MSci Nurse Paramedic (Adult) course preparation

Important: Occupational Health

You’ll be allocated an Occupational Health appointment at the clinic being held at our Ormskirk campus. The clinics will be held within the first weeks of you starting the course (dates are yet to be finalised).

Please remember that it is a condition of entry to the programme that you’re cleared and immunised by OH. If you don’t meet this requirement your place on the programme could be jeopardised. It’s also important to remember that if you’re not fully cleared by OH, you won’t be able to fully enrol on your course. This could then mean you can’t access your maintenance loan via Student Finance England.

So, to make sure this goes as smoothly as possible, you’ll need to provide details of your immunisation record to the OH Team when you complete the questionnaire.

If you’re unable to attend your allocated time slot, you must contact us, preferably giving at least 24 hours notice. If you’re unable to give 24 hours notice or have an issue on the day of your appointment, please email [email protected] or call the team on 01695 650946. The OH and School team will try to provide another appointment, but this is likely to be at the OH department based in Wigan and you will need to make sure that you attend.

Most of our placement settings will also require you to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 as a condition of placement. If you’re not vaccinated or are part way through vaccination, please let us know as soon as possible. It’s likely that this will be included on your immunisation record which will be sufficient to confirm your clearance.

We routinely collect data on short notice cancellations and non-attendance. Unfortunately, if this happens more than once, the University will charge you the full cost of the appointment.

Suggested texts

This section relates to reading specifically for your programme. For suggested reading and other materials to read or watch now, please view the other sections on this page.

Before you begin, you can prepare for your modules by reviewing some of the core texts recommended below. You are not expected to buy all of the books as Edge Hill University has an extensive library service and access to electronic resources, but having one good text-book at the start will be of great benefit to you. At Ormskirk, the library and learning services can be found in the Catalyst.

BAILLIE, L., 2014. Developing practical nursing skills. 4th ed. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.
BLABER, A., 2019. Foundations for paramedic practice: a theoretical perspective. 3rd ed. Milton Keynes: Open University Press.
BOYD, C. and DARE, J., 2014. Communication skills for nurses. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons Inc.
BROOKER, C. and WAUGH, A., 2013. 2nd ed. Foundations of nursing practice. London: Mosby.
COTTRELL, S. 2019 The Study Skills Handbook. 5^th ed. London: Bloomsbury Publishing
NETTINA, S.M., 2018. The lippincott manual of nursing practice. 11th ed. Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer Health
TAYLOR, C., LILLIS, C., LYNN, P., LEBONE, E, 2014. Study Guide for Fundamentals of Nursing: The art and science of person-centred Nursing care. 8th Ed. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams and Wilkins.
POLGAR, S. 2019. Introduction to research in the health sciences. 7th ed. London: Elsevier Health Services.
WAUGH, A., GRANT, A., CHAMBERS, G., and ROSS, J.S., 2018. Ross and Wilson Anatomy and Physiology in Health and Illness. 13th ed: Elsevier.

Suggested materials

Before you begin you will need:

A fob watch with second hand
Mini Dictionary for Nurses
Access to the British National Formulary (BNF)
Access (if free) to the Joint Royal College Ambulance Liaison Committee Clinical Guidelines JRCLAC app

Useful websites to visit

Professional Standards

The two regulatory bodies for the Nurse Paramedic Programme are:

Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC)
Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC)

Both of these have produced standards of proficiency that have to be met in order for you to be able to register, practice and remain registered as a Nurse Paramedic. Below you will find more information about the two regulatory bodies along with some tasks that will help you to become familiar with the standards of proficiency before you start your programme.

Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC)

The HCPC is a regulator of 15 different health and care professions. These include:

Art Therapy
Dieticians
Occupational Therapists
Paramedics
Operating Department Practitioners
Speech and Language Therapists
And others…

What do they do?

Keep a register of professionals, known as ‘Registrants’ who meet the standards
Set the standards for professionals’ education and training and practice
Take action is professionals on the register do not meet the standards

To learn more about the standards that apply to you visit the HCPC website.

Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC)

The NMC are the professional regulatory council for Nurses and Midwives in the UK and Nurse Associates in England. They do not register any other professions under their regulations.

What do they do?

They maintain the register of Nurses and Midwives who meet the requirements for registration in the UK
Set the requirements of professional education that supports people to develop the knowledge, skills and behaviours required for entry to, or annotation on, our register
Investigate serious concerns about nurses, midwives and nursing associates fitness to practice and take action if needed
Shape the practice of professionals in developing and promoting standards including the code, and lifelong learning through revalidation

To learn more about the standards that apply to you visit the NMC website.

The standards of proficiency in more detail

Each regulatory body has a set of proficiencies or platforms that inform both your curriculum and your practice. These are split into defined sections:

NMC Platforms

Being an accountable professional
Promoting health and preventing ill health
Assessing needs and planning care
Providing and evaluating care
Leading and Managing nursing care and working in teams
Improving safety and equality of care
Coordinating care

HCPC Proficiencies

Be able to practice safely and effectively within the scope of practice
Practice within the legal and ethical boundaries
Able to maintain fitness to practice
Practice as an autonomous professional, exercising their own professional judgement
Be aware of the impact of culture, equality and diversity on practice
Be able to practice in a non-discriminatory manner
Understand the importance of and be able to maintain confidentiality
Be able to communicate effectively
Be able to work appropriately with others
Be able to maintain records appropriately
Be able to reflect on and review practice
Be able to assure the quality of their practice
Understand key concepts of the knowledge base relevant to their profession
Be able to draw on appropriate knowledge and skills to inform practice
Understand the need to establish and maintain a safe practice environment

Each section has sub-sections which provide specific detail about the requirement of the proficiency. In total the NMC has 103 individual proficiencies and the HCPC has 98 individual proficiencies.

Questions based on proficiencies

Take a look at the standards for both nurses and paramedics and begin to familiarise yourself with them. Which HCPC and NMC standards could you identify with in each of the following situations. We have provided you with the answers to each scenario, however to make sure you get the most out of this task please do not look at them until you have your answers.

Scenario 1 – You are looking after a polish speaking patient and feel that there is a communication barrier.

Scenario 2 – You have been involved in a traumatic death and are asked to attend a debrief about the situation.

Scenario 3 – You have been asked to participate in a campaign for vaccination uptake but have personal doubts about the vaccine effectiveness.

Scenario 3 – You have been asked to undertake, under supervision an assessment of a 74 year old patient who has attended the walk-in centre where you are on placement with their daughter.

Other things to do now

The Nursing and Midwifery Council and the Health and Care Professions Council will give you detailed information about the professional codes and standards.

Promoting health and preventing ill health, planning, providing and evaluating care and leading and managing care are essential to you and your role as a Nurse Paramedic. As a qualified Nurse Paramedic you will need to be able to demonstrate leadership, management, team work and clinical decision-making skills as well as provide care, comfort and support to people in real need at the forefront of changing healthcare practice.

Your programme has been designed to give you all of the above skills as well as many others and ensure that upon qualifying you will be fit for purpose and fit for practice at the point of registration, allowing you to register with both the Nursing and Midwifery Council as an Adult Nurse and the Health and Care Professions Council as a Paramedic.

Shortly after you start with us in September, you will have a week-long induction.

Affiliation to a union body is also recommended, for example:

Visual Learner • Uses symbols and graphs, • Uses arrows, charts and diagrams • Colours are useful to distinguish information • Slides make you lose track – you are much better with a summary chart	Auditory Learner • Vocal is key – hearing information is essential to you retaining it. • Don’t take many notes as you are focussed on listening • Like group activities and discussion • Reads your work out loud
Reading/Writing Learner • Likes to read • Prefers handouts to slides • Takes copious notes during class	Kinesthetic Learner • Utilises touch and other senses to learn • Like to move around the classroom, rather than sitting still for long periods • Find flashcards useful