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Study masters degree online with Australian Catholic University through Open Universities Australia. Explore all degrees, subjects and short courses now.

The Master of Clinical Nursing is designed to expand your knowledge and skills in clinical nursing and practice.ACU Online offers a generic Clinical Nursing course as well as the Master of Clinical Nursing with nine specialisations: correctional health, gerontological nursing, medical, renal, surgical, neuroscience, cardiac care, intensive care and perioperative. By undertaking a specialisation, you will develop your holistic care skills in specialty practice, including person- and family-centred health promotion. Specific knowledge in the areas of bioscience, pharmacology, and lifespan development, relevant to your chosen specialty, will also be explored and applied to your clinical nursing practice.The Master of Clinical Nursing (without a specialisation) focuses on developing your skills and knowledge as a registered nurse enabling you to effectively work across a diverse range of clinical settings. You will learn how to critically analyse and evaluate complex clinical presentations and apply your newly-acquired knowledge to effectively assess and problem solve in any health care environment. Modules within this specialisation cover integral anatomy, physiology, pathophysiology, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and the significance of polypharmacy in the context of pain assessment, and management. In the correctional health specialisation, the mental health of prisoners is comprehensively and extensively covered. Modules include the importance of physical health, healthcare management, and consequences of accelerated ageing of the prison population.Older persons require a multi-faceted approach to care and the gerontological nursing specialisation will support you to undertake risk assessment, clinical decision-making and to implement risk mitigation strategies to ensure the delivery of quality and safe person-centred care to older persons.The medical specialisation explores acute and chronic medical conditions across multiple biological systems with modules covering integral anatomy, physiology, pathophysiology, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and the significance of polypharmacy in an ageing population. Foci include common respiratory conditions, the significance of infection control and the implications of hospital acquired infections.The renal specialisation explores acute renal conditions as well as living with renal disease and the role of the nurse in primary health care for people suffering chronic renal disease. You will explore the role of vascular access devices in the care of the person with Renal disease and infection control considerations, haemo and peritoneal dialysis.The surgical specialisation explores acute and chronic health conditions that require surgical intervention. Modules include principles and management of nursing care across the pre-operative, post-operative and discharge, surgical care continuum. Content related to surgical comorbidities, common surgical procedures, surgical safety, risk assessment and the early recognition and timely escalation of deterioration to mitigate patient harm is extensively covered. The impact that pre-operative and post-operative complications have for surgical patient outcomes, and discharge planning, will also be detailed. The neuroscience specialisation explores acute and chronic neurological conditions and the role of the nurse in providing evidence-based nursing care. Through the lens of a person- and family-centred focus you will explore critical care concepts within the neuroscience specialisation. This specialisation is offered through our affiliate model whereby you will undertake two of the four course units with an ACU affiliate facility where you will be employed in the intensive care setting. The other two units you will undertake online with ACU. The ACU units explore integral anatomy, physiology, pathophysiology, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and the significance of polypharmacy in patients with a critical condition.In the cardiac care specialisation, you will explore critical care concepts through the lens of a person- and family-centred focus. Modules explore acute coronary syndromes, heart failure and cardiogenic shock. Rhythm interpretation and common dysrhythmias through normal 12 lead ECG and interpretation of abnormal findings are also embedded within the specialty modules. Other topics such as cardiomyopathy &amp; cardiac valves, Implantable devices, cardiothoracic surgery, cardiac rehabilitation and palliative care in cardiac nursing care are embedded in this specialty module.The intensive care specialisation will explore critical care concepts within the intensive care specialisation. This specialisation is offered through our affiliate model where you will undertake two of the four course units with an ACU affiliate facility where you will be employed in the intensive care setting. The other two units you will undertake online with ACU where you will explore integral anatomy, physiology, pathophysiology, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and the significance of polypharmacy in patients with a critical condition.The perioperative specialisation explores the operating theatre environment through the lens of a person- and family-centred focus. Modules cover integral anatomy, physiology, pathophysiology, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and the significance of polypharmacy in the context of pain assessment, and management and surgical risk models

Expand your nursing knowledge. Connect theory, practice and research. Evaluate challenges facing clinical practice within the broader health care sector. Contribute to values-based professional practice in dynamic and challenging environments.

Master of Clinical Nursing

Expanding on units undertaken in the Graduate Certificate and Graduate Diploma, the Master of Mental Health Nursing aims to expand nursing clinicians’ knowledge and skills in mental health practice and leadership through evidence-based knowledge and practice. Students have the option to pursue a project stream or a research stream within this course. As such, they may complete either a project and two elective subjects, or complete a research dissertation in their final semester. The research stream has a PhD articulation pathway.Both streams consolidate learning from the Graduate Certificate in Mental Health and Graduate Diploma in Mental Health in research, specialist clinical skills and knowledge as well as clinical leadership.Current mental health postgraduate programs in Australia focus on either acute mental health care settings or generic mental health. ACU’s Master of Mental Health Nursing has been developed specifically for nursing clinicians entering into the specialist area of mental health. The course is targeted to new nursing graduates and to those working in mental health but who have no formal postgraduate mental health qualifications.In the current period of mental health service provision reform, there has been a shift in focus from acute inpatient treatment to recovery-oriented practice, so the workforce requires professional development opportunities to keep pace with such changes.Burning Glass data shows there were 1,539 job postings in Australia between July 2021 and June 2022 for Registered Nurses (Mental Health) and of these 10.9% required a postgraduate qualification (Burning Glass Labour Insights, 19 July 2022).

Extend your nursing knowledge and set the groundwork for a career focused on mental health. Apply your theoretical and practical learning in a range of mental health settings. Engage with innovative solutions in the contemporary healthcare space.

Master of Mental Health Nursing

Australian Catholic University Masters Degree Nursing Courses & Degrees | Open Universities Australia

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