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HE Unit Template
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Specialty Medical-Surgical Nursing Practice
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HEAAN6605 - Specialty Medical-Surgical Nursing Practice
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20260200
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Course
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2.2
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2026-06-16
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2026-06-16
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Institute of Health and Wellbeing
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Institute of Health and Wellbeing
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Nursing
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30
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.25
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060301
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General Nursing
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<a href="http://www.federation.edu.au/locate/unit/heaan6605">060301 - General Nursing</a>
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Graded (e.g. HD, D, C, etc)
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8
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Bachelor Honours Degree, Graduate Certificate, Graduate Diploma
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Advanced
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<p>This unit explores the applied role of the advanced clinical nurse in the medical-surgical care setting. Through this unit students will engage in the application of advanced level clinical reasoning in the medical-surgical care clinical setting. This unit focuses on a diverse range of patient population in terms of age, illnesses, chronicity and co morbidities. As patient cases become increasingly more complex, often resulting in acute episodes demanding specialised expert care, medical-surgical nurses must possess a comprehensive knowledge base to effectively manage their daily responsibilities and mitigate undesirable outcomes.</p>
<p>Leveraging on existing nursing expertise and skills, this unit aims to further enhance clinical competence, with a specific focus on advancing practice and equipping you with the necessary clinical skills to care for complex medical-surgical and deteriorating patients.</p>
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<p>This unit is designed to extend your knowledge and skills surrounding medical-surgical nursing.</p>
<p>This unit is designed to extend your knowledge and skills in Advanced Medical-Surgical Nursing Practice. The National Nursing & Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) Registered Nurse Standards for Practice (2016); NMBA Code of Conduct for Nurses (2018) and International Council of Nurses Code of Ethics for Nurses (2021), NMBA Decision Making Framework (DMF) for Nursing and Midwifery (2022), National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) Standards (2017) and National Health Priority areas have substantially informed the syllabus/content of this unit. Topics may include:</p>
<ul>
<li>Recognition of and response to patient deterioration including acute behavioural disturbance and delirium.</li>
<li>Assessment and management of common presentations of acute and acute on chronic disease and injury states in the adult patient admitted to the Medical/Surgical unit including but not limited to Diabetes Mellitus, Stroke, Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, Heart Failure, as well as common Orthopaedic and Gastrointestinal presentations.</li>
<li>Basic Life Support principles and practice and introduction to Advanced Life Support principles and practice.</li>
<li>Application, interpretation and evaluation of relevant interventions, monitoring and diagnostics for the medical/surgical patient including but not limited to ventilation support, haemodynamic support, blood product administration, and common pharmacotherapy.</li>
<li>Discharge/transfer from the medical/surgical unit. </li>
<li>Health promotion and education in the medical/surgical unit. </li>
<li>Quality palliative and end-of-life care</li>
</ul>
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<p>Where supplementary assessment is available a student must have failed overall in the Unit but gained a final mark of 45 per cent or above, has completed all major assessment tasks (including all sub-components where a task has multiple parts) as specified in the Unit Description and is not eligible for any other form of supplementary assessment.</p>
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2026
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Overview
Key information
Requisites
Learning outcomes
Assessment
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Overview
Unit description
<p>This unit explores the applied role of the advanced clinical nurse in the medical-surgical care setting. Through this unit students will engage in the application of advanced level clinical reasoning in the medical-surgical care clinical setting. This unit focuses on a diverse range of patient population in terms of age, illnesses, chronicity and co morbidities. As patient cases become increasingly more complex, often resulting in acute episodes demanding specialised expert care, medical-surgical nurses must possess a comprehensive knowledge base to effectively manage their daily responsibilities and mitigate undesirable outcomes.</p> <p>Leveraging on existing nursing expertise and skills, this unit aims to further enhance clinical competence, with a specific focus on advancing practice and equipping you with the necessary clinical skills to care for complex medical-surgical and deteriorating patients.</p>
Unit content
