Child and Adolescent Health Nursing

This course can only be undertaken on a part-time basis. It is recommended that students undertake 1-2 units of study per semester. One unit is available internal only with the remaining units available online.

The Graduate Certificate in Child and Adolescent Health Nursing offers effective and specific education for generalist, child and adolescent community health nurses to prepare practitioners capable of fulfilling these diverse practice roles. Community health nursing is modelled on a primary health care framework with the aim of promoting health, preventing disease, implementing early intervention strategies, managing individual cases and working in collaborative partnerships with clients. Embodied in the primary health care approach are the primary, secondary and tertiary levels of prevention that are provided by community health nurses.

Given the autonomous work, nurses practising in the community must have professional skills and specialist preparation in these areas of community health nursing. The practice domain includes individuals, families, groups and whole communities. Australia's diverse multicultural society necessitates that community health nurses are able to undertake relevant research and provide appropriate evidence based sociocultural health support to the profession and members of the community throughout their lifespan.

Students need to be able to undertake a compulsory five day pre- clinical skills workshop at the Bentley campus prior to their clinical placement. There are no further fees incurred for this workshop but rural students will need to fund travel and accommodation expenses.

Please refer to the handbook for additional course overview information.

Why study

• The first established school of nursing in a Western Australian university, Curtin's School of Nursing and Midwifery has continued to set the pace for nursing education in our region.
• Teaching staff are highly qualified, both academically and professionally.
• The School ensures its leading position in nursing education through industry partnerships integrated with its teaching and research programs.

How this course will make you industry ready

Currently Curtin University is the sole educational provider in Western Australia for this course. Curtin maintains close collaboration with agencies providing child and adolescent health services in the community, ensuring that the course materials are relevant and up to date.

Graduates from this course will have the clinical competencies to practise in child and adolescent health nursing across an extensive range of population groups.

What you'll learn

• identify and apply principles of primary health care into practice to maintain optimal wellbeing of the individual, family and community
• assess the environmental, physical and psychosocial aspects of the individual, family and/or community to determine and plan the health care needs within a community practice setting
• locate, extract and interpret relevant evidence and scientific literature
• communicate both verbally and written, in a way the individuals, family and professional colleagues can understand
• use appropriate technologies to practice community health nursing practice
• demonstrate ability in interdependent and self-directed learning
• incorporate learning opportunities in nursing practice
• recognise national and global community health issues and strategic health care directions; relate these to community nursing practice
• provide culturally aware and respectful health care provision to multicultural groups and Indigenous communities; demonstrate professional and ethical practice in community health nursing; work collaboratively within an interdisciplinary health care team