THE UNIVERSITY of EDINBURGH

DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2020/2021

Information in the Degree Programme Tables may still be subject to change in response to Covid-19

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DRPS : Course Catalogue : School of Health in Social Science : Nursing Studies

Undergraduate Course: Understanding the Person: Life Sciences and Nursing Care 1 (NUST08019)

Course Outline
SchoolSchool of Health in Social Science CollegeCollege of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 8 (Year 1 Undergraduate) AvailabilityNot available to visiting students
SCQF Credits40 ECTS Credits20
SummaryThe course aims to provide students with an introduction to the biological sciences that will underpin their understanding of the person in the context of nursing and healthcare. This is the first step in equipping them to apply and integrate their knowledge of the biosciences and psychology to health and wellbeing, and to clinical practice in terms of promoting health and wellbeing; informing clinical decision making; and promoting patients / clients understanding of their own health status.
Course description The course will include:
- Foundations of bioscience: biochemistry and metabolism.
- The context of the person within their environment, physical, biological, microbiological and psychosocial.
- Understand the concepts and principles when delivering basic nursing care to adult patients.
- Systems of the body, their structure, function and control: cardiovascular; respiratory; gastrointestinal; reproductive; musculoskeletal; renal; endocrine; nervous; and immune systems.
- Integrative control of the body in relation to purposeful activity and participation in normal life.
- Psychological and emotional wellbeing and the response to environmental stressors including anxiety, stress and depression.
- Promoting the mental health and emotional wellbeing of people across the lifespan.
- An introduction to nursing concepts of communicating with adults who are in vulnerable situations; recognizing the effects of compromised physical or psychological function on the individual.
- Basic life support, first aid, fire safety and manual handling skills.

The course will adopt a student centred learning approach with a mix of inputs. These will range from lectures including flipped lectures, clinical case examples, arts based approaches including body art, practical clinical skills sessions, practical anatomy workbooks, class discussions and tutorials. Students will demonstrate their achievement of the learning outcomes through the December and May exams and the February course paper.
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements None
Course Delivery Information
Academic year 2020/21, Not available to visiting students (SS1) Quota:  60
Course Start Full Year
Timetable Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) Total Hours: 400 ( Lecture Hours 60, Seminar/Tutorial Hours 20, Supervised Practical/Workshop/Studio Hours 40, Feedback/Feedforward Hours 4, Formative Assessment Hours 6, Revision Session Hours 6, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 8, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 256 )
Assessment (Further Info) Written Exam 80 %, Coursework 20 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment) Summative Assessment (with percentage weightings)

The course has 3 assessment components:
1. December exam: 20% of the course assessment.
2. Semester 2 course paper, 2000 - 2500 words, 20% of the course assessment
3. May exam: 60% of course assessment.
Students must achieve a pass for the course overall and can compensate between components.
Feedback Formative Assessment and Feedback
Semester 1 example short answer questions will be given out for the students to draft answers, these will be discussed, and peer marked in week 7 tutorials.
Semester 2 example exam questions will be given out for the students to draft answer one, these will be discussed, and peer marked in week 7 tutorials.
Exam Information
Exam Diet Paper Name Hours & Minutes
Main Exam Diet S1 (December)2:00
Main Exam Diet S2 (April/May)3:00
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. Understand the biological physiological and anatomical principles of the human body
  2. Be knowledgeable and able to deliver essential nursing care to adult patients to promote good physical and mental health
  3. Be aware of the basic disease principles which might affect the human body
  4. Understand the role which health practitioners have in promoting good physical and psychological and emotional wellbeing in the wider health and social care context
  5. Identify the important role which health practitioners have in promoting individual, family and community health through maintaining their own health and wellbeing
Reading List
P Marshall, B Gallacher , J Jolly, S Rinomhota (2016) Anatomy and Physiology in Healthcare, Scion publishing
JE Hall, A Guyton (2016) Guyton and Hall textbook of medical physiology, 13th Ed Elsevier
RL Drake, W Vogl, AWM Mitchell (2015) Gray's anatomy for students, Churchill Livingstone / Elsevier
M Chambers (2017) Psychiatric and mental health nursing: the craft of caring 3rd edition, Taylor & Francis
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills This course will stimulate the students curiosity for learning in the biosciences. It will enable them to apply that learning to their practice and make a positive difference through reflection on its application. They will develop their skills in communicating up to date bioscience concepts to their patients in a clear and understandable way.
KeywordsBioscience,psychological and emotional wellbeing,clinical nursing skills
Contacts
Course organiserDr Jennifer Tocher
Tel: (0131 6)51 1991
Email: Jennifer.Tocher@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMiss Morven Sutherland
Tel: (0131 6)51 3972
Email: Morven.Sutherland@ed.ac.uk
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