Major Trauma: Critical Care Patient Management (Level 7)

The purpose of this 15 credit course is to enable you to effectively apply principles of care to a patient who has been admitted to a critical care setting following a traumatic injury. Life-threatening injuries, often involving many systems of the body, must be rapidly identified and treated, with consideration given to clinical presentation, mechanism of injury, age, co-morbid factors and pre-existing medical conditions.

Once the patient has entered the critical care setting, it is essential that health care practitioners have the necessary knowledge and skills needed to ensure ongoing assessment, identification of problems, the ability to access expert help and to assist the patient on the road to rehabilitation.

This course is offered in collaboration with Barts Health NHS Trust and will be taught on site at the Adult Critical Care Unit (ACCU). Leading trauma clinicians and experts will be involved in the teaching of the course.

Who is it for?

We have designed this course for registered nurses working in an intensive care unit who care for patients following major trauma and who wish to develop their knowledge of major trauma patient management within definitive care.

Timetable

Term 2

• Jan: Thursday 16 January 2025
• Feb: Thursday 11 February 2025 and Thursday 25 February 2025
• Mar: Thursday 11 March 2025 and Thursday 25 March 2025

Benefits

This course is offered in collaboration with Barts Health NHS Trust and will be taught on site at the Adult Critical Care Unit (ACCU). Leading trauma clinicians and experts are involved in the teaching of the course.

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 15 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).

In this course, you will cover:

• mechanism of injury and major haemorrhage
• assessment principles: primary, secondary and tertiary surveys
• traumatic brain injury
• chest injuries
• abdominal injuries
• extremity injuries
• pelvic injuries
• pain management
• spinal cord injury
• rehabilitation
• psychological care
• resilience and preparedness.

By the end of the course you will be able to:

Knowledge and understanding:

• Critically evaluate and apply knowledge of physiological, pathological, psychological and sociological aspects which may influence the care and management of the trauma patient
• Critically evaluate the delivery of care in relation to current evidence specific to trauma care and synthesise how practice can be developed according to current evidence

Skills:

• Through the critical evaluation of patient data and holistic assessment, rationalise key interventions in patient care in respect to current practice recommendations.
• Prioritise and critically evaluate immediate, short-term and long-term goals associated with the care requirements of the person who has a traumatic injury.

Values and attitudes:

• Reflect upon personal development needs in relation to knowledge/ skill acquisition including personal resilience and develop strategies to address these
• Critically consider the importance of patient centred, collaborative and compassionate care that is patient and family focused.

You will be taught through a variety of methods including lecturers, seminars, practice experience, tutorials, student-directed learning and structured group work. You will be taught by experts in trauma management in intensive care.

The assessment is a reflective essay and clinical competency pack.

Reflective essay

You will be required to develop a 2500 word reflective essay about a patient who has had a traumatic injury in which you will critically evaluate the care delivered and reflect upon your learning. You must also evaluate how your learning can influence and develop practice within your clinical area.

Clinical competency pack

You will be assessed on a range of clinical competencies within practice (competency pack), which will incorporate assessment of relevant knowledge and skills. You will be assessed by an experienced critical care practitioner, within a definitive care setting, whilst caring for the patient who has had a traumatic injury.

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

Credits

This course is worth 15 credits toward eligible programmes.

You need to be currently working in a critical care setting (e.g. intensive care unit) which cares for patients following major trauma and offers definitive management of this patient group.

You should also have completed a post- registration specialist intensive care nursing programme.

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.

It is expected that students access contemporary online journals and literature from nursing, medical and allied health professional sources.

• Bersten, AD., Soni, N., Oh, TE. (2014) Oh's intensive care manual. 7th edition. Butterworth-Heinemann: Edinburgh.
• Cole E (2008) Trauma care: initial assessment and management in the Emergency Department. Wiley Blackwell: Oxford
• Hutchings S (2016) Trauma and Combat Critical Care in Clinical Practice. Springer: New York
• Marieb EN (2014) Essentials of Human Anatomy and Physiology. 11ed. Pearson: London
• McGloin, S. and McLeod, A. (2010) Advanced Critical Care Practice: A Case Study Approach. Wiley Blackwell: Oxford
• O’Shea R (2005) Principles and Practice of Trauma Nursing. Elsevier Churchill: Edinburgh

Websites:

• NCEPOD (2007) Trauma: who cares?