Acute medical care has evolved considerably in recent years and is the fastest-growing medical speciality in the UK. Building on your existing clinical knowledge and experience, this course is designed to develop your understanding of the acutely unwell patient, especially those who present with diverse and undifferentiated medical conditions.

Key information

Award:

AdvDip(CPD)

Mode of Study:

Part-time

Duration:

14 weeks

Location:

University of Bolton

Start date:

To be confirmed

Course Details

The University of Bolton's Acute Medicine stand-alone professional development course is for practitioners who are currently working with vulnerable adult groups, including older people, frail people, teenagers and young adults. Such environments include specialist multidisciplinary hospital teams, admission avoidance, falls prevention, end-of-life care and the specific needs of younger patients.

Focusing on the most common acute medical emergencies, including chest pain, breathlessness and sepsis, our experienced and knowledgeable staff will support you in deepening your understanding of the interface between acute medicine and complex care. We'll guide you to explore and evaluate the signs and symptoms of the deteriorating patient to help you identify when to initiate appropriate and timely interventions, and encourage you to consider appropriate theoretical principles as part of your decision-making process.

To support your development as a practitioner in acute medicine, we'll concentrate on the knowledge and clinical skills required to systematically assess patients who present as acute medical emergencies. As these patients are often physiologically unstable, we'll emphasise the importance of your understanding of the pathophysiology of the acutely ill patient.

Highlights

Our dedicated academic team brings extensive health and social care experience to the course content. Along with their passion for service excellence in health and social care 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 provide the flexibility 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 popular with employers. These include action planning, personal impact and confidence, self-awareness, social and ethical responsibility, respect, and commitment to quality.
The course is part of a professional development framework. You can use the credits you'll gain by completing the course successfully towards the University of Bolton's MSc in Health and Social Care.

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.
Our courses are developed to reflect the requirements of the NHS Knowledge and Skills Framework and are updated regularly in accordance with the changing healthcare landscape.
We review the course curriculum regularly to ensure we incorporate contemporary theories and advancements.
Your employer may give you financial support to undertake this course, or you may be self-funded.
When you successfully complete this course, the University of Bolton will award you an Advanced Diploma of CPD in Acute Medicine worth 20 credits at Level HE7.

You must have an appropriate health and social care related qualification; for example, registered nurse, assistant practitioner, allied health professional, or paramedic.
Preferably, you should be working in a health and social care setting in a role where you're involved in the care of acutely unwell vulnerable adults.
You may be required to attend an interview and/or provide a portfolio of work.
If English isn’t your first language, you’ll also need IELTS 7.0 with normally no less than 6.5 in any band (or equivalent). We also accept a range of other English language qualifications – please visit our English Language Requirements web page for more details.
Please note that this course is subject to the University of Bolton's Fitness to Practise procedure.

Where changes are made to material information contained in this course description or a decision is taken to suspend a course between the offer of admissions and enrolment, we will inform applicants at the earliest possible opportunity and will outline the various options available to the applicant.

This course offers academic progression in the specialist field of acute medicine in vulnerable adult groups.

Course fees

Home students starting this course in the first year will be required to pay a Home fee of £800 for the academic year 2024/25.

Overseas students starting this course in the first year will be required to pay a Overseas fee of £800 for the academic year 2024/25.

Important note regarding tuition fees for the 2023-2024 academic year: EU nationals who meet residency requirements (have settled or pre-settled status) may be eligible for 'Home' fee status. If you do not meet these residency requirements, overseas fees will apply. Irish citizens living in the UK or Ireland will be eligible for 'Home' fee status under the Common Travel Area arrangement. Please read the student finance for EU students web page on www.gov.uk for information.

The fees for a student's course of study will be set for the normal duration of that course subject only to inflationary increases – measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) recorded in March each year to take effect for subsequent start dates.

Bursaries

Click here for more information about the scholarships and bursaries available to University of Bolton students.

For details of how to apply for this course, please choose your status from the options below:

Please contact Admissions by telephone on 01204 903903 or email enquiries@bolton.ac.uk

Admissions
University of Bolton
Deane Road
Bolton, BL3 5AB
United Kingdom

Tel: 01204 903903
Email: enquiries@bolton.ac.uk

International applications are not possible for this course

As an international student you are not allowed to study this course because of the restrictions on your visa.

We offer a wide range of full-time courses in lots of different subjects, many of our courses start in September and January. If you would like to see what courses are available please visit our Course Search.

This professional development course supports you in developing your enquiry skills using the principles of problem-based learning and considering the impact of your decisions on patient care. It focuses on common presentations as well as rarer acute critical presentations.

Keynote lectures introduce each topic, and your class will consider a pertinent case history and set of investigation results to develop your knowledge. Group discussions of a wide range of case histories and abnormal findings provide opportunities for you to enhance your understanding and decision-making, and offer knowledge of what investigations and interventions represent for patients. These activities also aim to develop your ability to make defensible decisions rather than simply arriving at the correct answer without a logical argument to back up the decision.

In terms of assessment, you can expect written exams and observed structured clinical examinations (OSCEs).

Modules

Acute Medicine

Assessment methods

Level	Assesment method
Level one	Practical exams 50%, Written exams 50%

Learning activities

Level	Learning activity
Level one	Guided independent study 76%, Scheduled learning and teaching activities 24%

Disclaimer

The university will use all reasonable endeavours to deliver your course as described in its published material and the programme specification for the academic year in which you begin your course. The university considers changes to courses very carefully and the university will minimise any changes. Please be aware that our courses are subject to review on an ongoing basis and changes may be necessary due to legitimate staffing, financial, regulatory and academic reasons. The content of course modules and mode of associated assessments may be updated on an annual basis. This is to ensure that all modules are up-to-date and responsive to employment and sector needs. The published course material and the programme specification contain indicative ‘optional modules’ that may be subject to change due to circumstances outside of our control. For this reason, we cannot guarantee to run any specific optional module.