, such as pattern recognition, develop with experience and mindful attention to clinical matters. The development of these clinical capabilities is assisted through examining the wider nursing spectrum of knowledge underpinning observation and monitoring in order to facilitate patient care, the development of effective nursing practices, and the generation of nursing knowledge.

NURS 6002 Maternity, Child & Adolescent Nursing I
Mallett Street campus
6 Credit points
Pre-requisites: None
Classes: Lectures, tutorials, independent learning and clinical placements

The family will provide the central organising frame through which conception, normal pregnancy, childbirth, early parenting, childhood and adolescence will be examined within this unit of study. Utilising a developmental life stage approach, issues and current nursing/midwifery research and practice related to preconception, pregnancy, childbirth, care of the newborn through to adolescence will be discussed and analysed.
The great diversity of family structures and life in modern Australia will be addressed to enable students to understand the role of the nurse in assisting families during life transitions such as becoming parents. Normal childhood and adolescent developmental stages will be addressed in order to provide a frame of reference for recognising deviations and the potential for disruption to the health and wellbeing of the individual and their family. Disruptions to health that may require hospitalisation, and the subsequent impact on the individual (newborn, child and/or adolescent) and their family will be examined within the unit of study.

NURS 6003 Nursing Care for Chronic Conditions
Mallett Street campus
6 Credit points
Pre-requisites: None
Classes: Lectures, tutorials, independent learning and clinical placements

This unit of study addresses nursing practices designed to meet the needs of individuals and families who are either living with long-term health conditions or terminal illness. An emphasis is placed on an holistic approach to nursing care in a variety of health care settings. Continuity of care between hospital and community settings is emphasized, using a case management model of care. Upon completion of this unit, students will have acquired an understanding of the nature of chronic illness and the demands these illnesses place on individuals, their families and communities. Students will be able to: (i) identify and describe the most common chronic health conditions experienced by the Australian population, and (ii) assess, plan and implement nursing care for these patients and evaluate the effectiveness of their care. For patients and their families experiencing the terminal phase of an illness, students will be able to provide appropriate symptom management and psychosocial care to ensure a peaceful death. In the case of Indigenous health, students will study the importance of community involvement in care delivery for affected individuals. The unit will involve a period of supervised clinical experience in practice settings where students may experience caring for chronic conditions using a case management approach.

NURS 6004 Nursing & the Politics of Health Care
Mallett Street campus
6 Credit points
Pre-requisites: None
Classes: Lectures, tutorials and independent learning

The organisation and delivery of health care, including nursing care, is always a political matter. In this unit of study students explore the politics of health care in Australia, with particular emphasis on prevailing discourses about health, illness and the provision of care. The Australian health care system is compared with other formal systems of care, particularly in relation to health policy, resource allocation and issues of access and equity. In addition, the recent political history of health care in Australia is explored. The unit also critically analyses contemporary nursing models of care, and the ways in which these are affected by political forces. Finally, current political issues and debates (including those concerning nursing) in Australia and internationally are studied, including the ways in which these are affecting health policy and the delivery of care.

NURS 6005 Acute Care & Nursing Practice II
Mallett Street campus
6 Credit points
Pre-requisites: NURS 5008; NURS 6001
Classes: Lectures, tutorials, independent learning and clinical placements

This unit of study addresses nursing practices and interventions that are designed to meet the needs of seriously or critically ill patients being nursed in high acuity settings of acute hospitals. It builds on the knowledge, capabilities and experiences gained in Acute Care & Nursing Practice I. The unit specifically focuses on high acuity environments, technological possibilities within such environments and their effects on the patient. The unit will examine acute life threatening health care problems, such as, interruption to: circulation; neurological function; respiratory function, and; elimination. Physiological compensatory mechanisms, nursing assessment and specific biomedical and nursing interventions are investigated.

NURS 6006 Mental Health Nursing Practice II
Mallett Street campus
6 Credit points
Pre-requisites: NURS 5007
Classes: Lectures, tutorials, independent learning and clinical placements

This unit extends knowledge and skills introduced in the unit of study, Mental Health Nursing Practice I. The principles of primary health care will be integrated in the development of nursing care for people experiencing identified psychopathologies in acute mental settings, and for individuals experiencing enduring chronic mental illness. The principles of least to most restrictive mental health nursing environments (as per the National Standards of Mental Health Care) will be examined. Issues of more complexity within mental health will be addressed. The effect of dynamic influences such as substance use, and homelessness on the mental health and lifestyle of the individual and family and/or significant others will be considered. Post-traumatic stress in relation to victims of violence, trauma and incarceration will be explored. Students in this unit of study will identify and critique published research as it informs their developing practice and relates to the development of mental health nursing. They will also appraise research development opportunities in mental health by identifying research possibilities for mental health nursing and society.

NURS 6007 Community Nursing
Mallett Street campus
6 Credit points
Pre-requisites: None
Classes: Lectures, tutorials, independent learning and clinical placements

Increasingly complex and chronic health conditions are being managed in the community. This unit of study examines the major concepts and principles of community health nursing including self care, continuity of care, primary health care, health promotion/ illness prevention, community assessment, family assessment, and home care. Approaches to the provision nursing care for people of all ages with acute, chronic or life threatening illness in settings where they live will be critiqued. Particular attention is given to the home visit process; its therapeutic nature, communication skills and safety issues. Epidemiological concepts and methodologies integral to community health nursing are explored. Students undertake a community assessment using a ‘community profile’ approach. This approach will be extended to explore and plan for the health needs of vulnerable groups within the Australian community including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, people living with disability, minority cultural groups and the homeless. Community clinical placements afford students the opportunity to consolidate and integrate theoretical knowledge and community nursing practice.

NURS 6008 Inquiry & Research in Nursing
Mallett Street campus
6 Credit points
Pre-requisites: None
Classes: Lectures, tutorials and independent learning

This unit of study builds on the research roundtable that is studied in previous units. Two key areas are emphasised in this unit: (i) students’ ability to communicate research in nursing practice; and (ii) understanding research approaches that have proved successful for improving nursing practice(s) and patient care. In this unit, students will be required to develop a repertoire appropriate to working in a research-informed manner, identifying areas where research could enhance practice, being skilled in accessing and assessing research relevant to particular clinical issues, and integrating research into their professional practice. Where appropriate, students will participate actively in research projects and all students will learn to present research papers.