Overview
Join our full-time four-year, NMC dual registration Adult and Mental Health Nursing degree course and take the first step towards a career as a nurse. Immerse yourself in placements that will help you build practice-based nursing skills and knowledge in both of these fields of nursing. Study in Cambridgeshire or Chelmsford, in our cutting-edge skill laboratories and become a part of our supportive nursing community. When you graduate, you’ll be ready to start your career as a registered nurse in both adult and mental health nursing.
Careers
Nursing really is a job for life. As an adult nurse, you’ll make a difference to many people’s lives, including your own. As a registered nurse you’ll have the choice of a wide range of roles. You may choose to become a community professional and work in patients’ homes, clinic, GP surgeries or nursing homes. Or you may want to work as a nursing specialist or consultant within a hospital. Or you could take your education further still, conduct research or go into healthcare management.
All our nursing courses are approved by the UK Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), you’ll be eligible to apply for registration with them when you graduate. We work with employers to make sure you gain the knowledge, skills and abilities they need. They help us review what we teach and how we teach it – and they offer hands-on, practical opportunities to learn through your placements.
99% of our graduates were employed six months after completing their degrees. Many of our students get job offers from their placement areas before they even graduate. To find out more, read some of our graduates' employability case studies
Your future is wide open. It all starts here.
Modules & assessment
Year one, core modules
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Essential Knowledge and Skills for Person-centred Care
Introducing you to the fundamental aspects of person-centred care for safe, compassionate and effective nursing care. You’ll explore the NMC Code (2018) and begin to grasp the basics of the NMC Future Nurse Standards of Proficiency for Registered Nurses (2018). Using a person and family-centred care approach through the use of family based scenarios, you’ll be supported to begin to explore the context of health, ill health and disability, and health care needs across the lifespan. Recognising the diversity of the patient population we’ll support you to understand the need for ethical, legal and professional values to ensure equality within health care delivery. The scenarios will include healthcare related to adult, child, mental health and learning disability patients. You’ll gain an understanding of bioscience and physiology, alongside a range of physical health care needs that often co-exist with other health care issues. You’ll build an awareness of the nursing care of patients with mental illness, obesity, asthma, diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and cardiovascular disease. All of this will be underpinned by an introduction to professionalism and the key tenets of nursing. -
Essential Nursing Skills and Practice 1
In your first core placement you’ll have the opportunity to work alongside health care teams and Practice Supervisors who’ll support you in developing a range of knowledge and skills. You’ll encounter patients with a wide range of health care needs and develop understanding around accountability, professionalism, assessment and care planning, providing and evaluating care and improving safety and quality of care. This may be the first time you have worked in a practice setting and we’ll support you to consolidate the learning that took place in the prior theory module. We’ll prepare you in our simulated skills labs for skills such as taking and recording vital signs, personal care, basic life support and introduction to safe drug administration. You’ll be exposed to real-life situations and begin to develop communication and relationship skills, as well as a range of physical skills, as set out in the NMC (2018) Standards of Proficiency for Pre-registration Nurses. In this practice module you’ll benefit from sharing classroom learning with students from adult, mental health and child nursing fields. -
Exploring and Promoting Health and Wellbeing
We’ll support you to develop a greater understanding of health and well-being. Promoting health and preventing ill health is a key role of the registered nurse. You’ll explore the importance of epidemiology and the impact of environmental factors that affect our health. You’ll discuss current and topical public health programmes and health promotion frameworks. An understanding of local services will help you to appreciate the promotion of health and prevention of ill health amongst your local population. You’ll have the opportunity to consider your own health and the nurse’s place as a healthy role model in supporting the health education of patients. Building on the learning of previous bioscience topics, you’ll explore a further range of bioscience systems and consider the prevention, biopsychosocial impact and care of some common conditions such as breast cancer, teenage pregnancy, Down’s syndrome and depression. You’ll gain an understanding of the role of the accountable professional, safeguarding, and responsibilities around duty of candour, patient advocacy and autonomy. -
Medicines Calculations for Safe Practice 1
