Advanced Practice: Minor Ailments Management

This module will enhance your ability to manage patients with minor illness presentations using a comprehensive approach. It is designed for healthcare professionals working in or towards an advanced or enhanced healthcare role.

This module requires 75 hours of supervised clinical placement in a setting where you can see minor illnesses. This placement must be arranged by you, as the student.

The module is part of the Advanced Clinical Practice MSc, and can also be taken as a stand-alone module.

This module runs twice a year. One cohort will be in January and one in March, please register your interest with pec@sgul.ac.uk for any information on future cohorts.

Who is it for?

This module is for clinicians who encounter patients presenting with undifferentiated minor presentations that may or may not be indicative of a minor illness.

Timetable

Six taught days (comprising a mixture of face-to-face and online sessions), plus a 75-hour placement to be organised by the learner.

Benefits

You will increase your ability to safely manage patients with minor presentations.

This module encompasses an holistic approach to these patients enabling you to move beyond the presentation to see the bigger picture and develop effective principles for managing such presentations.

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 may 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.

On successful completion of this module, you will be expected to be able to:

Knowledge:

• Describe the pathophysiology underlying common minor illnesses across the lifespan.
• Outline the signs and symptoms of common minor presentations across various body systems.
• Identify systems thinking and first principles related to minor illness to enable consistent and effective assessment and management.

Skills:

• Demonstrate advanced clinical reasoning and decision-making skills in the assessment, diagnosis, and management of minor illnesses, ensuring safe and effective care while managing ambiguity.
• Thoughtfully select current evidence and guidelines to inform clinical decision-making.

Values and attitudes:

• Support patients’ ongoing health and wellbeing by providing appropriate health promotion and education.
• Reflect on the importance of collaborative, multiprofessional working in delivering patient-centred care and promoting continuity across healthcare settings.
• Commit to developing clinical curiosity that enables an adaptive approach to practice.

The module will cover:

• Signs and symptoms, pathophysiology, and management principles of minor illness presentations.
• Clinical decision-making in minor illness including risk stratification
  Health education and health promotion.
• Critical use of available evidence and guidelines to inform, but not dictate, practice.

To successfully complete the course, you will be required to complete the following:

• A Clinical Assessment Document, while undertaking 75 hours of supervised placement in an appropriate setting (Pass/Fail)
• Clinically Appraised Topics (short literature critiques) with Reflections (Graded)

Credits

This course is worth 15 credits toward eligible programmes.

You can apply for this module by completing this online form.

If applying for this module, you MUST state the Module Title and Course Code in the personal statement tab. Without this we will be unaware of what module you are applying for and will delay your application decision.

You should be a registered health professional with a minimum of 1 year post qualifying experience in a healthcare setting.

You would benefit from undertaking ‘Clinical Assessment in Advancing Practice and Clinical Decision Making’ (or the equivalent) before undertaking this module.

You will also be expected to have a suitably qualified mentor and appropriate work setting for completion of the Clinical Assessment Document.

This module requires 75 hours of supervised clinical placement in a setting where you can see minor illnesses. This placement must be arranged by you, as the student.

If you have any questions, you can contact us at pec@sgul.ac.uk.

Qualification requirements

To apply for this course, you will need to provide evidence that you have previous academic study suited to Level 7/MSc study. Please provide evidence of one of the following in your application:

• MSc – ideally in a healthcare related subject
• PgCert or 60 free-standing level 7 credits
• BSc(Hons) 2:2 or above – ideally in a healthcare related subject
• BSc with evidence of 30 credits + at Level 6 graded B grade or above
• DipHE with evidence of 30 credits + at Level 6 graded B grade or above.

English requirements

If English is not your first language, you will require one of the following:

• A first degree from a UK university
• A first degree from an overseas institution recognised by City St George's, 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.

Full details can be found on our English Language requirements webpage.