Master of Nursing Science

This subject introduces students to the historical foundations and broad frameworks which shape the scope and dimensions of nursing. It takes a lifespan approach to key areas of practice, including child and adolescent health, aged care and mental health. Regulatory, legal and ethical frameworks that guide professional practice are examined. International, national and local politico-legal and economic factors that impact on the healthcare system and the sustainable provision of health services within in-patient and community settings are explored. Population health, health promotion and health literacy are considered within the National Health Priorities. Principles of cultural diversity and safety are explored. Emphasis is also given to the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations. Using experiential learning, students will develop general interaction and therapeutic communication skills that enable them to perform nursing assessments and engage in supportive interventions that demonstrate cultural competence and are appropriate to patient/client emotions, cues and educational needs. Students will gain an understanding of human development across the lifespan, theories of coping and adaptation, therapeutic relationships, and patient and carer perspectives. Throughout, students are encouraged to explore and reflect upon their own values and beliefs about health and illness.

Please note that this subject is delivered as an intensive at the beginning of semester.

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This subject aims to introduce students to the history and culture of the Australian Indigenous peoples in the context of a common global Indigenous experience of colonisation. Students undertaking this subject will develop an increased awareness of colonisation and how it influences nursing practice and impacts upon the health and wellbeing of the Indigenous peoples of Australia. When engaging with this subject, students will develop knowledge and skills to be able to apply principles of cultural safety and cultural competence to professional nursing practice.

Further, it is envisaged that students will develop lifelong culturally responsive capacity and capability to work with and for Indigenous Australian Peoples of Australia.

This subject was developed in accordance with ANMAC Accreditation Standards and the University of Melbourne, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences Indigenous Curriculum Framework.

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The subject aims to develop students’ knowledge, skill and application within the context of nursing care provided to clients/patients experiencing acute health problems. Students will develop their capabilities in client/patient assessment, data collection, nursing problem identification and evidence-based application of relevant nursing interventions. Students will develop abilities to work in interprofessional collaboration with medicine and allied health to deliver safe, effective, evidence-based collaborative care.

Throughout the subject there will be a focus on understanding the health care system, including digital health components, factors that can affect patient outcomes and the importance of identifying, critically appraising and integrating evidence into clinical practice. Using safety and quality as a framework, students will examine trends in critical incidents that result in adverse outcomes for patients locally and globally. Students will be introduced to emerging strategies in health care that seek to improve safety and quality and consider the role of the nurse in leading these efforts at a clinical and organisational level.

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In this subject students will develop professional behaviours, knowledge and clinical skills to enable them to perform comprehensive health assessment across the lifespan using a culturally sensitive nursing framework. Students will gain an understanding of nurses’ roles and responsibilities in a variety of clinical settings in which nursing takes place including general practice, aged care, community and acute care settings. Students will be introduced to the recovery-oriented model of nursing, develop skills in physical assessment techniques, data collection, problem identification, prioritisation, framing and solving and the documentation of data collected during health assessment.

The focus in this subject is on assessment findings to enable students to identify variations to these. Students commence the development of knowledge and skills related to therapeutic medication administration, the principles of the ‘quality use of medicines’ and drug administration for selected medications.

In the simulated learning laboratory, through facilitated clinical practice, students will develop skills relating to a comprehensive systems-based patient physical and health assessment, infection prevention, basic nursing interventions and enteral medication administration.

During the professional experience placement, under the guidance of clinical educators and clinical preceptors, students will gain experience in settings that enable them to meet the learning objectives of this subject.

The major focus for the professional experience placement component of this subject is the integration of the principles of health assessment, safe and effective clinical decision-making and basic nursing interventions. On completion of the subject it is expected that students, while providing therapeutic interventions, are able to incorporate the further collection of health assessment data and adjust care accordingly.

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This subject examines the normal physiological function of body systems and students are introduced to applications of anatomy and physiology as means of understanding responses and adaptations to environmental and internal stresses and different types of injuries. Students engage in discussion on the integrated responses of anatomical structures and physiological responses across the lifespan and how these translate to clinical signs and symptoms and inform relevant nursing interventions.

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This subject is designed to meet the needs of nurses and other clinically-based healthcare professionals seeking further education in identifying and critically appraising research as evidence to inform their clinical practice. The subject aims to facilitate the development of knowledge and skills that will allow students to incorporate reliable and trustworthy evidence into their clinical decision making.

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This subject extends upon prior knowledge regarding human anatomy and physiology by examining a range of pathophysiological processes in the human body systems and their impact on the body’s structure and function. Students will engage in discussion of the human body’s integrated responses, compensatory mechanisms and adaptations to various disease processes. Students will be challenged to consider how these pathophysiological processes and the body’s responses translate to clinical signs and symptoms relevant to nursing practice, and are used to rationalise nursing interventions.