Patient safety is at the heart of nursing and it is a requirement of the professional regulator (the Nursing and Midwifery Council) that by the point of entry to register, nurses must demonstrate competency in numeracy skills in the safe administration of drugs (NMC, 2018). This includes being competent in basic medicines calculations relating to: tablets and capsules, liquid medicines and injections. Safe Medicate is an online learning and assessment package focusing on medicines calculations. You’ll be given login information for this software at the beginning of the course and can have unlimited access to this e-learning platform, practice questions, and formative assessments. A professional requirement of the course is that you become proficient in medicine calculations. Each year, you’ll undertake an online medicine calculations module which offers the opportunity for unlimited practice related to a variety of medicine calculations. You’ll be required to undertake a minimum of 6 formative assessments prior to the summative assessment. When you take your exam in your first year, you’ll be required to get a pass mark of 80%. -
Essential Nursing Skills and Practice 2
In your second core placement you’ll continue to have the opportunity to work alongside health care teams and practice supervisors who’ll support you in developing a range of knowledge and skills. You’ll encounter patients with a wide range of health care needs and develop understanding around accountability, professionalism, assessment and care planning, providing and evaluating care and improving safety and quality of care. We’ll support you to consolidate the learning that took place in the prior theory module. We’ll prepare you in our simulated skills labs for skills such as pain assessment, injections, physical and mental health first aid. You’ll be exposed to real life situations and continue to develop communication and relationship skills, as well as a range of physical skills, as set out in the NMC (2018) Standards of Proficiency for Pre-registration Nurses. In this practice module you’ll benefit from sharing classroom learning with students from adult, mental health and child nursing fields.
Year two, core modules
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Exploring the Values, Theories and Evidence Underpinning Mental Health Assessment and Practice
You’ll explore the nature of mental illness and the values that underpin mental health nursing practice within a biopsychosocial, cultural and historical context. You’ll consider the issues that may be essential to service users’ lives, particularly with regard to mental health and wellbeing. You’ll learn the ethical theories, legal principles and values that are relevant for professional practice in mental health. Evidence-based assessment and care planning strategies to meet the holistic needs of service users and carers are central to this module. You’ll challenge your pre-existing values, beliefs and opinions. You’ll develop core principles that support a philosophy of recovery led and service user focused care across the life course. You’ll learn to champion mental health service users through advocacy and empowerment and discuss ethical issues surrounding constraint and seclusion. You’ll study psycho-pathology and understand the symptoms of mental health disorders and comorbidity across the life-course. Access to services – including LGBTQ and other minority groups will be explored. You’ll examine legislation and policy relating to mental health care that will help you to safeguard yourself and service users. -
Developing Mental Health Nursing Practice 1
In this practice module you’ll consolidate your learning in a skills lab and practice environment. By now you’ll have cared for many patients and have an understanding of some of the physical and communication skills that can improve the mental health service user experience. You’ll advance your communication skills through techniques such as motivational interviewing, solution focused therapy, de-escalation strategies and positive reinforcement strategies. In the skills lab you’ll have the opportunity to practise physical skills such as passing feeding tubes, managing catheters, removing sutures, wound care, oxygen therapy and the symptom management in end of life care. You’ll be supported to practise with increased confidence as you progress through your placement and will continue to have the opportunity to work alongside health care teams and Practice Supervisors who will support you in developing new knowledge and skills. You’ll continue to practise and develop your communication and relationship skills, as well as a range of physical skills. -
Therapeutic engagement in mental health nursing
We’ll develop you as a therapeutic practitioner, championing the acquisition of skills and knowledge around therapeutic engagement and evidence based interventions within mental health care across the life course. You’ll engage with service users and their carers in care planning and contemporary therapeutic interventions. You’ll learn that interventions need to be timely, appropriate and responsive to maximise the benefits and promote on-going recovery. You’ll explore how practice-based evidence can both challenge and assist clinical decision making. You’ll learn about role of the nurse in supporting and maintaining growth and change in people recovering from a range of mental health symptoms and conditions. We’ll support you to develop advanced skills in person–centred care You’ll consider therapeutic strategies/interventions and psychoeducation for people living with mental health problems in relation to complex conditions such as, dementia, long term mental ill health, child and adolescent mental health issues, perinatal mental health and people with Learning Disability and Mental Health services. We’ll enhance your competence in planning recovery focused care. -
Developing Mental Health Nursing Practice 2
