NSN435 Integrated Professional Practice 1 (Primary Health)

Unit Outline: Semester 1 2027, Online

Overview

This unit provides supervised and supported professional practice experience to develop and apply coursework learning. This integrated professional practice unit focuses on the development of knowledge and skills in comprehensive health assessment, with a focus on primary health care principles and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples' and vulnerable groups.

This unit builds on and applies knowledge and skills gained in four previously completed units: NSN431 Transition to Nurse Practitioner Service, NSN429 The Science of Health Assessment, NSN430 Clinical Therapeutics and NSN432 QUM and Safe Prescribing.

This is a designated unit which is essential to your course progression. Designated units include professional experience units, units requiring the development of particular skills, and units requiring demonstration of certain personal qualities. If you fail to achieve a satisfactory level of performance in a designated unit, you may be excluded from enrolment or will be put on academic probation. If you fail a designated unit twice within your course, you may be excluded. Supplementary assessment is not available on designated units.

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit you will be able to:

1. Apply knowledge of primary health care principles to analyse and evaluate a health service model for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples; considering national health priorities, and determinants of health including cultural, social and economic factors
2. Develop a systematic framework to optimise approaches to holistic consumer health assessment, diagnosis, management and referral processes in alignment with the Nurse Practitioner Standards for Practice (NMBA, 2021).
3. Collaborate with consumers and a range of other health professionals to provide person-centred, culturally safe and holistic healthcare that optimises health care access and outcomes for patients in alignment with the Nurse Practitioner Standards for Practice (NMBA, 2021).
4. Demonstrate advanced written and oral presentation skills drawing on digital capabilities to report comprehensive episodes of care and contribute to professional practice and clinical leadership.
5. Critically reflect on your professional practice experiences and draw on relevant literature to identify and justify areas for self-development and practice improvement opportunities.

Content

Learning Approaches

Integrated professional practice in this unit is comprised of a clinical placement in your usual workplace or a clinical setting relevant to your specialty.

You will be required to undertake 130 hours of supervised supernumerary practice in your usual workplace. The focus of this professional practice is to develop your knowledge and skills to conduct consumer health assessments, formulate diagnoses and develop evidence-based management plans under the supervision of your nominated clinical support team. The members of your team must sign the requisite documentation agreeing to support you and sign a clinical log verifying supernumerary clinical hours.

This unit will provide you with the opportunity to develop collaborative team skills, become a responsive practitioner through evaluating service provision and initiating ongoing quality improvements to meet consumer needs. Under appropriate supervision, you will complete full episodes of patient care, that include physical and mental health assessment, referral for investigations, diagnostic reasoning to formulate diagnoses and appropriate treatment and management plans. 

Throughout your integrated professional practice you will continue to develop reflective practitioner skills and the ability to apply the nurse practitioner standards for practice using an electronic portfolio.

Feedback on Learning and Assessment

Assessment will be spaced throughout the semester to provide the opportunity for feedback on your learning at key points. You will receive formative verbal and written feedback on your progress from your weekly Clinical Support Team meetings, mid-semester formative IPPAR, academic clinical case study review, peer review of your online case study presentation and peer review of Assessment 1.  A structured approach to assessment and marking will be applied to provide you with detailed feedback on your progress.

Assessment

Overview

There are three summative assessments to be completed in this unit. You must submit all assessment items to a satisfactory level and attend 100% of your integrated professional practice in order to achieve an overall pass grade for this unit. Copies of each assessment item will be submitted in an electronic portfolio to provide evidence for future endorsement as a nurse practitioner. 

Unit Grading Scheme

S (Satisfactory) / U (Unsatisfactory)

Assessment Tasks

Assessment: Oral Presentation

You will interview a health professional from a primary health care service for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples'. In the interview (which will be recorded) you will gain an understanding of the goals of this service and how they relate to the principles of primary health care, health demographics of the population the service serves, health status and culturally safe practices. You will use GenAI to develop a PowerPoint presentation and present it to a relevant professional forum, highlighting the goals and outcomes of this service using evidence to support your discussion, including a question-and-answer session. 

