Children's Nursing

Our child nursing programme combines theory and practice to consolidate your knowledge and clinical skills in acute, chronic and complex care of children and young people.

Our dynamic and NMC-accredited curriculum ensures you will qualify with knowledge and skills to deliver safe and effective care, which is responsive to the changing climate in children and young people’s nursing.

It will develop your understanding of contemporary issues in children’s nursing and the importance of a family-centred approach to assess, plan, implement and evaluate safe and effective care.

Children’s nurses play an integral role in acute and community healthcare settings. As such, we work closely with our practice partners to offer a breadth and depth of placements throughout the programme. You can explore opportunities in specialised areas, such as Primary Care, palliative care, Teenage Cancer Trust Unit, neonatal units, children’s intensive care, and at one of the world's busiest ECMO centres with one of the only remaining Diana Children's Nursing Teams in the UK.

Placements are typically provided across the East Midlands, in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland and sometimes in surrounding counties. In your placement, you will work alongside practice supervisors and practice assessors to learn the practical application of nursing relevant to your chosen field.

This course is structured through Inter-Professional (IP) learning. Allowing you to collaborate with other allied healthcare students and professionals and gain a wider understand of issues and debates in the sector.

We encourage you to challenge yourself, completing a variety of assessments to demonstrate theoretical knowledge and practical skills. You will develop expert communication skills, an understanding of cognitive development and how this influence both childhood perception of illness and care delivery. During the course, students also have access to updated facilities, utilising simulation suites, Virtual Reality technology, and LearningSpace software.

You will share learning opportunities with students from the other fields of nursing practice but an also engage in field of practice specific learning opportunities throughout the programme, to ensure that you develop your identity, knowledge and skills within the child nursing field of practice.

Key features

• Study in our newly renovated facilities which comprise of simulated clinical settings and the latest teaching technology allowing you to practice your nursing skills in a safe and supportive environment.

• Our strong links with local NHS trusts, private healthcare providers and charity organisations allow our students to gain practical experience in a range of placement settings throughout all three years of the course.

• DMU students can gain valuable international experience as part of their studies with the DMU Global programme.

Uniform policy

All students will be required to adhere to a uniform policy when in practice, in which they must be bare below the elbow. This is non-negotiable as it is an infection prevention requirement to safeguard the health and safety of all students and service users.

Year One. In first year, you will engage in 917 hours of theory and 720 hours of practice (56% theory and 44% practice). Practice experience 1 Foundations of Anatomy, Physiology and Pharmacology in Nursing Influences on Wellbeing Foundations of Field of Practice Year Two: In the second year, you will engage in 848 hours of theory and 840 hours of practice (50% theory and 50% practice). Practice experience 2 Research and Evidence Based Practice Primary Care Acute Care Year Three: In the third year, you will engage in 769 hours of theory and 920 hours of practice (45.5% theory and 54.5% practice). Practice experience 3 Critical Inquiry and Research proposal Leadership and Service Improvement Managing Complexities in Nursing Practice.

Learning is supported by a strong system of personal tutors, teaching teams, academic assessors, practice work placements and enthusiastic practice supervisors and assessors. Teaching methods include: Lectures (face to face and online) Seminars Webinars Workshops Presentations Tutorials Simulation activities Clinical skills learning Enquiry-based problem solving Independent e-learning Peer learning sets You will complete blocks of clinical placements 40 hours per week and blocks comprised of theory and independent learning hours up to an equivalent of 37.5 hours each week. Students in practice placements are allocated an academic assessor, practice supervisors and practice assessors to help develop and support learning in the practice context. Assessments Assessments fall at the end of each block and are used to assess your theory and practice knowledge. We use a variety of methods that are designed to support you with developing skills vital to a career in nursing. These include: Examinations – demonstrating resilience and working under pressure Presentations and Vivas – developing verbal communication skills and the ability to effective communicate complex material Essays – building strong written skills to support with communicating complex nursing information Reflective practice – develop skills to engage with written reflection as required by the NMC.