Course Details
First contact practitioners (FCPs) work as diagnostic clinicians at the first point of contact in primary care. This stand-alone professional development certificate is ideal if you're an experienced allied health professional seeking to become an FCP. To complete this course, you must undertake a minimum of 75 hours of clinical practice learning in primary care under the supervision of a suitably qualified clinical mentor.
The University of Bolton's expert team will support you in developing the complex clinical reasoning skills demanded for the FCP role. We'll help you build the knowledge and understanding needed to assess and diagnose issues, advise patients on managing their conditions, and refer them to specialist services when necessary. You'll learn about patient presentation at the first point of contact, including emergency presentations and the presentation of chronic conditions. You'll explore the clinical management of patients in primary care, helping you determine whether to refer, test or treat them. We'll consider red flag symptoms in cancer diagnosis, disease progression, acute oncology and oncological emergencies and discuss their clinical management. We'll also emphasise communication and consultation skills and explore alternative consultation styles and the use of digital assessment tools.
Our experienced and knowledgeable team will promote your understanding of the primary care landscape, referral pathways and processes, national policies and guidelines, clinical targets, quality frameworks, and the role of FCPs in primary care. We'll encourage you to consider the implications for patients and staff based in secondary and tertiary care. You'll explore the clinical and safeguarding issues for vulnerable groups, including paediatrics, older people, people with dementia and those with learning disabilities. By encouraging you to consider patient safety, service development, and innovation to improve patients' experiences, we hope to prepare you to facilitate quality improvements in primary care.
Throughout the course, we promote your capacity for advanced clinical thinking, clinical reasoning and higher-level clinical practice skills. We aim to support you in developing a critical awareness and comprehensive understanding of the presentation, assessment and clinical management of patients at the first point of contact, including evaluating the need for investigations and referrals for patients with complex and undifferentiated diagnoses.
Please note that if you do not already have suitable employment in primary care, you'll need to secure an appropriate placement before enrolling on this course.
Highlights
- This professional development course aligns with stages 1 and 2 of Health Education England's Roadmaps to Practice for allied health professionals, which form the standard of practice and proof of capability in primary care.
- Our dedicated academic team brings extensive health and social care experience to the course content. Along with their passion for service excellence in clinical practice settings, they're also currently engaged in highly relevant research, which means they can add valuable context and insight to your learning.
- The course is designed to fit in with busy home and working lives.
- As you study this course, we'll encourage you to develop the skills, values and behaviours so popular with employers. These include action planning, personal impact and confidence, self-awareness, social and ethical responsibility, problem-solving, initiative and communication skills.
Key Features
- The University of Bolton has been offering high-quality courses designed to meet the health and social care sector's needs for over 30 years, so we have the knowledge and experience to anticipate and respond to changes in the health and social care sector.
- We welcome allied health professionals such as dieticians, paramedics, physiotherapists, podiatrists and occupational therapists.
- We review the course curriculum regularly to ensure we include and apply contemporary theories.
- After successfully completing this course, you'll be awarded an Advanced Professional Development Certificate in First Contact Practice in Primary Care worth 40 credits at Level HE7.