<p>This unit is designed to extend your knowledge and skills surrounding medical-surgical nursing.</p> <p>This unit is designed to extend your knowledge and skills in Advanced Medical-Surgical Nursing Practice. The National Nursing & Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) Registered Nurse Standards for Practice (2016); NMBA Code of Conduct for Nurses (2018) and International Council of Nurses Code of Ethics for Nurses (2021), NMBA Decision Making Framework (DMF) for Nursing and Midwifery (2022), National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) Standards (2017) and National Health Priority areas have substantially informed the syllabus/content of this unit. Topics may include:</p> <ul> <li>Recognition of and response to patient deterioration including acute behavioural disturbance and delirium.</li> <li>Assessment and management of common presentations of acute and acute on chronic disease and injury states in the adult patient admitted to the Medical/Surgical unit including but not limited to Diabetes Mellitus, Stroke, Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, Heart Failure, as well as common Orthopaedic and Gastrointestinal presentations.</li> <li>Basic Life Support principles and practice and introduction to Advanced Life Support principles and practice.</li> <li>Application, interpretation and evaluation of relevant interventions, monitoring and diagnostics for the medical/surgical patient including but not limited to ventilation support, haemodynamic support, blood product administration, and common pharmacotherapy.</li> <li>Discharge/transfer from the medical/surgical unit. </li> <li>Health promotion and education in the medical/surgical unit. </li> <li>Quality palliative and end-of-life care</li> </ul>
Key information
Institute / school:
Institute of Health and Wellbeing
Discipline:
Nursing
Credit points:
30
EFTSL:
0.25
Field of education:
<a href="http://www.federation.edu.au/locate/unit/heaan6605">060301 - General Nursing</a>
Offering:
<p><strong>Semester 2</strong><p>Flexible Delivery - Ballarat (Blended)</p><p>Flexible Delivery - Gippsland (Blended)</p></p>
Grade scheme:
Graded (e.g. HD, D, C, etc)
Placement component:
No
Requisites
Prerequisite
<p> must have completed <a href="/ords/r/dev/fed_occ/course?p6_code=HEAAN6602" target="_blank">HEAAN6602</a> AND must have completed <a href="/ords/r/dev/fed_occ/course?p6_code=HEAAN6603" target="_blank">HEAAN6603</a></p>
Corequisite
None
Exclusion
None
Learning outcomes
Learning outcomes
<p>On successful completion of this unit, students are expected to gain the following [K]nowledge, [S]kills and [A]pplication of knowledge & skills</p>
Learning Outcomes
Ref
Outcome
K1
<p>Correlate the sound understanding of pathophysiology as related to complex health issues and clinical deterioration experienced by adult patients in a medical/surgical clinical setting. </p>
K2
<p>Demonstrate a sound knowledge of alterations or failure of various body systems for all patients presenting to the medical-surgical department that informs clinical reasoning of patient deterioration that supports patient care priorities and disposition. </p>
K3
<p>Critically evaluates and interprets health assessment data gained from nursing assessments and diagnostic findings to evaluate therapeutic interventions to inform ongoing nursing priorities, interventions and evaluation of care.</p>
S1
<p>Demonstrate sound theoretical knowledge that informs clinical and practical skills of basic life support and introduction to advanced life support commensurate with the Australian and New Zealand Committee on Resuscitation.<strong> </strong></p>
S2
<p>Perform the required clinical skills, including holistic health assessment, therapeutic monitoring, analysis and evaluation of interventions in the person-centred care of the medical-surgical patient<strong>. </strong></p>
S3
<p>Apply a professional and analytical approach to nursing the medical-surgical patient and an understanding of the way in which nurses work in a specialist area to work effectively within interdisciplinary teams. </p>
S4
<p>Demonstrates a professional approach to nursing practice through holistic patient and family centred care and effective communication in the care of the medical-surgical patient. </p>
A1
<p>Apply critical thinking and problem-solving skills to the nursing management of a patient admitted to the medical or surgical unit. </p>
A2
<p>Gain the ability to engage in life-long learning through reflective practice and seek learning opportunities to keep abreast of digital and non-digital advances in healthcare and engagement with evidence-based practice. </p>
A3
<p>Apply leadership qualities during professional practice; and communicate in a professional and confidential manner with patients, their significant others and interdisciplinary team members to ensure optimal patient outcomes. </p>
Assessment
Learning Tasks and Assessment
Ref
Learning task
Assessment type
Weighting
Learning outcomes assessed
1
<p>Application of knowledge of a medical/surgical</p><p>nursing practice topic of the students choosing</p>
<p>Audio-visual presentation </p>
<p>40-60%</p>
K1, K2, K3, A1, A3
2
<p>Exploration and critical analysis of a</p><p>contemporary issues for medical/surgical nursing.</p>
<p>Written task</p>
<p>40-60%</p>
S3, S4, A2, A3
3
<p>Ability to apply advanced level evidence-based</p><p>theoretical knowledge, and skills and clinical reasoning in a medical-surgical setting.</p>
<p>Clinical Practical Portfolio</p>
<p>S/U Hurdle</p>
K3, S1, S2, S4, A1, A2, A3
Supplementary assessment available:
Yes
Supplimentary assessment information:
<p>Where supplementary assessment is available a student must have failed overall in the Unit but gained a final mark of 45 per cent or above, has completed all major assessment tasks (including all sub-components where a task has multiple parts) as specified in the Unit Description and is not eligible for any other form of supplementary assessment.</p>
Key information
Institute / school:
Institute of Health and Wellbeing
Discipline:
Nursing
Credit points:
30
EFTSL:
0.25
Field of education:
<a href="http://www.federation.edu.au/locate/unit/heaan6605">060301 - General Nursing</a>
Offering:
<p><strong>Semester 2</strong><p>Flexible Delivery - Ballarat (Blended)</p><p>Flexible Delivery - Gippsland (Blended)</p></p>
Grade scheme:
Graded (e.g. HD, D, C, etc)
Placement component:
No
Disclaimer
<em>Information in the Federation Handbook is correct at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to alter any course, unit, procedure or fee.</em>
Additional information
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Internal reference: HEAAN6605 - U2.2