BSc (Hons) Children’s & Young People’s Nursing

Core units

• Foundations for Professional Practice and Research: This interprofessional unit will provide you with a foundation understanding and appreciation of the context of nursing care. You’ll develop the skills to prepare for your first practice placement by exploring the importance of respectful, reflective, resilient and person-centred professional practice.
• Nursing Theory and Application 1: You will be introduced to the theoretical foundations of nursing by examining philosophical, historical, ethical, methodological, political and legislative processes that inform the practice of Children's and Young People's nursing. You will gain an understanding of the core values that underpin the different fields of nursing practice.
• Applied Health Care Science 1: This unit introduces students to bio-psychosocial theories and concepts as they apply to health and wellbeing. You will develop your knowledge and understanding of the biological, genetic, pharmacological, psychological, social and environmental factors that promote health and wellbeing.
• Communication Skills for Nursing Practice: This unit focuses on the importance of good communication and interpersonal skills when having conversations with patients/service users and colleagues in the healthcare setting. You’ll develop effective communication and interpersonal skills in order to develop supportive relationships with patients/service users and their carers and families in Children's and Young People's nursing.
• Developing Skills for Promoting Health and Wellbeing: Public Health England requires all health practitioners to work to improve health outcomes and reduce health inequalities and nurses are seen as being pivotal to this movement; by offering health improvement and wellbeing support to individuals, families, carers, communities and populations. This unit will provide you with the foundations of the knowledge and skills nurses require to facilitate a person and/or family for the promotion of their own health and wellbeing.
• Nursing Practice and Nursing skills 1: This unit will provide you with practice learning opportunities to develop your skills and confidence in-line with requirements set out in the Nursing & Midwifery Council (NMC) 2018 Standards of Proficiency for Registered Nurses. Simulation will be utilised to practice skills in a safe environment across this practice unit and you will participate in care with guidance from practice supervisors and assessors. Placements will take place in CYP settings.

Core units

• Research for Professional Practice: Building on foundation studies from year one you will work in an interprofessional group to advance your research and problem-solving skills to engage critically with evidence-based practice.
• Improving Safety and Quality of Care: You’ll develop the knowledge and understanding required to promote and contribute to maintaining service user/patient safety and to engage in risk management in clinical practice. You will also explore strategies for quality improvement and international frameworks to promote quality of care.
• Nursing Theory & Application 2: By considering the issues that may be pertinent to patients and their family’s health and wellbeing, you will explore and analyse how the impact of legal and ethical principles and values impact upon healthcare.
• Applied Health Care Sciences 2: During this unit, you will analyse the impact of challenges to physical and mental health and wellbeing in individuals and groups across their lifespan. You’ll also examine biological, psychological, sociological and social factors that impact on diseases that affect both physical and mental health, applying this to the assessment, management and evaluation of care for individuals and groups.
• Acute and Long Term Health Challenges: This unit will develop your knowledge and understanding of the nursing management and co-ordination of health care which is necessary for managing patients with acute and long term health challenges.
• Clinical Pharmacology and Medicines Management: You’ll learn how to apply your understanding of clinical pharmacology and medicines management as part of health care management, in the context of relevant regulatory frameworks.
• Nursing Practice and Nursing Skills 2: This professional practice unit will provide you with the range of experiences you’ll need to develop your proficiency in-line with the requirements set out by the Nursing & Midwifery Council (NMC). Placements will take place in CYP settings.

