Graduate Certificate in Acute Care Nursing

Studying the Graduate Certificate in Acute Care Nursing with ACN will provide you with the principles required to meet the diverse needs of patients in the acute care setting, in order to improve your knowledge and skills for the provision and coordination of evidenced based patient centred care. The aim is to encourage professional and ethical understanding of clinical practice development for the improvement of patient outcomes.

Our course is written by specialist nurses for nurses, and students are supported by a team of clinical experts, working within the speciality. Our unique range of elective units of study allow students to further explore a specific area of interest related to medical, surgical or renal nursing. Responding to the increase in day procedures the graduate certificate in acute care nursing now offers the opportunity to study our new day surgery nursing elective unit of study.

The focus of learning in this medical/surgical (generalist) stream is the nursing management of adults admitted to health care facilities with acute episodic medical-surgical conditions. Students analyse and apply their knowledge and problem-solving skills to clinical case scenarios based on commonly encountered medical-surgical problems. The units of study provide students with an opportunity to extend their ability to undertake increasingly complex nursing activities in a range of medical and surgical care settings.

This course is designed to develop specific learning outcomes. Students will:

• demonstrate provision of competent interpersonal and clinical care to patients through the acquisition, application and communication of specialist knowledge and skills which reflect professional and ethico-legal integrity
• identify, appraise and apply research evidence to inform nursing practice and develop professional responsibility and accountability commensurate with the specialist role
• critically evaluate available knowledge in relation to complex situations to guide the assessment, planning, implementation and evaluation of evidence based nursing care
• collaborate with the multidisciplinary team in provision of effective therapeutic relationships and continuity of care within the context of acute care nursing practice
• consider strategies when caring for a culturally and linguistically diverse population and reflect on the health care team’s ability to meet the nursing and communication needs of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
• create an effective clinical learning environment through demonstrating mentorship and the propagation of specialised knowledge and technical skill
• demonstrate leadership through participation in policy development, service provision and quality improvement within the specialist context.

Core subjects:

• Stress Response and Health Breakdown (277) 
• Principles of Acute Care Nursing (038)
• Leadership and Professional Practice (925)

Elective subjects (choose one elective from the following)

• Assessing and Managing Adult Pain (113) 
• Assessment of the Older Person (054) 
• Communication – Applied Strategies for Health Care Professionals (187) 
• Day Surgery Nursing (298) 
• Medical Imaging Nursing (243)*
• Principles of Infection Control (117)
• Wound Management (050) 

*Medical Imaging Nursing (243) has a pre-requisite: you must be working in a medical imaging department to choose this elective.

Disclaimer: Fees vary dependent on subject electives chosen