Mental Health Nursing BSc (Hons)

Course overview

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).

What you'll study

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 people with mental health needs in a variety of settings. 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.

We regularly review our course content, to make it relevant and current for the benefit of our students. For these reasons, course modules may be updated.

How you'll learn

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.

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.

You’ll make use of our extensive simulation facilities – from basic life support mannequins 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, particularly 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 which include breaking bad news, demonstrating emotional resilience, conflict, aggression, teaching and child protection conferences.

Assessment

The learning outcomes of modules, assignments and projects will be clearly stated. Your work will be marked according to how well you achieve these learning outcomes and your final feedback will refer to each outcome, as well as providing an overall percentage grade.

Assessment methods vary and include, practical class and project performance, written practical reports, project thesis, laboratory experiments, tutorial tasks and assessments, which take place at the end of each six-week block.

Course Breakdown:

• Coursework
• Practical Placement
• Formal Examinations

Facilities