In this practice module you’ll consolidate the learning that took place in the theory module, as well as develop your communication and physical skills from previous placements. Practice learning will be in a mental health setting where you’ll be working alongside a person experiencing mental health distress and take a whole person approach. Mental health service users also experience physical illness and you’ll be expected to care for patients with these needs. Managing seizures, tracheostomy care, IV fluid management, venepuncture and cannulation, neuro-observations, cardiac monitoring and surgical care are amongst some of the skills that you’ll practise in the skills lab. You’ll be supported to practise with increased confidence as you progress through your placement and will have the opportunity to work alongside health care teams and Practice Supervisors who will support you in developing new knowledge and skills. You’ll be supported by Practice Supervisors and assessment will be undertaken by a Practice Assessor who will maintain contact with an Academic Assessor (an academic staff member from ARU). Confirmation will be required that you have actively participated in care (with minimal guidance) and are performing with increasing confidence and competence. -
Medicines Calculations for Safe Practice 2
Patient safety is at the heart of nursing and it is a requirement of the professional regulator (the Nursing and Midwifery Council) that by the point of entry to register, nurses must demonstrate competency in numeracy skills in the safe administration of drugs (NMC, 2018). This includes being competent in basic medicines calculations relating to: tablets and capsules, liquid medicines, injections, and IV infusions. Safe Medicate is an online learning and assessment package focusing on medicines calculations. A professional requirement of the course is that you become proficient in medicine calculations. You’ll undertake this online medicine calculations module which offers the opportunity for unlimited practice related to a variety of medicine calculations. You’ll be required to undertake a minimum of 6 formative assessments prior to the summative assessment. When you take your exam in your second year, you’ll be required to get a pass mark of 90%.
Year three, core modules
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Holistic Care for People with Long-term Conditions
Understanding the biopsychosocial aspects of a long term condition from a patient perspective including the impact on the carer and family is essential. You’ll learn about a range of long term conditions and the associated qualitative research including; heart failure, coronary heart disease, cancer and alcohol related diseases. You’ll consider the NHS plan (2019) and Public Health Outcome Framework (2019) in the context of integrated care that clients receive in preventing ill health and promoting physical and mental wellbeing. You’ll study the complexities of living with a long term condition in a variety of care settings. We’ll support you to develop an in- depth understanding of the biopsychosocial issues that affect people living with a long term condition. You’ll explore the legal and ethical challenges that people and their families face. Focusing on a person centred holistic approach to assessment and care planning you’ll learn to address these challenges. You’ll examine the concept of empowerment and the factors (psychological, physiological, social-economic and genomic) influencing a person’s health choices and readiness for change. Decision making in end of life care through the use of advance care planning is central nursing care and we’ll prepare you to understand the legal and ethical implications alongside government policy. -
Developing Adult Nursing Practice 1
In this practice module you’ll consolidate your learning in a skills lab and practice environment. By now you’ll have cared for many patients and have an understanding of some of the physical and communication skills that can improve the patient experience. In the skills lab you’ll have the opportunity to practise passing feeding tubes, managing catheters, removing sutures, wound care, oxygen therapy and the symptom management in end of life care. You’ll advance your communication skills through techniques such as motivational interviewing and de-escalation strategies. End of life care is a theme within this module and you’ll learn skills to support you in distressing situations such as breaking bad news. You’ll be supported to practise with increased confidence as you progress through your placement and will continue to have the opportunity to work alongside health care teams and practice supervisors who will support you in developing new knowledge and skills. You’ll continue to practise and develop your communication and relationship skills, as well as a range of physical skills. You’ll meet patients with a wide range of health care needs and have the opportunity to continue to practise and enhance your skills around accountability, professionalism, assessment and care planning, providing and evaluating care, leading and managing nursing care, working in teams and improving safety and quality of care. -
Recognising and Responding to the Deteriorating Adult Patient
Patients become acutely unwell in clinical or home settings. Accurate recording of clinical information e.g. observation, medication and fluid balance is essential in the early recognition of an acute deterioration in patients and crucial if patients are to receive the best quality care and timely admission to critical care and acute areas. Using the guidelines and policies you’ll appreciate the need for a structured process for risk assessment, monitoring and communication to optimise patient outcome. The recognition of patients’ clinical deterioration and the management of unstable patients are key skills for nurses. You’ll develop the knowledge, skills and experience to recognise, communicate and respond competently, with care and compassion, when a patient’s clinical condition indicates that they are becoming acutely unwell. You’ll explore how psychological well-being can impact on recovery and the importance of patient focused care and empowerment. The module content is centred on the ABCDE approach. Alongside lectures, pre-reading and skills sessions, you’ll participate in clinical scenarios around deteriorating patients (e.g. patients experiencing acute respiratory failure, hypovolaemic shock, acute coronary syndrome, and sepsis). -