Core units

• Team Working for Service Improvement: During this unit you will develop skills for working in inter-professional teams to design and develop service improvements for the people who use services and their carers.
• Clinical Leadership and Management: This unit will prepare you to lead and manage yourself and others in the healthcare setting by evaluating management and leadership theories and how they inform managing change in the workplace.
• Applied Health Care Sciences 3: You’ll critically analyse biopsychosocial concepts that underpin complex health needs and the challenges that individuals and groups face across their lives. You will also builds upon developing your knowledge and confidence in the application of pharmacology.
• Developing a Literature Review: You’ll evaluate a specific area of interest relating to your field of CYP nursing and build on your understanding of research and literature reviewing and academic writing skills.
• Therapeutic Communications and Interpersonal Skills for Nursing Practice: This unit prepares you for the clinical and therapeutic conversations you will have with patients/service users in the healthcare setting and provide you with the skills to support individuals and their families to make informed decisions about their health and health care.
• Caring for People with Complex Health Care Needs: You’ll show your knowledge of care management and develop the clinical decision making skills for undertaking CYP nursing assessments and risk assessments, leading to the planning and prioritising of care for individuals & families who experience critical and complex health care conditions.
• Nursing Practice and Nursing Skills 3:  This unit will develop the personal and professional skills you’ll need as a graduate entering the world of work as a professional nurse. You will demonstrate the appropriate ability to practice safely, responsibly and professionally and be accountable for your practice in accordance with the Nursing & Midwifery Council (NMC) Standards of Proficiency for Registered Nurses. Placements will be in CYP settings.

Programme specifications provide definitive records of the University's taught degrees in line with Quality Assurance Agency requirements. Every taught course leading to a BU Award has a programme specification which describes its aims, structure, content and learning outcomes, plus the teaching, learning and assessment methods used.

Whilst every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the programme specification, the information is liable to change to take advantage of exciting new approaches to teaching and learning as well as developments in industry. If you have been unable to locate the programme specification for the course you are interested in, it will be available as soon as the latest version is ready. Alternatively please contact us for assistance.

With practical learning being integral to your degree, we provide practice simulation suites to mirror both clinical and community workplace settings and provide a safe environment.

We’re continuing to enhance our state-of-the-art facilities too – with the brand new £48 million Bournemouth Gateway Building housing our Health & Social Care courses.

Visit our facilities page to find out more – you can also take a 360° tour to get a feel for where you’ll be studying while you’re based on our Lansdowne Campus.

When on placement you will follow the shift pattern of your allocated practice supervisor. It is expected you will experience the full 24 hour / 7 day a week shift pattern during the course. This will include following the placement shift patterns (which may include 12-hour shift patterns used in some placement areas) and include weekend working and night duty.

Your learning will either predominantly be based at our Lansdowne Campus (though Talbot campus is also utilised), while clinical placements will be in a variety of places within Dorset, Somerset, Wiltshire and Hampshire in order to provide a breadth of experience.

You will undertake placements across a wide geographical area in order to benefit from learning opportunities in medical, surgical, acute care and community nursing services for children.

There is a year plan which sets out when you will be on placement, but not where. You will be notified of where your placements are during the course. The pattern of working will be negotiated with your placement provider.

You will need to consider the realities of placements across a variety of geographical locations and be realistic as to whether this will be manageable and suitable for you – whilst being flexible may in some circumstances increase your chances of success, being unrealistic will lead to challenges. You should also consider carefully where you choose accommodation during your studies. If you accept a place on the course you are accepting the terms under which placements are provided.

Below are some examples of the specialities of some of the hospitals we work with. Your placements will involve both clinical and community placements throughout your study. 

Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals

• Royal Bournemouth Hospital came in the top 10 in the first ever assessment of NHS hospital quality in England, based on what matters to people e.g. waiting time, infection control rates
• Radiology – the cutting edge of technology. Toshiba has chosen Royal Bournemouth Hospital as the first site for installation of its latest CT scanner – the first of its type in the world
• Pathology – Royal Bournemouth Hospital is the regional haemophilia centre for Bournemouth, Poole and Dorchester
• Colorectal surgery – Royal Bournemouth Hospital is one of the best performing trusts nationally for 30-day post operative mortality after major colorectal surgery
• Orthopaedics – third-largest joint replacement unit in the UK
• Bournemouth Diabetes and Endocrine Centre - National and international reputation in the field of clinical diabetes
• Cardiology – Cardiologists here have the lowest levels of major adverse cardiac events in the country.