You will submit the audio recording (to verify your interview) and a video of your presentation (video file), and a pdf copy of your presentation. 

The ethical and responsible use of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools is authorised in this assessment. See the relevant assessment details in Canvas for specific guidelines.

This assignment is eligible for the 48-hour late submission period and assignment extensions.

Threshold Assessment:

Satisfactory performance in this assessment item is a condition for passing this unit as it demonstrates your ability to apply the NP Standards for Practice within the domains of education and leadership (NMBA, 2021). You will be eligible for one resubmission. You must submit all assessment items to a satisfactory level and attend 100% of your integrated professional practice in order to achieve an overall pass grade for this unit.

Assessment: Portfolio

With your clinical support team you will demonstrate performance of 130 hours of complete episodes of care that include comprehensive health assessments (CHA). Your clinical support team will provide direct supervision, feedback and recommendations for improved future practice. Complete episodes of care will comprise a CHA, differential diagnoses, requesting and interpretation of diagnostics, clinical reasoning to formulate a provisional diagnosis and an appropriate management plan that includes pharmacological and/or non-pharmacological considerations and referrals, as relevant for each case. Each episode of care will be documented in your clinical log and verified by the supervising clinical support team member. Approximately 70% of these cases will include a full head-to-toe assessment.

You will be required to submit one in-depth CHA as a written case study and one in-depth episode of care as an oral presentation that is delivered during an NSN435 online webinar. 

You will include your written and oral case study presentations and reflections, and your verified clinical log in an electronic Portfolio.

The ethical and responsible use of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools is authorised for written aspects of this assessment. See the relevant assessment details in Canvas for specific guidelines.

The use of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools is prohibited during the 130 hours of direct clinical care.

This assignment is eligible for the 48-hour late submission period and assignment extensions.

Threshold Assessment:

You must submit all assessment items to a satisfactory level and attend 100% of your 130 hours of integrated professional practice as required by the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Accreditation Standards for Nurse Practitioners (ANMAC, 2021) in order to achieve an overall pass grade for this unit.

Assessment: Integrated Professional Practice Assessment Report

Throughout the semester you will work with your clinical support team to progress your capacity to complete full episodes of care in accordance with the Nurse Practitioner Standards for Practice (NMBA, 2021). The Integrated Professional Practice Assessment Report is a written appraisal of your practice over the semester, completed by two clinical support team members.

You will use available health informatics and digital technology in engaging with patients and communicating with other health professionals. At halfway through the semester (Formative) and at the end of the semester (Summative), you will seek formal feedback from a minimum of two members of your CST utilising the NS90 Integrated Professional Practice Assessment Report (IPPAR), which aligns with the NMBA Nurse Practitioner Standards for Practice, 2021. You must demonstrate satisfactory achievement on each standard of the summative IPPAR to pass the Unit.

You will upload your IPPAR to your electronic Portfolio as evidence of your learning activities and clinical experiences as a nurse practitioner student. 

The use of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools is prohibited during this assessment.

This assignment is eligible for the 48-hour late submission period and assignment extensions.

Threshold Assessment:

Satisfactory performance in this assessment item with achieved for each element is a condition for passing this unit. This assessment demonstrates your ability to meet the NP Standards for Practice (NMBA, 2021). You will be eligible for one reassessment within six weeks of the initial submission. You are advised to seek feedback on your performance from your unit coordinator and Clinical Support Team prior to the reattempt. 

Academic Integrity

Academic integrity is a commitment to undertaking academic work and assessment in a manner that is ethical, fair, honest, respectful and accountable.

The Academic Integrity Policy sets out the range of conduct that can be a failure to maintain the standards of academic integrity. This includes, cheating in exams, plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion and contract cheating. It also includes providing fraudulent or altered documentation in support of an academic concession application, for example an assignment extension or a deferred exam.