Developing Adult Nursing Practice 2
In this practice module you’ll consolidate your learning and skills that took place in the theory module, as well as develop your skills from previous placements. Practice learning will be in an adult nursing setting. We’ll develop your skills with computer-controlled mannequins in hi-tech simulation environments to prepare you to care for deteriorating patients. You’ll have the opportunity to formatively peer assess the technical and non-technical skills (caring, compassion, communication, team working, decision making and situation awareness) during the scenarios. Managing seizures, tracheostomy care, IV fluid management, venepuncture and cannulation, neuro-observations, cardiac monitoring and surgical care are amongst some of the skills that you’ll practise in the skills lab. You’ll be supported to practise with increased confidence as you progress through your placement and will have the opportunity to work alongside health care teams and Practice Supervisors who will support you in developing new knowledge and skills. Assessment will be undertaken by a practice assessor who’ll maintain contact with an academic assessor (an academic staff member from ARU). Confirmation will be required that you have actively participated in care (with minimal guidance) and are performing with increasing confidence and competence.
Year four, core modules
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Nurses as Future Leaders
We’ll encourage you to develop and realise your role as an accountable and responsible practitioner, embracing the role of leading and managing the planning and organisation of high-quality, multi-disciplinary care. Develop your skills of self-awareness, self-compassion, emotional intelligence, resilience, team building, motivating and coaching others as you learn to lead teams. These mechanisms will ensure that you begin to develop a sense of professional identity and values. You’ll consider clinical decision making and the tools to support this, techniques to resolve conflicts and manage complaints. You’ll explore root cause analysis to support practice- based decisions and quality assurance mechanisms such as, clinical governance, standard setting, and the use of audits. Supporting patient safety, you’ll learn the importance of whistleblowing, and highlighting and responding to poor and sub-standard practice. You’ll be supported in interview preparation technique and developing a professional profile and Curriculum Vitae, in preparation for applying for your first job as a qualified nurse. -
Leading and Co-ordinating Care with Confidence
We’ll support your transition to an autonomous practitioner in readiness for joining the Nursing and Midwifery Council register. You’ll practise with increased confidence and competence as you progress through your placement and will continue to have the opportunity to work alongside health care teams and practice supervisors. You’ll continue to practise and develop your communication and relationship skills, and a range of physical skills. You’ll enhance your skills around accountability, professionalism, assessment and care planning, providing and evaluating care, leading and managing nursing care, working in teams and improving safety and quality of care. By the end of your final placement, you’ll supervise and teach a junior learner/colleague in practice and organise and manage the care for a group/caseload of people with complex care needs. You’ll also complete a summative Medicines Management Assessment. -
Undergraduate Major Project: Becoming an Independent Practitioner
You’ll be supported to transition from student nurse to a qualified practitioner, ready to face the challenges in the modern health care setting. This involves adjusting to a new and challenging role, accepting additional and different responsibilities and further developing the complex skills required of a registered nurse. To improve the patient experience is one of the most rewarding aspects of a nurse’s role and requires insight, leadership, and understanding of evidence, resources, teamwork and planning. You’ll have the opportunity to review a wide range of literature to seek evidence to improve the patient experience and propose a plan for an innovative service improvement. Your service improvement plan will evidence consideration for any physical, human and financial constraints associated with the development that you have explored. Through this you’ll demonstrate intellectual flexibility and creative capability, in readiness for employment in the health care environment. -
Medicines Calculations for Safe Practice 3
Patient safety is at the heart of nursing and it is a requirement of the professional regulator (the Nursing and Midwifery Council) that by the point of entry to register, nurses must demonstrate competency in numeracy skills in the safe administration of drugs (NMC, 2018). This includes being competent in basic medicines calculations relating to: tablets and capsules, liquid medicines, injections, and IV infusions. Safe Medicate is an online learning and assessment package focusing on medicines calculations. A professional requirement of the course is that you become proficient in medicine calculations. You’ll undertake this online medicine calculations module which offers the opportunity for unlimited practice related to a variety of medicine calculations. You’ll be required to undertake a minimum of six formative assessments prior to the summative assessment. When you take your exam in your third year, you’ll be required to get a pass mark of 100%.
