Overview
If you hope for a rewarding career, a Mental Health Nursing degree can train you to help the 1 in 4 of us now expected to need treatment.
Mental health nursing is a value-based and very rewarding profession working with children, young people and adults of all ages with a variety of mental health problems and from numerous cultures and backgrounds. These specialist nurses are usually based in hospitals or in the community, for example, in GP surgeries, prison health, community health care or residential centres and patients’ own homes.
This course is designed to help equip you with the hands-on clinical and care skills to prepare you to practise autonomously and compassionately, providing person-centred and compassionate care and support for service users to be physically safe and emotionally secure.
Ranked 4th for Nursing and Midwifery in The Guardian University Guide 2020, Coventry offers a Clinical Skills Centre with up-to-date equipment and simulators. This course benefits from the highest levels of student satisfaction – 96% overall in the National Student Survey (NSS 2018).
See the facilities available in our brand new Alison Gingell Building.
Why Coventry University?
An award-winning university, we are committed to providing our students with the best possible experience. We continue to invest in both our facilities and our innovative approach to education. Our students benefit from industry-relevant teaching, and resources and support designed to help them succeed. These range from our modern library and computing facilities to dedicated careers advice and our impressive Students’ Union activities.
Global ready
An international outlook, with global opportunitiesEmployability
Career-ready graduates, with the skills to succeedTeaching Excellence
Taught by lecturers who are experts in their fieldCourse essentials
A degree which offers you more, at no extra costWhat our students say
This course is well led, inspiring, rewarding and life changing. It has assisted me to become a safe, compassionate, effective and responsive mental health nurse.”
Course information
In modern health and social care settings nursing students are increasingly required to work towards becoming autonomous practitioners, taking a leadership role in decisions regarding patient care within multi-professional settings. They routinely have the most frequent and intense contact with patients and must be competent in recognising changes in patient condition so that appropriate action can be taken.
This curriculum has been developed as a spiral curriculum with assessment at its the core. A spiral curriculum is when the same topics are studied throughout the duration of study but each time they are encountered they increase in complexity and reinforce previous learning. Placing equal value on practice and theory, undertaking 800 hours of both per year, you should study a wide range of subjects, including anatomy and physiology, pharmacology, psychology, sociology and research methods. You’ll become immersed in learning about the needs of populations, individuals, related health and nursing services with an emphasis on using research to enhance and improve services.
The course focuses on integrated care for children and young people in a variety of settings. You should learn to value the needs of children and their families through their ongoing involvement in the curriculum. You should develop skills in communication, health assessment, professional practice, evidence based practice, knowledge of public health and policy, and legal and ethical issues.
The collaborative curriculum, which you’ll study alongside students from our other health-related courses, has been developed in response to the need to produce professionals who are effective communicators, caring and compassionate, with good relationship building skills. It recognises the importance of inter-professional working within the health and social care workforce and comprises five core modules in the areas of: the foundations of communication and professionalism; the social determinants of health and wellbeing; evidence informed practice and decision making; working together to lead service improvement; and enhancing practice through evaluation and research.
100%
of students agreed they were allocated placements suitable for their course.
Modules
The modules listed are the current modules, however to ensure that this course continues to reflect the latest developments in the field and enable graduates to continue to be eligible to register with the Nursing and Midwifery Council we will be changing the content of the course for 2020 entry. Updated modules will be published as soon as possible.
Fully accredited by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) providing eligibility for registration to practice on successful completion.
In more detail...
One in four people are expected to need help for mental health issues at some point in their life and helping people back to good mental health is every bit as valuable and satisfying as caring for those with a physical illness. For some people, mental illness can be triggered by a life event, such as the breakdown of a relationship, bereavement or the birth of a baby or personal circumstances, including work, an eating disorder or alcohol and drug abuse, for example.
This course builds on knowledge of mental health, various disorders and innovative nursing care approaches. It is designed to equip you with the knowledge and competence to understand the experiences of people with mental health problems and to assist and facilitate their journey to recovery. You might help one person to take their medication correctly, while advising or providing another with relevant therapies or social activities.
It aims to prepare you for the dynamic and fast changing health and social care system, developing you into an adaptable, flexible, reflective, competent and compassionate practitioner. From the outset, you’ll gain hands-on experience with real service users under supervision from qualified mentors, spending 50% of your time on clinical practice placements in a range of healthcare environments within the NHS in hospitals and community placements, at private hospitals and independent care providers.