You are encouraged to make use of QUT’s learning support services, resources and tools to assure the academic integrity of your assessment. This includes the use of text matching software that may be available to assist with self-assessing your academic integrity as part of the assessment submission process.

Breaching QUT’s Academic Integrity Policy or engaging in conduct that may defeat or compromise the purpose of assessment can lead to a finding of student misconduct (Code of Conduct – Student) and result in the imposition of penalties under the Management of Student Misconduct Policy, ranging from a grade reduction to exclusion from QUT.

Requirements to Study

Requirements

You must submit  mandatory documentation (including placement registration, Clinical Support Team documentation and Executive Director of Nursing or equivalent documentation) into QUT InPlace  before semester census date (end of week 4). If this documentation is not submitted by this time you will be ineligible for continuing enrollment in this unit. 

Resources

Resource Materials

Prescribed text(s)

Talley, N., & O'Connor, S. (2021).  Clinical examination: A systematic guide to physical diagnosis. 9th Edition. Sydney: Churchill Livingston.

Risk Assessment Statement

As a student undertaking this unit you are required to be working in your nominated clinical speciality area. As such, you will be exposed to risks encountered in the practice of nursing. Students undertaking workplace-based professional practice experience or clinical placement are required to follow the same health and safety guidelines that apply to all staff in the workplace. In addition, measures to control exposure to risks include:

• Orientation to the health care agency
• Supervision by a clinical support team
• Appropriate theoretical and practical preparation

Emergency procedures

All facilities require that their health workers become familiar with local emergency procedures. It is your responsibility to locate fire exits, emergency procedures and complete CPR drill and fire safety as required.

Health status and immunisation requirements

It is strongly recommended that you will:

• Endeavour at all times to maintain your personal health at a high level. Be fit to work and have had a reasonable rest period between shifts.
• Review your current immunisation status.
• Inform the Unit Coordinator, Course Coordinator or Clinical Support Team if you are aware of any personal condition, which may present a risk to yourself or consumers, other students, health care agency staff or the general public while undertaking professional practice experience or clinical placement.

The management of your health facility has the right to send you home if, in their opinion, it is unsafe for you to work that day.

Confidentiality

As a student in the clinical area, you must treat all information regarding clients and their families with the utmost confidentiality. Information that is documented as part of your learning experiences must preserve client anonymity and confidentiality. Classroom discussion should also adhere to these principles.

Standards/Competencies

This unit is designed to support your development of the following standards\competencies.

NMBA Nurse Practitioner Standards for Practice (2021)

Standard 1: Assesses using diagnostic capability

Relates to: Portfolio, Integrated Professional Practice Assessment Report

Standard 2: Plans care and engages others

Relates to: Portfolio, Integrated Professional Practice Assessment Report

Standard 3: Prescribes and implements therapeutic interventions

Relates to: Portfolio, Integrated Professional Practice Assessment Report

Standard 4: Supports health systems

Relates to: Oral Presentation, Portfolio, Integrated Professional Practice Assessment Report

Course Learning Outcomes

NS90 Master of Nurse Practitioner

1. Integrate and apply advanced health knowledge and clinical practice skills, leveraging digital innovation to deliver culturally safe nurse practitioner services that value diversity and consumer-led health initiatives in varied populations and contexts.
   Relates to: Portfolio
2. Utilise independent clinical inquiry and complex, critical reasoning to conduct holistic assessment, formulate differential diagnoses and autonomously develop, implement, and evaluate patient-centred, evidence-based management plans that are effective and safe.
   Relates to: Portfolio, Integrated Professional Practice Assessment Report
3. Apply professional communication to cultivate collaborative and inclusive partnerships with health-care consumers and professionals, leveraging digital technology while using advanced knowledge and skills to educate those receiving and delivering care.
   Relates to: Oral Presentation, Portfolio
4. Lead and advocate for patient-centred, culturally safe, reflective and ethical nursing practice that results in optimal health systems and outcomes for all consumers and communities.
   Relates to: Oral Presentation