Clinical Assessment Skills / Advanced Skills in Clinical Assessment

Primary healthcare nurses and allied health professionals (AHPs) have the potential to provide same-day consultation services for patients, and many of them already diagnose and treat patients with minor ailments. However, this isn’t always underpinned by the appropriate education and skilling.

You’re a nurse or an AHP who wants to excel at what you do. This course will teach you to receive patients with undiagnosed health needs and to offer treatment or referral. You’ll learn to use what you already know to deliver advanced services which are usually offered by doctors and advanced nurse practitioners.

Many of the clinical skills you need for assessing and diagnosing injuries and minor illness are the same, but the diagnostic processes are very different. You’ll learn to assess and manage patients with a range of undiagnosed minor and long-term illnesses/diseases. You also learn to discharge them or refer them to specialist teams.

You will:

• develop your clinical assessment skills and improve your examination skills
• learn to use diagnostic equipment
• assess common conditions and injuries
• focus on understanding systems and patho-physiology
• undertake clinical practice, supervised by medical staff and/or advanced practitioners
• understand legal & professional issues of advanced practice
• get to grips with communication and psycho-social aspects of healthcare
• enhance your communication skills and record-keeping

Course content

• Developing Clinical Assessment Skills – Physical examinations for all body systems using diagnostic equipment and interpreting investigations
• Framework for Professional Practice – Legal and professional issues of advanced practice. Evidence-based practice, protocols, guidelines, reflective practice, and record-keeping
• Communication & Psycho-Social Aspects of Healthcare – Influences on health status and health behaviour, communication skills, history-taking, record-keeping, clinical decision-making skills, and management of change
• Assessment of Common Conditions/Injuries – Consultation and assessment of common conditions, minor illnesses and injuries