While the course has a clear focus on mental health nursing, a key benefit of our curriculum is the notion of collaboration across all areas of health and social care. Your studies will be complemented with significant insights into a range of potential challenges to health and wellbeing throughout the lifespan, such as learning disabilities, complex care and life limiting conditions.
Our links with universities in USA, Australia, China, and Hong Kong provide opportunities for student engagement in online projects and field trips. European links are also in development with potential field trips and student exchange to Finland, Denmark and Spain to compare health courses and nurse education globally. We are also one of only four UK members of the European Florence Network, helping create further opportunities for student nurse mobility.
- Strong student satisfaction – 90% overall in the National Student Survey (NSS) 2016.
- Nursing at Coventry is ranked 4th best in the UK by the Guardian University Guide 2020.
- Fully accredited by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) providing eligibility for registration to practice on successful completion.
- Outstanding track record of graduate employability – 96% of our graduates from the September intake were in work or continuing their studies six months after graduating (DLHE 2014/15).
- The Alison Gingell Building provides facilities for teaching and research, featuring an operating theatre, critical care settings, community housing and other real life nursing environments relevant to practice.
- Opportunities for field trips within the UK include visits to Bethlem Royal Hospital and the Freud Museum in London, Broadmoor and Rampton High Security Hospital in Nottinghamshire and Glenside Mental Health Museum in Bristol.
- Offering well established clinical placements, teaching and research links with local partner Trusts within the National Health Service (NHS) and other healthcare providers, such as private hospitals, hospices and community settings.
Our Nursing placements are ranked 2nd in the UK (Nursing Times 2017)
Our main study themes are:
- Mental Health Nursing: Work with people in a way that values, respects and explores the meaning of their individual lived experiences of mental health problems, to provide person-centred and recovery-focused practice. They must be able to apply their knowledge and skills in a range of evidence-based individual and group psychological and psychosocial interventions, to carry out systematic needs assessments, develop case formulations and negotiate goals. Mental health nurses must understand and apply current legislation to all service users, paying special attention to the protection of vulnerable people of all ages. They must promote mental health and wellbeing and challenge the inequalities and discrimination that may arise from or contribute to mental health problems.
- Nursing practice: Develops the professional values, attitudes and behaviours required to deliver safe and effective, holistic person centred care. We’ll cover the key concepts of nursing, caring and clinical skills, as well as factors influencing care, for example, National Service Frameworks. Clinical skills acquisition which underpins these care factors will be taught and practiced in the simulated environment of clinical skills laboratories.
- Assessment and care pathways across the lifespan: Develops the ability to assess, interpret and manage a range of care requirements for service users. You’ll be introduced to the concept of health and wellbeing, enabling an understanding of the bio psychosocial needs of your patient group across the life span in all fields of nursing. You should develop an understanding of how assessments support and inform clinical judgement and decision making in practice, explored across primary, secondary and third sector care environments
- Evidence informed practice and decision making: Explores the principles and strategies of Evidence Informed Practice (EIP) to enable you to apply, creatively, a wide range of sources of evidence for clinical decision making. You will be introduced to research perspectives (methodology and design), audit, health policy, and service user participation as methods to evaluate your EIP plans and interventions.
- Communications and professionalism: Communication is highlighted as an essential skill for all health care professionals because it impacts on patient satisfaction. You should develop the key professional attributes incorporating the six ‘C’s model of communication, commitment, courage, care, competence, compassion.
The course can be studied full-time over three years starting in September.
This course uses a wide variety of stimulating approaches to teaching and learning to suit individual learning styles. All modules are mandatory to enable you to exit the programme with the knowledge, values and skills to be able to work within integrated care settings and enhance the delivery of care for service users, their families and carers.
The course is underpinned by an approach to professional care which is characterised by empathy, respect, dignity and kindness towards patients and their families. We will encourage you to develop an in-depth understanding of the organisation and culture of modern health care systems. We aim for our students to finish their studies with the confidence to be able to take a stronger role in the leadership and management of resources in delivering treatment and healthcare options to patients.
Throughout your studies, in groups and individually, you will undertake profession specific health and social care related projects and case studies. These may, for example, include an appraisal of the role of the nurse in ethical and legal decision making, considering service improvement bids or complex care planning and delivery via the multi-disciplinary team. You will also participate in a group poster presentation demonstrating your understanding of research underpinning patient care.
There will be opportunities to attend a range of interesting fieldtrips with opportunities both in the UK and abroad, with past visits to mental health care in Hong Kong and mental health and forensic care in Orlando and Tampa, Florida, which included Orange County Jail, the Department of Juvenile Justice and University of Central Florida.