Salisbury District Hospital

• Cancer patients at Salisbury District Hospital have rated their care highly with 94% of those asked saying it was excellent or very good
• Salisbury is the Regional Centre for Genetics, Burns and Plastics and a supra-Regional Centre for spinal injuries
• Cancer patients at Salisbury District Hospital have rated their care highly with 94% of those asked saying it was excellent or very good
• New 3D printing service enabling surgeons to plan their operations and become more cost effective
• Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust has been awarded £115,000 for the Salisbury District Hospital Stroke Unit to improve the technology that enable staff to access electronic patient records in the community and on hospital wards
• Specialist services include – Plastic Surgery Department, Spinal Treatment Centre and Rehabilitation Services.

The Somerset Partnership

• 13 Community Hospitals across the county of Somerset specialising in Stroke Care to Ambulatory care
• A range of 30 nursing disciplines at all levels in the Community Health, Mental Health and Learning Disability Services
• Clinical skills teams who provide on-site clinical skills training and support and advice when it is needed.

Our geographical footprint for placement is vast – covering four counties in the South; Dorset, Somerset, Wiltshire and Hampshire. This ensures we are able to provide you with a wealth of clinical experience across a variety of areas of the healthcare service, including opportunities to experience placements in both urban and rural communities.

Although your term-time address and method of transport are taken into consideration when allocating your placements there is an expectation that all students will have to travel across large areas including some of a more rural nature to reach their placements, in some cases this can be more than 40miles away from Bournemouth, and some travel will be outside normal working hours due to the nature of shift work. You must ensure that you have means to travel to your placement location at unsociable hours and this may require you to use short-term accommodation options in order to participate in your placement. To help you with this, the NHS learning support fund can support you with placement travel expenses and dual accommodation costs if required.

Occupational Health (OH) Checks

Nursing is physically and mentally demanding and you will need to be mentally and physically able to undertake your chosen course. Places are offered subject to passing an OH check, and this will be carried out by the Dorset Healthcare University NHS Foundation Trust. Health conditions need to be dealt with on an individual basis e.g. deafness, blindness, eczema (or other dermatological allergic reactions) on exposed areas, epilepsy, back problems, or mental health conditions, eating disorders and other disabilities. These do not automatically exclude you but please ensure that you fully disclose your condition to OH. The University can then consider the recommendations made by OH and whether reasonable adjustments can be made to support you on your chosen course. If you require more guidance please contact us for more information.

You will be required to provide a record of your immunity status or be vaccinated or have the required blood tests. You may need to ask your GP or current OH department or find your childhood vaccination record for details of your past immunisation records. You should be aware that there may be charges made (for which you will be liable) relating to your gaining the appropriate immunity required prior to starting your training programme.

Refusing Immunisations

The university has an expectation that all students will comply with the vaccination programme as it is Public Health England requirement for health care workers to have certain immunisations. This ensures that you will be able to undertake the wide range of training placements that your course will require and aims to keep you, as well as the people in your care as safe as possible. Please note that at this time Covid-19 vaccinations are not a mandatory requirement for healthcare workers and so are therefore not a mandatory requirement for healthcare students either. Occasionally some vaccinations are contraindicated in certain medical conditions. Occupational Health (OH) will advise the University in these cases. The University will consider students on an individual basis. Refusal to have immunisations may result in the student not being allowed to attend practice placement and being withdrawn from the course. There is no opportunity to appeal against the requirements of the immunisation policy

Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) Check (previously known as CRB)

All successful applicants will be subject to an Enhanced Disclosure and Barred List check; this will be a condition of offer and will need to be completed prior to commencing the course. Please see the Government website for the most up to date information.

Terms of Expectations

It is important that you understand what will be expected of you as a student studying for both an academic award and professional qualification in nursing. You must agree to adhere to the Student Nurse Terms of Expectation for studying at Bournemouth University as detailed in this document. Failure to comply with these expectations could lead to disciplinary action.

We are looking for applicants that can demonstrate their insight into the profession through their work experience (paid or voluntary) with children and/or young people in a health or social care setting or clear insight in the field of work being applied for. Examples of the sort of experience candidates have are:

• Working in a health or social care setting.
• Working within an education setting such as after school schemes, charity or in a leadership role within a youth organisation such as The Guiding Association or similar.