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The subject aims to help students develop knowledge, skill and application within the context of nursing care provided to people living with chronic health conditions. Students will explore contemporary approaches to the management of chronic health conditions including the establishment of collaborative, person-centred partnerships with persons living with chronic health conditions. Students will also build on their pre-existing capabilities in interprofessional experiences with medicine and allied health to deliver safe, effective, evidence-based collaborative care.

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This is a capstone subject in which students will further consolidate and apply the knowledge they have acquired throughout the degree through case-based learning scenarios which feature complex patient health problems.

The capstone experience is in the form of a professional e-portfolio where throughout the academic year and throughout their clinical placement practice students must reflect on their evolving practice within the context of Nursing and Midwifery Registered Nurse Standard of Practice 2018. In the clinical skills laboratory students will refine and consolidate their procedural skills, including basic life support and advanced life support simulations, utilising a self-directed learning approach.

Under the guidance of clinical educators and preceptors, students focus on the transition from nursing student to registered nurse with the goal of achieving readiness to practice as a registered nurse. Through these clinical placements, students have an opportunity to apply knowledge and skills to solve problems that arise in practical settings and professional contexts and develop an integrated understanding of knowledge and practice.

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This subject provides an overview of methodologies useful for researching health and nursing practice and will equip students with a broad appreciation of the many aspects of clinical research. The subject will explore how research questions arise from practice, why specific methodologies are used, how studies are conducted, and how to obtain, interpret and report data. The focus of this subject is developing skills in the design and conduct of original research in an area of practice that is of interest to the student and for the student to have the confidence to communicate how the proposed research will contribute to the advancement of nursing knowledge.

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This subject is designed to provide the theoretical foundation for entry into specialist mental health nursing practice. Students will explore the legal, policy and ethical frameworks, within which mental health care is provided. Students will extend their understanding of bio-psycho-social factors, related to mental health and illness and to the nosology within diagnostic structures of psychiatry.

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This subject provides a foundation for understanding the pathologic basis of disease across the lifespan.

It equips learners with the knowledge and skills required to explain assessment data and prioritise patient care in a specialty area of practice based on scientific principles.

Core pathophysiological concepts covered will include: cellular responses to stress; adaptation, injury and death; acute and chronic inflammation; tissue renewal and repair; infection; neoplasia; haemodynamic, genetic and immune system disorders and genetic predisposition to disease.

Using a case study based approach, learners will be provided with opportunities to apply their knowledge
in one or more of the following specialty areas of nursing practice.

• Paediatrics
• Paediatric Intensive Care
• Neonatal Intensive Care
• Critical Care
• Emergency Care
• Rural Critical Care
• Oncology and Palliative Care
• Cardiorespiratory
• Renal

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This subject supports the development of advanced nursing practice knowledge in the quality use of medicines by exploring the clinical and social contexts for the safe use of medicines. The subject meets the needs of multiple cohorts of students with varying levels of experience and scope of practice. It extends students' knowledge of social and ethical principles of medication management and allows the student to explore how these principles are applied in the nursing practice setting. Furthermore, this subject incorporates application of science to clinically relevant context with a focus on medication management and supporting prescribing.

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This subject provides the theoretical foundation for entry into specialty critical care nursing including emergency and intensive care.

Students will gain essential knowledge to plan, monitor and evaluate nursing interventions, including how to recognise and respond to clinical deterioration and medical emergencies.

Students will integrate essential knowledge explored in this subject and its pre-requisite, Applied Pathophysiology, with principles of patient assessment, scientific advances in treatment and management strategies including pharmacotherapeutics.

Patient and family perspectives of acute illness and disease will be considered in the development and implementation of nursing interventions and inter-disciplinary care planning.

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This subject provides an introduction to the fundamentals of sexual and reproductive health (SRH) from a public health perspective. Globally minded but locally focused, this subject examines the burden of disease associated with SRH and critically analyses significant factors of influence on SRH at the community and broader societal levels, including sexuality, violence, gender and sexual rights. Topics such as unmet need for contraception, fertility control, sex work and female cutting will also be covered. The development, implementation and evaluation of effective public health programs aimed at improving the SRH of communities will also be explored in the subject.

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The focus of this subject is to utilise an ecological approach to understand the importance of family relationships when assessing, planning, and implementing the health care needs of children. The effects of social disadvantage on the child and family will be explored with special emphasis on families of children with special needs.

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Healthcare is information intensive. Health data are generated, shared, consumed, and stored in a variety of partially overlapping complex networks. Healthcare lags behind many other sectors, despite efforts to use digital technologies to shape and improve health data and information processes since the middle of the 20th Century. The need for digital transformation of health is driven by socio-economic concerns (making healthcare more accessible and affordable) and patient safety (reducing medical errors, and redundant and ineffective interventions).