You’ll make use of our extensive simulation facilities – from basic life support manikins to high tech simulation dummies, which emulate patient responses and test resuscitation skills. You will also use equipment found in the real world of practice, such as medical devices to assist with all elements of care and especially medication administrations.
Gaining experience using simulation across a range of care settings is aimed at building your confidence and knowledge about how to act in these situations. You can practise and develop your clinical and interpersonal skills in a safe but realistic environment. We also use actors to enhance these experiences in scenarios such breaking bad news, demonstrating emotional resilience, conflict, management of actual or potential aggression, teaching, child protection conferences.
Teaching methods include:<br> interactive lectures with associated seminars, skills lab activities and practical placements.
This course will be assessed using a variety of methods which will could vary depending upon the module. Assessment methods include coursework, assessments within practice placements and formal examinations.
This course is predominantly assessed by coursework.
The Coventry University Group assessment strategy ensures that our courses are fairly assessed and allows us to monitor student progression towards the achieving the intended learning outcomes. Assessments may include exams, individual assignments or group work elements.
On successful completion, you should have knowledge of:
- The implications of current legislation, professional regulation, standards of performance and the NMC Code.
- The nurses’ role in the enhancement of public health and biological, psychological and social wellbeing of service users.
- The biological, physiological, pharmacological, psychological and sociological knowledge, which underpins all nursing practice across the lifespan.
On successful completion, you should be able to:
- Demonstrate effective individual and team leadership skills and apply quality monitoring initiatives.
- Discuss service user and carer needs in respect of equity, fairness, anti-discrimination, rights, values, customs, culture, beliefs, sensitivity, diversity, lifestyle and environment.
- Utilise and disseminate current research findings and other forms of evidence that underpin nursing practice.
- Transfer knowledge and skills to a variety of settings and adapt practice to meet varying, unpredictable and complex circumstances.
- Seek clinical supervision to develop safe and effective nursing practice.
- Critically evaluate relevant research, possible interventions and technology to support quality care delivery.
- Critically analyse situations and incidents through reflective practice activities.
- Conduct a comprehensive and systematic health assessment of service users’ needs across the lifespan using a range of appropriate assessment tools.
- Plan, implement and monitor nursing care, involving service users and carers.
- Evaluate and revise expected outcomes, nursing interventions and priorities in accordance with changes in the individual’s condition, needs or circumstances across the lifespan.
- Demonstrate a range of essential nursing skills and seek supervision to develop safe, compassionate, skilful and autonomous nursing practice.
- Consult with service users and carers to identify and respond to their need and desire for health promotion advice, education, support and the development of services.
- Co-ordinate the delivery of nursing and healthcare within one’s sphere of professional accountability, including people with complex and co-existing needs.
- Provide safe and effective immediate care to all people.
As 50% of the course is practice based, this requires 40 hours per week in placements. In a typical teaching week, you will have up to 21 ‘contact’ hours of teaching.
In addition, you will be expected to undertake a further 14 hours each week of private study which can include group learning and online activities.
Throughout the course, we provide key insights into cultural diversity and global issues of significance to public health and all fields of nursing practice. For example, we look at what it means to be culturally competent within health care today. There are also opportunities to study specific issues of interest to you, such as people trafficking, working in war torn or developing countries. Some of this is supported by guest lecturers or simulation facilitators and others through topical issues covered within the course.
Students and visiting lecturers from other countries provide an input into the course, previously from areas such as Hong Kong, Japan and Africa. We also participate in a number of senior staff exchanges, for example, from India and China, and non-mobility student exchanges using technology such as international shared learning online or a skype exchange with an international college of nursing. These aim to provide additional insights to students into mental health nursing in different healthcare systems.
While the course prepares students for registration with the UK Nursing and Midwifery Council, this currently provides eligibility for graduates to apply for registration to practise in Australia, New Zealand and Canada. There is a need to gain an employment offer before gaining a suitable visa and the sufficient points required for accessing the country. Also, registration in some of these countries may only be state wide registration and not national. For further criteria, please refer to country specific regulations.
Global ready
Did you know we help more students travel internationally than any other UK university according to data from the experts in higher education data and analysis, HESA?
In 2016/17, we were able to provide a total of 3,482 experiences abroad that lasted at least five days.
Much of this travel is made possible through our Global Leaders Programme, which enables students to prepare for the challenges of the global employment market, as well as strengthening and developing their broader personal and professional skills.