Assessment
To make sure you’re developing the skills and knowledge needed for professional practice, we use a range of assessment methods. These include essays, presentations, exams, case studies, project work and assessment of practice competencies in the clinical setting. We know feedback is essential for your progress and our lectures take pride in giving you clear guidance on how to improve your expertise.
Where you'll study
Your faculty
The Faculty of Health, Education, Medicine and Social Care is the largest in ARU, with over 7,000 students. Our Faculty is teeming with expertise and primed to meet the demand for creating health professionals, teachers, doctors, scientists and educators for the three districts we serve: Chelmsford, Cambridge and Peterborough.
We have been training undergraduates for professional roles for over 25 years, with a reputation for quality, dedication and ambition balanced with student satisfaction.
We know that to give our students the very best experiential learning, prior to getting into the workplace, simulation is second to none, for safe, realistic, learning environments. We have invested heavily in purpose built simulated wards, science labs and skills space, to support our students through their learning.
Where can I study?
Chelmsford
Our striking, modern campus sits by the riverside in Chelmsford's University and Innovation Quarter.
Cambridge
Our campus is close to the centre of Cambridge, often described as the perfect student city.
Fees & funding
Course fees
UK & EU students starting 2020/21 (per year)
£9,250
Additional Costs
- Cost of Disclosure and Barring Services check
- Travel expenses to placements
- Books
- An electronic tablet is required to access course content and undertake assessment in the practice setting
- Sensible shoes (as per uniform policy) and fob watch
- Printing
- Cost of international placement experience (This is an optional experience).
How do I pay my fees?
You can pay your fees in the following ways.
Tuition fee loan
UK and EU students can take out a tuition fee loan, which you won’t need to start repaying until after your graduate. Or alternatively, there's the option to pay your fees upfront.
Funding for UK & EU students
Most new undergraduate students can apply for government funding to support their studies and university life. This includes Tuition Fee Loans and Maintenance Loans. There are additional grants available for specific groups of students, such as those with disabilities or dependants.
From September 2020, nursing, midwifery, operating department practitioner (ODP) and paramedic science students will receive funding of at least £5,000 a year to help with living costs. Some students may be eligible for more, and this money does not have to be repaid.
Entry requirements
Main
- 96 UCAS Tariff points from a minimum of 2 A Levels (or equivalent).
- 3 GCSEs at grade C, or grade 4, or above, including English and Maths.
- To receive an offer of a place on this course you must be successful at interview.
- If English is not your first language you will be expected to demonstrate a certificated level of proficiency of at least IELTS 7.0 ( Academic level with a minimum of 7 in each component) or equivalent English Language qualification, as recognised by Anglia Ruskin University. Please note that the English Language Proficiency Test (ELPT) is not accepted for this course due to Professional Body Restrictions.
- An Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) disclosure will also be required.
- A satisfactory Occupational Health clearance will also be required.
Notes
- If you have already achieved your Access to HE results and are unsure if we can consider you, please contact us.
- A maximum of 8 UCAS Tariff points may come from the Extended Project at Grade A or A*.
