Graduate Certificate in Nursing Practice (Rural Critical Care)

This subject provides a foundation for understanding the pathologic basis of disease across the lifespan.

It equips learners with the knowledge and skills required to explain assessment data and prioritise patient care in a specialty area of practice based on scientific principles.

Core pathophysiological concepts covered will include: cellular responses to stress; adaptation, injury and death; acute and chronic inflammation; tissue renewal and repair; infection; neoplasia; haemodynamic, genetic and immune system disorders and genetic predisposition to disease.

Using a case study based approach, learners will be provided with opportunities to apply their knowledge
in one or more of the following specialty areas of nursing practice.

• Paediatrics
• Paediatric Intensive Care
• Neonatal Intensive Care
• Critical Care
• Emergency Care
• Rural Critical Care
• Oncology and Palliative Care
• Cardiorespiratory
• Renal

This subject is designed to provide the foundation for entry into specialty nursing in a rural critical care context. Students will extend their understanding of general to systemic pathology of organ systems for patients across the lifespan who are acutely or critically ill. This knowledge will be applied to the assessment and management of common conditions encountered in rural critical care settings. Students will learn the scientific principles and research evidence underpinning practice. The underpinning
biological basis and evidence based principles behind treatment and symptom management (including pharmacology) of diseases/illnesses commonly treated in the rural critical care context will be described.

This subject is designed to consolidate and extend the integration of theoretical knowledge of rural critical care nursing. It builds on the knowledge learnt in Rural Critical Care Nursing 1 and Applied Pathophysiology extending the student's knowledge with regard to the range of patient's complexity of disease processes, treatments (including pharmacology), symptom management, and subsequent nursing assessments and interventions relevant to individual rural critical care practice settings.
There is a continued emphasis on scientific principles and research evidence underpinning rural critical care practice and further developing beginning skills in problem-solving, critical thinking, rational inquiry and self-directed learning to solve patient management problems encountered in specific rural critical care environments.

In this subject students will apply theoretical principles in Applied pathophysiology and Rural Critical Care Nursing 1 & 2 to support comprehensive patient assessment, monitoring and care planning in specialty rural critical care nursing practice. Students will learn to incorporate knowledge and evidence influencing patient outcomes to inform their clinical decision making in practice.