We'll use this information to shortlist applicants so it must be evidenced clearly on your UCAS application form in the employment history section and in your personal statement. 

AccessBU: AccessBU provides you with the opportunity to tell us about your circumstances that are not always evident in your UCAS application. This widening access initiative also considers relevant criteria such as being in care or if you live in an area with a low participation rate in Higher Education - if you are eligible, your offer could be up to 16 UCAS tariff points below the published tariff.

Apprenticeships: We recognise the transferable knowledge and skills gained through apprenticeships and welcome applications from students with a Level 3 Advanced Apprenticeship recognised by the Institute for Apprenticeships. Each application will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Deferred entry: We are happy to consider eligible applicants for deferred entry. If you have already submitted your application, please submit your deferral request through our website.

Direct entry: We welcome applications from students who have previously studied at degree level at other institutions and wish to transfer onto a BU course. Our Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) procedure enables credit awarded from one institution to contribute to a BU award, subject to an application process. Please visit our RPL webpage for more information.

Mature applicants: We recognise that mature applicants may have a wealth of experience rather than formal qualifications, so we’ll consider your application on these merits if included in your application. You’ll need to apply to BU in the usual way through UCAS and you may be invited to an interview to discuss your suitability for the course based on the experience you tell us about in your application.

We are looking for applicants who:

• Have an interest in Children's and Young People's Nursing as well as the motivation and commitment to undertake the course
• Have undertaken relevant work experience
• Have a clear understanding of the profession
• Can demonstrate personal skills and qualities relevant to the course.

It's recommended that you have some care experience, preferably related to the field of nursing practice that you are interested in. If you do not have any relevant experience, you will be required to demonstrate at interview that you have a clear insight into the nature of the profession that you will be training to enter.

Our courses are built around the NHS Constitution principles, and when assessing your application we will take these values into consideration:

• Working together for patients
• Respect and dignity
• Commitment to quality of care
• Compassion
• Improving lives
• Everyone counts.

In the healthcare sector IT is now a vital tool for accessing and maintaining patient records, accessing literature to client care and conducting clinically-related research. As a student you will receive an introduction to IT near the beginning of your course and you will be provided with computer access and your own email address.

During the course you will be expected to use your developing IT skills to produce assignments, to conduct literature searches, and to use client-related record systems in the clinical setting. Following instruction some of your study will be undertaken through web-based learning tools, for example by participating in online discussions.

We select candidates for this course by looking at your application. For that reason, make sure your application really stands out from the crowd, and leave us in no doubt as to why you should be joining BU. View our flowchart for information on how we process applications for courses with additional selection measures. 
 
For our health and social care courses our admissions team use the DRIVE criteria to assess your application and evidence of this must be show in your personal statement. You can also find some handy hints about filling in your UCAS form on our how to apply web pages. 
 
Please note that interviews are part of our selection process and you must be able to demonstrate at interview that you show the necessary insight into nursing, as well as the motivation and commitment to become a nurse. 

What to expect at your interview

Your interview will take place online, on a free video communication platform.

A member of the Admissions Team will email you with joining instructions and information about what to expect at interview.

Your individual interview is where you will have the opportunity to tell us a little more about yourself and why you would be a great candidate for the course. You will be scored using a common template and offers will be made based on these scores.

If you are invited to interview, you will also be able to access online on-demand information presentations, course talks, virtual campus tours and more which you can watch before your interview. On the day of your interview you may also be able to join a live chat-room where you can ask questions to our current student ambassadors and other members of staff.

Additional reference:

In addition to the reference on your UCAS form, once we’ve received your application we may contact you to ask for a second reference; depending on the course you’ve applied for, this may be an academic reference, or from an employer or person who knows you in a professional capacity.

We look at individual applications and make a tailored offer based on your potential to succeed on the course considering a range of factors, including your academic achievements, work and other experience, reference and personal statement, and in some cases, your performance at an interview or a portfolio review. Typically, we make an offer at the bottom of the tariff range.