- Literacy and numeracy tests are part of the assessment process for entry to this course.
- All applicants to Nursing programmes holding the Access to Higher Education qualification will also require Level 2 Literacy and Numeracy unless you already hold GCSE grade C in Maths and English.
Alternatives
- UCAS Tariff points acquired from BTEC Level 3 Diplomas are accepted.
- UCAS Tariff points from Access to HE Diplomas are accepted.
- International Baccalaureate Diploma with a minimum of 24 points is accepted.
- UCAS Tariff points acquired from the International Baccalaureate Certificate are accepted.
- UCAS Tariff points from Scottish Highers are accepted.
- UCAS Tariff points from Scottish Advanced Highers are accepted.
- UCAS Tariff points from Higher Level Irish Leaving Certificate are accepted.
- OU Credits will be accepted in lieu of A levels (90 credits will be expected in Health or Science subjects) plus 3 GCSEs including English and Mathematics at grade C or above (GCSE Science grade C or above desirable).
- The NMC permits ARU to consider Accreditation for Prior Course or Experiential Learning for up to 50% of the BSc (Hons) Nursing course. If you have undertaken relevant prior study you can apply for this to be considered. Evidence of your previous study (listed below) will be required to assist in the mapping of your previous study to our course. Our team will review this & advise at which point of the course you would be eligible for entry. Please apply through UCAS for Advanced Entry, by selecting Year 2. Evidence required for consideration is as follows: 1. Your reasons for leaving your previous course. Evidenced in your personal statement. 2. Transcript and module information. 3. A reference from your previous course tutor. 4. Official confirmation of practice hours completed.
- If you are already a registered nurse and wish to apply to study a different field of nursing, the NMC will permit accreditation for prior learning for more than 50% (though under ARU 2019, Academic Regulations, accreditation can be for no more than 2/3 of the course to which you are applying). Evidence of registration with the NMC and your previous transcript will be required. You may also be able to demonstrate experiential learning, with a reference from your line manager to support any claims made. Application should be made via UCAS. All claims for accreditation for prior learning must be submitted 12 weeks prior to start date of your course. This applies for both September and January.
Exclusions
- AS points not accepted.
From the above information we will calculate requirements for Scottish/Irish Highers, International, European and Welsh Baccalaureate equivalents so that they are all equitable. We will also accept tariff points from other qualifications on the UCAS tariff such as the Cambridge Pre-U (subject requirements will be assumed to be the same as for A Level).
Applying
All applications must go via UCAS. We accept applications between September and 15 January for the following intake year. Late applications will be considered if places are available.
International applicants
Due to restrictions in the availability of placements in the NHS (UK National Health Service) we are unable to consider applications from international students unless you have, and can produce evidence of, 'Indefinite Leave to Remain in the UK' (or equivalent) and have lived in the UK for three years or more for reasons other than education prior to the course. EEA nationals are welcome to apply.
Interviews
If your application is shortlisted you'll be invited to attend an interview at our University. This will comprise of a talk about the course, a lecture and three mini multiple interviews (MMI). You'll be expected to send scanned copies of your original educational certificates and ID documentation prior to interview and bring the originals to the interview day.
The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)
An enhanced level Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) disclosure is a check with police forces and local authorities in the UK to ascertain whether or not you are suitable to work with certain groups of vulnerable people. These checks are required to be carried out on all prospective students to ensure the safety of our client group.
Further information on DBS disclosure will be sent at a later date if you are successful and firmly accept your place at ARU.
DBS re-checks: As a nursing student on the BSc Honours degree you will be required to undergo DBS screening each year.
Important additional notes
Our published entry requirements are a guide only and our decision will be based on your overall suitability for the course as well as whether you meet the minimum entry requirements. Other equivalent qualifications may be accepted for entry to this course, please email answers@anglia.ac.uk for further information.
We don't accept AS level qualifications on their own for entry to our undergraduate degree courses. However for some degree courses a small number of tariff points from AS levels are accepted as long as they're combined with tariff points from A levels or other equivalent level 3 qualifications in other subjects.
Similar courses that may interest you
Nursing - Adult BSc (Hons)
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