Mental Health Nursing

Mental health nurses have a key role to play in healthcare by supporting and managing mental health, wellbeing and recovery. Mental health nurses work within diverse communities to provide evidence-based healthcare to people who are experiencing acute or chronic presentations, along with supporting their families.

Students will have the opportunity to care for people across the lifespan in a range of settings, such as acute, community and specialist mental health teams.

During this course – thanks to strong links with service providers across the region – we can offer a range of placement opportunities embedded within all three years of the course. Opportunities within this specific field include acute mental health wards, community mental health teams and more specialist placements such as; HMP Leicester, Perinatal Mental Health Team, Crisis Service, Child and Adolescents Mental Health Services (CAMHS) and Older Adult Services.

Placements are typically provided across the East Midlands, in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland and sometimes in surrounding counties. In your placement, you will work alongside practice supervisors and practice assessors to learn the practical application of nursing relevant to mental health nursing. During the course, students also have access to updated facilities, utilising simulation suites, Virtual Reality technology and LearningSpace software.

Our mental health nursing degree is NMC accredited and you will engage in field of practice specific learning opportunities throughout the programme, to support your developing identity as a mental health nurse, knowledge, and skills. The course also includes opportunities for interprofessional learning with other health and care students, as well as benefitting from shared learning opportunities with all nursing students.

For further details please contact:

Sam Humphrey
Programme Leader BSc Nursing (hons) with NMC registration

bscnursing@dmu.ac.uk

Key Features

• 4,000 work placement opportunities: Our faculty of Health and Life Sciences courses offer more than 4,000 work placements to students, giving you real industry experience.

• Authentic facilities: Study in our purpose-built facilities which comprise clinical skills suites, a moving and handling area, and a cardiopulmonary resuscitation room– allowing you to apply theory to practice in a safe environment.

• Graduate destinations: Recent graduates have secured roles in diverse mental health settings, including acute care, community services, and specialist trusts such as Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership Trust, Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust, and Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust.

• Become career ready: Our strong links with local NHS trusts, private healthcare providers and charity organisations allow our you to gain practical experience in a range of placement settings throughout all three years of the course.

• Global experience: You can gain valuable international experience as part of their studies through our DMU Global programme.

YEAR ONE:
In first year, students will engage in 917 hours of theory and 720 hours of practice (56% theory and 44% practice).

Practice experience 1
Foundations of Anatomy, Physiology and Pharmacology in Nursing
Influences on Wellbeing
Foundations of Field of Practice

YEAR TWO:
In second year, students will engage in 848 hours of theory and 840hours of practice (50% theory and 50% practice).

Practice experience 2
Evidence Based Practice and Research
Primary Care – Patient Journey 1
Acute Care – Patient Journey 2

YEAR THREE:
In third year, students will engage in 769 hours of theory and 920 hours of practice (45.5% theory and 54.5% practice).

Practice experience 3
Critical Inquiry and Research proposal
Leadership and Service Improvement
Managing Complexities in Nursing Practice

Learning is supported by a strong system of personal tutors, teaching teams, academic assessors, practice work placements and enthusiastic practice supervisors and assessors. Teaching methods include:

Lectures (face-to-face and online)
Seminars
Webinars
Workshops
Presentations
Tutorials
Simulation activities
Clinical skills learning
Enquiry-based problem solving
Independent e-learning
Peer learning sets
The programme meets the NMC (2018) requirements for an equal split between both theory and practice and the QAA requirements for a BSc (Hons) Award. The programme provides 2,534 hours of theory and 2,480 hours of practice (50.5% theory and 49.5% practice) across the duration of the three years of the programme. The Nursing and Midwifery Council introduced new national educational standards, Future Nurse Standards of Proficiency for registered Nurses, in 2018. The curriculum from September 2021 onwards is based on these standards for nurse education.

You will complete blocks of clinical placements 40 hours per week and blocks comprised of theory and independent learning hours up to an equivalent of 37.5 hours each week.

Students in practice placements are allocated an academic assessor, practice supervisors and practice assessors to help develop and support learning in the practice context.

Assessment
Assessments fall at the end of each block and are used to assess your theory and practice knowledge. We use a variety of methods that are designed to support you with developing skills vital to a career in nursing. These include:

Examinations – demonstrating resilience and working under pressure

Presentations and Vivas – developing verbal communication skills and the ability to effective communicate complex material

Essays – building strong written skills to support with communicating complex nursing information

Reflective practice – develop skills to engage with written reflection as required by the NMC

Professionally accredited courses provide industry-wide recognition of the quality of your qualification.

• Nursing and Midwifery Council