1st for
international experiences
Sending more students overseas than any other UK uni (HESA 2016/17)
3,482
Student experiences
The number of student trips abroad for at least 5 days in 2016/17
21,000
and counting
The number of students we’ve helped travel internationally so far
12
global programmes
As well as trips, we offer other opportunities like language courses
What our students say
This course is well led, inspiring, rewarding and life changing. It has assisted me to become a safe, compassionate, effective and responsive mental health nurse.”
Entry Requirements
What our students say
This course is well led, inspiring, rewarding and life changing. It has assisted me to become a safe, compassionate, effective and responsive mental health nurse.”
Tuition Fees
We pride ourselves on offering competitive tuition fees which we review on an annual basis and offer a wide range of scholarships to support students with their studies. Course fees are calculated on the basis of what it costs to teach each course and we aim for total financial transparency.
For more information, please visit our Finance pages.
Course essentials at no extra cost
We're committed to communicating study costs clearly to make sure you're not faced with having to make any unexpected payments.
This is why our ‘Flying Start’ package provides you with a few course essentials. Your full-time fee for an undergraduate degree will cover the following:
UK field trips
Any mandatory site visits and trips within the United Kingdom.Key material
This can include core textbooks, software and equipment.Laser prints
1,000 A4 sides of black and white laser printing credits per year.Optional year
Pay no tuition fees for optional work placements or study abroad trips.EU student fees
EU nationals and their family members starting in the 2019/20 academic year remain eligible for the same fees as home students and the same financial support. Financial support comes from Student Finance England, and covers undergraduate and postgraduate study for the duration of their course, providing they meet the residency requirement.
For tuition fee loans
EU nationals must have resided in the European Economic Area (EEA) or Switzerland for the three years prior to the start of their course. The purpose of that three year residency should not have been mainly for the purpose of receiving full time education.
For maintenance loans
EU nationals must have resided in the UK and Islands for the five years prior to the start of their course. The purpose of that five year residency should not have been mainly for the purpose of receiving full time education.
What our students say
This course is well led, inspiring, rewarding and life changing. It has assisted me to become a safe, compassionate, effective and responsive mental health nurse.”
Career prospects
During your three years on the programme you will undertake six placements in a range of service settings, working with and alongside qualified mental health nurses, and therefore potential local and regional employers.
If you graduate successfully from this course, you can apply for registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), which enables you to practise immediately if successful.
As well as helping you to find suitable work placements and give you advice on how to get the most out of them, the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences’ Employability and Placements Unit can support you when you are ready to begin your professional career for the time you are registered as a Coventry University student.
Coventry University is committed to preparing you for your future career and giving you a competitive edge in the graduate job market. The University's Careers and Employability team provide a wide range of support services to help you plan and prepare for your career.
100%
of employed students were in a professional or managerial role 6 months after graduating
DLHE 2016/17
Where our graduates work
Some of our graduates find employment as qualified nurses in the NHS with a growing emphasis on community settings, in acute hospitals, military nursing or within the private and independent healthcare sector, in private hospitals, nursing or care homes. As your career progresses, a number of options are open to you as a lecturer or specialist practitioner, advanced nurse practitioner, consultant nurse or manager. You could specialise as a primary mental health worker and work with children, adolescents or women, for example.
Recent graduates have gone on to work in such settings as child and adolescent mental health services, regional forensic units, early intervention psychosis, older adult care, acute in-patient care and traumatic brain injury units.
of graduates in work or further study after six months (DLHE 2014/15)
What our students say
This course is well led, inspiring, rewarding and life changing. It has assisted me to become a safe, compassionate, effective and responsive mental health nurse.”
Disclaimer
By accepting your offer of a place and enrolling with us, a Student Contract will be formed between you and the University. A copy of the 19/20 Contract can be found here. The Contract details your rights and the obligations you will be bound by during your time as a student and contains the obligations that the University will owe to you. You should read the Contract before you accept an offer of a place and before you enrol at the University.
The University will charge the tuition fees that are stated on the course webpage and in the prospectus for the first year of study. The University will review tuition fees each year. For UK and EU students, if Parliament permit an increase in tuition fees, the University may increase fees for each subsequent year of study in line with any such changes. Note that any increase for UK and EU Students is expected to be in line with inflation. For international students, the University may increase fees for each subsequent year of study but such increases will be no more than 5% above inflation.
Admission to this course is subject to Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks and a successful interview. Find out about the application process.