If you are unable to meet the entry requirements, we may be able to make you an offer through AccessBU if you meet certain criteria e.g. you have been in care or live in an area where fewer people typically progress to Higher Education. If you don't meet our published tariff, we will accept you at least 8 points below if your personal circumstances match our AccessBU criteria. 

Our offer-making will typically be based on your most recent qualifications, including any required subjects where applicable. We'll consider all qualifications when assessing your application, although these may not be part of our offer.

If you do not meet the criteria of your original offer, we may still offer you a place. We will review your whole application and consider all academic qualifications (including those not in the offer) to see if you have the academic potential to succeed on the course. If we feel the answer is yes, we will confirm your place.

Among the roles you can work towards are:

• Lecturer practitioner
• Specialist practitioner
• Advanced nurse practitioner
• Manager
• Consultant Nurse.

On graduating successfully from this course, you can apply for registration with the Nursing & Midwifery Council (NMC).

• NHS (hospital and community)
• Private and independent healthcare sector (nursing homes and private hospitals)
• Education
• Academic research.

Once you have completed an undergraduate Honours degree and perhaps following some time in clinical practice you may wish to consider returning to BU to further develop your education! There are various options including working towards a Masters qualification, a postgraduate research degree or choose from our portfolio of continued professional development (CPD) units and courses. 

Research degrees

If you are a BU graduate you are eligible for a 20% ‘loyalty’ discount on the published fees for further programmes with us! 

Depending on your qualifications and experiences, you can choose to undertake a MRes or PhD level research degree. Bournemouth University has a strong nursing research foundation within our Department of Nursing Science and through a number of research centres, including the Nursing for Long Term Health Research Centre, which explores theory, education and professional practice.

Visit our postgraduate research courses for further details about research degree options with the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences and the funding options available.

MSc Health Research

Our MSc Health Research degree has been designed to take you through the research process from formulating a suitable research question to designing the study and collecting appropriate data, and reporting the findings to different audiences. All of this will provide opportunities to work with academics and clinicians experienced in conducting health and social care research. The work you will do as part of this course will provide opportunities for you to create research outputs (e.g. manuscripts for publication) to contribute to a portfolio of research experience suitable for applications related to future research study (e.g. NIHR Clinical Doctoral Fellowship), or to further your career as part of a research team (e.g. research nurse). 

If you are a BU graduate you are eligible for a 20% ‘loyalty’ discount on the published fees for this course. Scholarship opportunities may also be available.

CPD

Once you have some experience of clinical practice you may wish to consider studying a unit or course from our Continuing Professional Development (CPD) portfolio. This may be related to an area you wish to specialise in or move into, or it may be to enhance your career opportunities. We have a wide range of options to consider. We understand that fitting study in around your busy working life can be a challenge, but we have a number of flexible courses that allow you to study bite-sized units at your convenience, while working towards a bigger qualification. 

Find out more about CPD at BU.

What’s included in your tuition fee?

Your tuition fee covers expenses associated with your course including tuition materials, access to facilities, mandatory field trips and the following:

• Professional body accreditation of the course.
• Occupational Health Services and checks. Please note that you will be charged if you do not attend Occupational Health appointments without giving appropriate notice. Where the need for additional vaccinations arises, students may be required to cover the costs of these.
• Uniform. We will provide you with one standard set of uniform. Additional uniform items must be ordered by students, and this will incur an additional cost. Students will need to purchase appropriate footwear.
• Materials for laboratory and field-based teaching activity.
• Support for finding placements (UK or abroad) and/or fieldwork and non-financial support whilst on placement.
• A range of student services – advisors, help desks, counsellors, placement support and careers service.
• The Library – access to a wide range of electronic resources (databases, e-journals and e-books), print and multimedia collections, subject librarians and study spaces.
• Access to Brightspace, our virtual learning environment, which offers a responsive and personalised learning experience with powerful learning analytics capabilities, integrated social media and advanced video features.
• IT labs (some open 24/7), wireless network, AV equipment to borrow.
• Free software download to your personal device of Microsoft Office 365 ProPlus while you are studying, as well as access to applications provided on AppsAnywhere, subject to licensing and compatibility restrictions
• Peer Assisted Learning (PAL) scheme.
• Disability and additional learning support.
• The BU Language Centre to help you develop/improve foreign or English language skills.
• 24 hours a day, 365 days a year security team.