This subject introduces the background, current state, and future opportunities of digital health. It provides a basic understanding of health and disease and how individuals experience both. It explores the nature of biomedical data, information, and knowledge - and how digital technologies are shaping the way these are used. Digital health technologies are examined from ethical, historical, technological, and psycho-social perspectives, considering positive and negative impacts.

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This subject focuses on how the body and its systems are affected by ageing and explores the differences between the natural ageing process and physical changes that develop as a result of illness with older persons. Students will also examine the effects of the environment and lifestyle factors on musculoskeletal, cardiorespiratory and neurological systems that contribute to the experience of ageing and to the individual’s capability to engage with their participation preferences. Understanding the common impairments and physiological changes behind them that occur as part of ageing process provides students with a fundamental base to critically analyse as well as develop strategies for healthy ageing and disease prevention.

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In this subject the implications of mental health and ageing are explored from a range of perspectives. Lectures will place mental health and ageing within a lifespan framework with an emphasis on both cognitive changes in later life and consideration of other challenges to mental health as people age, including inequality and marginalisation. The subject will also focus on issues such as the high rates of suicide among older men, the impact of loneliness and social isolation on mental health, and human rights, particularly supported decision making. Integrated and multidisciplinary approaches, and community and population based strategies, to prevent and respond to age related cognitive decline and other common mental health problems in older people will be introduced. This subject also will consider strategies to support an ageing worldwide population, including mental health promotion.

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This elective subject will introduce the speciality area of substance use and addiction, exploring the interaction between substance use, health and socio-cultural and political systems, and the role of the clinician in working with and supporting consumers, carers and communities. This subject will introduce the types of substances associated with addiction, and evidenced-based approaches to the screening, assessment, formulation, treatment interventions, and associated risks. There will be a focus on recovery principles and cultural competence to support and empower consumers and their families/carers.

The subject aims to facilitate the development of knowledge and skills that will help students to become competent and confident to work with individuals with substance use and behaviours of addiction, in a variety of health care settings.

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This subject is designed to promote an understanding of the theoretical aspects of neonatal care to support safe practice in caring for neonatal patients. Students will explore the impact of hospitalisation on neonates and their families. A primary focus of the subject will be the assessment of the neonatal patient presenting with common neonatal conditions associated with preterm birth as well as the care of the sick neonate in the neonatal intensive care unit. This subject will explore neonatal transition, stabilisation of the compromised newborn, respiratory diseases, congenital anomalies, peripartum hypoxia and common conditions presenting in the neonatal period. Student will focus on accurate assessment of the newborn and initiating infant interventions and family centred care at a beginning level of practice. Evidence underpinning neonatal practice as well as the technical and scientific knowledge that is a pre-requisite for skill development will be explored throughout the subject.

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Psychotherapy Essentials is designed to strengthen students’ mental health practice and complement existing clinical skills. This online subject incorporates consumer scholarship, psychodynamic concepts and introduces students to the common factors across psychotherapies from humanistic traditions. Psychotherapy Essentials equips students with a comprehensive, coherent and contemporary set of psychotherapy skills to support consumers personal recovery journeys. These skills are explored through topics integral to contemporary mental health, such as: trauma-informed care, recovery-alliance, attachment and neuroplasticity.

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This subject is designed to promote the development of foundation theoretical knowledge for the specialist nursing of people affected by cancer. Key concepts explored in this subject include cancer biology, diagnosis, and treatment planning, underpinned by the principles of cure, control, and symptom management. Cancer epidemiology is explained with a focus on cancer control in specific populations, including First Nations Australians. Surgery, systemic anticancer therapies and radiation therapy are examined as core treatments and elements of a multi-modal approach in the management of cancers. The physical and psychosocial impacts of diagnosis and treatment on people with cancer and their family are explored, as are opportunities to develop knowledge and skills to enhance the experience of survivors. Emphasis is placed on health assessment and implementing and evaluating patient-centred care through the delivery of evidence-based nursing interventions across the disease trajectory.

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This subject is designed to promote an understanding of the theoretical aspects of neonatal care to support safe practice in caring for neonatal patients. Students will explore the impact of hospitalisation on neonates and their families. A primary focus of the subject will be the assessment of the neonatal patient presenting with common neonatal conditions associated with preterm birth as well as the care of the sick neonate in the neonatal intensive care unit. This subject will explore neonatal transition, stabilisation of the compromised newborn, respiratory diseases, congenital anomalies, peripartum hypoxia and common conditions presenting in the neonatal period. Student will focus on accurate assessment of the newborn and initiating infant interventions and family centred care at a beginning level of practice. Evidence underpinning neonatal practice as well as the technical and scientific knowledge that is a pre-requisite for skill development will be explored throughout the subject.

View detailed information in the Handbook