Graduate Certificate
Paediatric intensive care is a dynamic and challenging specialty, requiring specialist nursing skills and knowledge to provide care to critically ill infants, children, adolescents and their families.
The University of Melbourne's Graduate Certificate in Nursing Practice (Paediatric Intensive Care) will help you broaden your scientific and clinical knowledge, enhance your clinical decision-making skills and become a confident member of the multidisciplinary paediatric intensive care team. You will apply this knowledge to clinical practice, using a child and family-centred approach.
The course is designed to be taken part-time, normally over twelve months, with a guided clinical practice component at your employing hospital.
On completion of this course, you will have the clinical competence to practise paediatric intensive care nursing as benchmarked against Australian Practice Standards for Specialist Critical Care Nurses.
Course aims
The Graduate Certificate in Nursing Practice (Paediatric Intensive Care) is designed to promote an understanding of the theoretical aspects of paediatric intensive care nursing to support competent practice in caring for paediatric intensive care patients.
As a student of this course, you will:
Examine core pathophysiological concepts
Explore the underlying pathophysiology of paediatric disease processes and develop knowledge and skills required to prioritise care of the child in the paediatric intensive care environment.
Expand critical care skills and ability to assess and manage patients Broaden your knowledge and theory of paediatric intensive care and learn how to assess critically ill infants, children and adolescents. Develop specialist knowledge in the management of critically ill children, including those with congenital heart disease.
Be guided to confidently put knowledge into practice You will receive supervised training in your employing hospital, undertake accurate assessment of paediatric patients, and provide age and developmentally appropriate nursing interventions, demonstrating you can integrate your acquired knowledge with your technical skills.
Course structure The Graduate Certificate of Nursing Practice (Paediatric Intensive Care) is a 50-point program, designed to be undertaken part time over 12 months. You must complete:
Admission is based on a Bachelor of Nursing degree (or equivalent training), at least one year of clinical experience in an acute or sub-acute care setting within the five years prior to applying for the course, and current employment and clinical support in a Paediatric Intensive Care work environment.
Applicants must be registered nurses and have the support of their employing hospital for the Nursing Practice subject (Paediatric Intensive Care Nursing Practice), and the employing hospital must be equipped to support the student to complete their studies.
International nurses with a working visa who meet the course entry requirements are also eligible to apply.
To be eligible for the Graduate Certificate in Nursing Practice you must be nominated by your hospital to support you to undertake the clinical component of the course. Speak with your Education Manager or Clinical Nurse Educator to confirm that your hospital is willing to support your course enrolment.
For more information and clarification about this process, contact our Student Support team via the enquiry form below.
It takes about 20 minutes to complete the form using the online application system.
You can save your work in progress and complete the application at a later date.