Introduction:

Nursing careers in General Practice are open to nurses from all fields and settings. However, despite the current GPN workforce shortages, getting a first position in General Practice often proves challenging; most practices seek nurses who can “hit the ground running” and who possess the requisite experience, knowledge, and skills for working in Primary Care.

Who the course is aimed at: 

This fully online module is supported, recognised, and funded by NHS England. It is aimed at Pre-Registration Student Nurses, Registered Nurses (from all areas of practice), Student Nursing Associates and Nursing Associates.

‘Discovering a Nursing Career in General Practice’ is designed to provide you with an insight into the world of General Practice and what is involved. Upon completion of this module, it is anticipated you will have a good understanding of what it is like to work in Primary Care and will feel more confident about applying for a role in General Practice.  It will also help you to develop the additional knowledge and skills required to become a fully competent nurse working in Primary Care/General Practice.

This module is available at academic levels 6 and 7 with both accredited (20 credits) and non-accredited options available. It is available to individuals from all four fields of nursing: Mental Health; Learning Disability; Adult and Children’s Nursing.

What you will learn: 

Topics include:

• Organisation, funding, history of General Practice and how it fits into the wider health care system.
• Working in the Primary Care environment: in terms of different roles, professions, and activities
• The role of the General Practice Nurse
• Communication skills
• Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion: in terms of population health management, exploring demographic data, working with diverse communities.
• Developing your career in Primary Care/General Practice: applying for jobs and future career options

A key theme of the module is tackling health inequalities. The module assessment consists of small group work, which enables you to develop a proposal for service development to address patient access in underserved population groups. This will involve considering a specific GP practice and its population demographics and barriers to health care for a certain population to propose a service development to address inequalities in access and uptake of services.

How you will learn: 

The module will be delivered synchronously online by Nurse Educators from the South Yorkshire Primary Care Workforce and Training Hub, in partnership with Sheffield Hallam University. The learning content will be delivered through four interactive online sessions; involving presentations, discussion, and simulation of a General Practice Nurse clinic with facilitated small group discussion to support your learning. The assessment for the module also takes place synchronously online (see below).

Sessions will be recorded and made available for asynchronous catch up. Additional learning materials will be available between sessions on Blackboard (BB). You will need to attend a minimum of 50% of the sessions synchronously and catch up on recordings for any sessions missed. The module assessment will consist of the required minimum attendance (50%), a group presentation and an individual reflection on your learning from the module.

To study on this online module, you will require access to a computer with:

• A reliable internet connection with wi-fi
• Microsoft or Apple Mac Supported Office 365 Software
• The current version of Google Chrome
• A computer with a built-in camera, microphone & speaker

There will be a maximum of 30 places available on the module.

Fees and Funding for 2024/25

Further details

For further information please contact the module leader Emma Parker - emma.parker@shu.ac.uk