PGDip Specialist Community Public Health Nursing

Course Overview

If you want to build your career in health visiting or school nursing, this course gives you the in-depth grounding you need. Approved by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), the course covers all the areas you need to qualify, and make a difference, in one of these fields, supporting children and their development and helping to give them the best start in life.

Take your career in the direction you want to go in

As a school nurse, you will play a vital role working with children and young people, and act as an important link between home, school and the community with the ultimate goal of improving wellbeing. On the other hand, as a health visitor, you would be working with children from birth to five years old and their families, providing much-needed support to families, assessing their health needs and monitoring growth and development.

Take a bigger picture view

Studying at postgraduate diploma level will hone your critical thinking and leadership capabilities, so that you become highly skilled at caring for children in the community, and leading large teams of nurses in one of these much-needed areas of practice. Learning about key aspects of contemporary community nursing, you will study topics such as protecting children and the vulnerable, and supporting developmental needs through their lifespan, to effective caseload management. You will also learn to take a more strategic view of community healthcare provision, drawing on the latest research, ideas and policy.

Well known for our community nursing training

Highly regarded by students and practice partners for our teaching in this area, Bucks has a strong reputation for its health visitor and school nurse training. You will work with highly skilled academics, who have worked in the community – and spend 50% of your time in practice yourself, consolidating and deepening your understanding and skills.

Who is it for?

This course is for qualified nurses with a degree. You will be sponsored by a health organisation or trust and achieve a postgraduate diploma, while gaining advanced skills and knowledge in an area of public health nursing you want to specialise in. This course covers all the areas needed to meet the NMC professional requirements for specialist community public health nurses, with a focus on either health visiting or school nursing.

By the end of the course, you will be able to:

• Understand the complexities of working in a community setting
• Better appreciate strategic influences on policy
• Take a critical approach to identifying the health needs of individuals, groups and populations in the community
• Consider aspects of safeguarding children, young people and their families. As you may be working with at risk or deprived groups, it is important you recognise when a child is at risk of harm and what action to take
• Develop leadership, innovation and management skills to be able to contribute to successful health outcomes for children
• Show you have the necessary skills for working in the community, so you can qualify for the third part of the NMC register.

Flexible, practice-based learning

The course makes use of a range of flexible learning and assessment approaches, to ensure you learn in the way that suits you best. We will be looking, in particular, at how well you apply the theory to your own nursing and leadership practice. You will benefit from strong support throughout, with personal and link tutors at the university, and a practice teacher supporting you to learn in your trust.