Advanced Clinical Assessment, Critical Thinking and Diagnostic Reasoning Across the Lifespan

This course will develop your skills in patient assessments and diagnosis, allowing you to gain experience using a systematic and comprehensive approach to clinical assessment. It’s designed for healthcare professionals who are working in or towards an advanced or enhanced healthcare role.

It’s a face-to-face course teaching diagnostic decision making alongside clinical assessment. Often these two elements are taught separately, even though they’re inextricably linked.

The course builds the links between theoretical biology and the applied process of assessing a patient. You’ll understand how different conditions manifest in a patient and what signs can lead you to a diagnosis. You’ll also develop your knowledge of clinical decision making processes.

Our lecturers are all current healthcare practitioners, who share their own clinical experiences along with their extensive theoretical knowledge.

Who is it for?

This course is for registered healthcare professionals. Anyone working in a profession that is registered with the Health & Care Professions Council or the Nursing and Midwifery Council is welcome to apply. Nurses, physiotherapists, radiographers, occupational therapists, paramedics and pharmacists are among those who would benefit from this course.

Timetable

This course runs over 13 weeks with one study day per week between 9am and 5pm.

These are PROVISIONAL 2026/7 dates

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Term 1

Wednesday intake:

Sep: Wednesday 16 and 23 September 2026
Oct: Wednesday 7, 14, 21 and 28 October 2026 
Nov: Wednesday 4, 11, 18 and 25 November 2026
Dec: Wednesday 2 and 9 December 2026

Thursday intake:

Sep: Thursday 17 and 24 September 2026
Oct: Thursday 1, 8, 15, 22 and 29 October 2026
Nov: Thursday 5, 12, 19 and 26 November 2026
Dec: Thursday 3 and 10 December 2026

Exams:  18 January 2027–22 January 2027 inclusive
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Term 2

Wednesday intake:

Jan: Wednesday 13, 20 and 27 January 2027
Feb: Wednesday 3, 10, 17 and 24 February 2027
Mar: Wednesday 3, 10, 17 and 24 March 2027
Apr: Wednesday 7 April 2027

Thursday intake:

Jan: Thursday 14, 21 and 28 January 2027
Feb: Thursday 4, 11, 18 and 25 February 2027
Mar: Thursday 4, 11, 18 and 25 March 2027
Apr: Thursday 1 and 8 April 2027

Exams:  10 May 2027–14 May 2027 inclusive

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Term 3

Wednesday intake:

May: Wednesday 5, 12, 19 and 26 May 2027
June: Wednesday 2, 9, 16, 23 and 30 June 2027
July: Wednesday 7, 14, 21 and 28 July 2027

Thursday intake:

May: Thursday 6, 16, 20 and 27 May 2027
June: Thursday 3, 10, 17 and 24  June 2027
July: Thursday 1, 8, 15, 22 and 29 July 2027

Exams:  6 September 2027–10 September 2027 inclusive

Benefits

You’ll develop a tangible set of skills that give you the confidence to carry out systematic patient examinations across all the core body systems. You’ll also learn to apply key clinical decision making processes in your work.

By developing different ways of thinking and making decisions, you can take all your experience of working in healthcare and apply it in new ways to benefit patients.

This course also provides an excellent foundation for any professionals who want to go into prescribing.

This short course module is designed to be flexible in allowing you to study and reach your goals at your own pace. Our health CPD courses are credit-bearing modules that contribute to a University degree or award.

Transfer course credits towards postgraduate taught degree

As a health care professional, once you've completed this course you could offset 30 credits as part of a postgraduate programme, continuing your study with further modules to make up a Postgraduate Certificate (PGCert) 60 credits, Postgraduate Diploma (PGDip) 120 credits or Master of Science (MSc) 180 credits qualification (all credits must be awarded within five years of study commencing).

This course is about developing your clinical decision making and advanced assessment and diagnostic skills to help you provide better care for patients.

You’ll build on your existing knowledge and skills by drawing on relevant theoretical, clinical and research perspectives related to effective patient consultation and physical assessment.

The course also focuses on holistic and humanistic care. You’ll be encouraged to take a collaborative approach to patient management, referral and discharge.

The course content includes:

• Patient consultation, history taking and documentation techniques
• Special considerations of child, infant and older adult assessment
• Use of equipment in physical assessment
• The General Survey
• Systems approach assessments (to include where relevant inspection, palpatation, percussion and auscultation)
  • Integumentary and lymphatic assessment
  • Head, neck, eye and vision assessment
  • Ear, nose and throat assessment
  • Cardiovascular assessment
  • Respiratory assessment
  • Abdominal/gastrointestinal assessment
  • Genitourinary assessment
  • Neurological assessment
  • Muskuloskeletal assessment.