Additional costs

We are committed to offering you value for money and ensuring there are no hidden costs while you are studying with us, therefore we have listed below any additional costs you may incur that are not covered by your tuition fee:

• Laptops, tablets and mobile devices and any software used on personal devices. Access to a personal computer is strongly recommended for your study. If you are experiencing financial difficulty, visit our website for information regarding hardship funds.
• Textbooks, general stationery and other supplies. Our award-winning library is stocked with a large range of textbooks and online resources, free of charge. The Students’ Union shop stocks a wide range of stationery supplies.
• Accommodation and living costs. Our accommodation price guide can be found on our website.
• You will need to meet the cost of an Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check as a condition of enrolment, including any Post Office verification charges.
• You may need to pay for immunisations if they are not covered by your GP.
• Travel costs to and from the University campus for taught sessions (and occupational health referrals if required). An annual bus pass is included in your rent if you are living in halls of residence/Unilet accommodation.
• Travel costs to and from your placement which could be based at various locations across the southwest region. Eligible UK students may claim reimbursement towards travel and accommodation costs from the NHS. Please visit the NHS Business Services Authority website for more information. International students will need to cover these costs in addition to their course fee.
• There may be an additional charge for replacement uniforms.
• You may have the opportunity to study abroad as part of your programme, and there may be some additional costs attached to this.  
• SportBU membership.

If you need to repeat one or more units during your studies (with or without attendance) the pricing will be pro-rata of the full-time fee.

All nursing students may be eligible for a government training grant of at least £5,000 a year which you will not need to pay back. The funding is given to all eligible new and continuing degree-level nursing, midwifery and many allied health students.

If eligible, students will receive at least £5,000 a year, with further funding available for eligible students, including:

• Parental Support allowance of £1,000, on top of the £1,000 already on offer. 
• Up to £1,000 specialist subject payment for subjects such as mental health nursing. 
• A regional incentive payment in areas of the country which have seen a decrease in people accepted on some nursing, midwifery and allied health courses.

Students will not need to apply for specialist subject or incentive payments as they will be automatically added to their account, if eligible. 

This means that some students could be eligible for up to £8,000 per year, with other eligible students getting at least £5,000.

Please note, eligibility criteria applies.

Heidi's route through academia in the UK has led her to Children’s and Young People’s Nursing, a research field that she feels extremely passionate about.

"Blending evidence based practice with innovative ideas to engage and keep pace with the changing nursing landscape should be at the heart of nurse education.” The core of her work "focuses on how technology (in particular Virtual Reality) can engage and improve student nurses’ understanding of complex concepts".

Having joined BU as Lecturer of Children’s and Young People’s Nursing, Heidi brings a range of experience to the role. Having trained as a CYP Nurse at the University of Surrey, she worked as a Research Assistant at the University of Southampton School of Nursing. Next, obtaining a Post Graduate Certificate of Education and a Master’s Degree in Education, and is currently undertaking Doctoral studies at BU.

Since entering academia in 2000 Duncan has fused teaching, practice involvement and research. He has worked part time clinically in acute and children's palliative care.

Alexandra joined the university in July 2022 as part of the undergraduate team within the Children and Young People’s nursing department. She completed her training at Brighton University in 2014. Clinical experience over 5 years was gained within the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit at Bristol Children’s Hospital and University Hospitals Southampton. She completed the Intensive Care course and went on to become a senior staff nurse within this area. In January 2019, she transferred her skills and went to work in the Emergency Department at Bournemouth Hospital, now University Hospitals Dorset. Working here through the Covid-19 pandemic gave her the skills and knowledge with working in the adult nursing field alongside her speciality of children. She was selected to become a European Paediatric Advanced Life Support (EPALS) instructor where she teaches throughout the year at University Hospitals Southampton.