By the end of this course, you’ll be able to:

• Take a comprehensive, age-appropriate patient health history
• Carry out enhanced or advanced patient assessments, critcally evaluating the patient’s biophysical and psychosocial evidence to come to a working diagnosis
• Critically evaluate the biological and psychological evidence to physically assess and manage the patient
• Conduct assessments across all of the body’s key systems and demonstrate competence in examination techniques including inspection, palpatation, percussion and auscultation
• Draw distinctions between normal biophysical findings and findings suggestive of patient-specific deviations
• Formulate evidence-based diagnoses and determine appropriate therapeautic interventions
• Recognise problems, consider credible problem solving approaches and initiate evidence-based therapeautic interventions
• Create action plans based on scientific rationales and appropriate evidence-based standards and practice guidelines
• Critically evaluate and interpret the history of the chief complaint, related problems, presenting symptoms, physical findings and diagnostic information
• Critically evaluate the effectiveness of the evidence-based therapeautic interventions
• Share considerable knowledge and expertise with other health and social care teams and guide their learning and practice.

Teaching

This course is taught in one 13-week term. You’ll attend the university for one day per week during this time. You’ll receive 13 weeks of teaching, with an oral presentation exam 4-weeks after the teaching ends. This is to give you time to prepare for your exam. The exact days of the exams will be shared by the module leader on the first week of the module and you will be able to choose a day and time that suits you.

The majority of the lecturers who teach on this course still work in clinical roles and see patients on a regular basis. They have a wealth of experience of working in modern healthcare environments that they’ll share with you.

You’ll have access to the virtual learning environment (VLE) where you can find materials to help you prepare for each week’s sessions.

Most weeks are a blend of biology teaching, theory sessions in the classroom, and tutorials where you will discuss and present on clinical cases. You will also have two full days in the clinical skills lab to consolidate your skills in clinical examination.

Assessment

There are two components to the assessment for this course:

• An oral presentation examination at the university where you will demonstrate your critical thinking and diagnostic reasoning
• A skills validation portfolio with a mentor in your own practice setting. To complete this assessment you are required to work under supervision for 90 hours carrying out history taking and clinical examination of different body systems

You must achieve at least 50% in the oral presentation to pass. The skills validation portfolio is a pass/fail assessment.

Award

This is an accredited CPD course that’s worth 30 credits at masters level. It can also be used as evidence for your revalidation. You’ll receive a certificate of completion at the end of the course.

This is also a core module on the MSc Advanced Clinical Practitioner.

This course is provided by the School of Health & Medical Sciences.

Credits

This course is worth 30 credits toward eligible programmes.

You need to be a practicing healthcare professional working in or moving into an enhanced or advanced role, with at least three, but ideally five or more, years’ experience. Ideally you’ll have a degree of 2.2 or above. However, we do accept applicants without a first degree, as long as they can provide evidence that they can work at the required academic level and have access to a suitable clinical mentor, e.g. a GMC registered doctor or an advanced clinical practitioner.

Non EEA students can only apply as part of a programme, not as a stand-alone course.

1. Should have a first degree at 2.2 and above.
   1. Where applicant has not got the above, they must show they are capable of studying at M level with a current academic programme at level 6 and above.
2. Must have at least 2 years post registration experience.
3. Should be at least Band 6 or above.
4. Must be working in an area where advanced assessment skills are utilised or have intention of doing so or looking at undertaking the Non-medical prescribing course.
   1. Where applicant is currently undertaking locum work(Agency) they must fulfil no. 5 below.
5. Must have mentor or supervisor working at Advanced level or Doctor.
6. Must be committed to attend all lectures/seminars for the duration of the course.

English requirements

If your first language is not English, one of the following is required:

• A first degree from a UK university
• A first degree from an overseas institution recognised by City, University of London as providing adequate evidence of proficiency in the English language, for example, from institutions from Australia, Canada or the United States of America.
• International English Language Test Service (IELTS) a score of 7.0 is required with no subtest below 7.0
• Pearson Test of English (Academic) score 72 required
• TOEFL 100 overall with 24 in Writing, 20 in Listening, 19 Reading and 20 Speaking
• Other evidence of proficiency in the English language, which satisfies the board of studies concerned, including registration with your professional regulator.