Overview

This course is designed to created to support practitioners to deliver safe and effective post-operative care in areas such as a Post-Anaesthesia Care Unit (PACU).

The level of care in PACU is usually between ward and intensive care, catering for higher-risk patients in their most vulnerable period after surgery. The course covers relevant assessments and interventions in the immediate post-operative period taking into consideration enhanced recovery principles, risk mitigation, and specialised post-operative care across different surgical specialities.

It has been carefully mapped to the published curricula from the British Anaesthetic & Recovery Nurses Association (BARNA), Critical Care Networks - National Nurse Leads (CC3N) Step 1, the Intensive Care Society (ICS), Health Education England – London, the Perioperative Care Collaborative (PCC), and the Association for Perioperative Practice (AfPP).

Course Aims

This course aims to:

• Provide an academic foundation in support of registered practitioners working with high-risk surgical patients after surgery. 
• Expand on an existing professional practice syllabus, to provide students with an opportunity to explore a number of professional subject areas including:
  • ABCD assessment
  • Principles of enhanced recovery after surgery
  • Pain management
  • Emergencies in the post-operative period
  • Specialist care of surgical patients (in thoracics, liver, colorectal, urology, gynae, ENT/OMFS, neuro, endocrine, vascular, orthopaedic, and obstetric specialities).
• Promote learners’ appreciation and understanding of team dynamics, complex systems and the tenets of safe professional practice associated with caring for high-risk surgical patients.

Who this course is for

This course is aimed at registered non-medical practitioners working perioperative care areas (such as PACU or HDU) catering for high-risk surgical patients. They can be nurses or operating department practitioners new to PACU or wishing to refresh the skills or obtain a postgraduate certificate in the subject area. Other HCPC-registrants (for example physiotherapists) may also be interested in completing the course, provided that they can practice in the role during the 6 months of learning.

Course content

The course will cover the following topics:

• Introduction and Principles of PACU
• Systems Review ABC
• Delirium, Frailty and Care of the Older Person in PACU 
• Managing Pain in the PACU Patient
• Renal Function and Nutrition 
• The PACU Surgical Patient Journey
• Working in PACU 
• A Busy Day in PACU
• Surgical Specialities
• Professional Development in PACU

Teaching and Structure

This flexible course is taught using online material, which learners complete in their own time, within the timeframe of the course.

To complete the clinical practice portfolio and pass this course, learners also need to be mentored while working in the role, benefiting from work-based learning and peer support.

Assessment

The assessment is made up of the following:

• Portfolio (40% of final mark): All competencies must be signed off at a minimum of EPA level 4. Students must pass this component to complete the course.
• Online timed Multiple Choice (MCQ) and Single Best Answer (SBA) Questionnaire (60% of final mark): Students must undertake an online combination of MCQ (50 questions in 50 minutes) and an SBA exam (6 questions in 10 minutes).

The pass mark for all the combined assessments is 50% or higher and students must pass the portfolio assessment.

Entry requirements

Applicants must:

• Hold active registration with the NMC as a nurse or HCPC.
• Maintain current employment in the PACU area, with support from their manager or an agreed placement.
• Local suitable named supervisor, which can be a nurse or ODP with PACU experience or an anaesthetist

All applicants must be able to present a valid proof of identity and right to study in the UK. 

Those who are not UK nationals (or nationals of a UK Home Office mjaority English-speaking country) must also be able to demonstrate they meet UCL's English language requirements.

Credits and CPD

This course carries 15 academic credits (at level 7) which can be accredited towards the UCL PG Cert in Perioperative Medicine Theatre Practice route. In order to complete the PG Cert, you will need to complete three other 15-credits modules. For more information please contact dsis.pgcerttp@ucl.ac.uk or the course lead (carolina.britton@ucl.ac.uk).

For the purposes of professional revalidation, this course corresponds to 150 hours of CPD.

Learning outcomes

By the end of this course you will be able to:

1. Explain how provision of care at PACU aligns with the principles of perioperative medicine, relates to graded levels of patient care, and follows core principles of perioperative risk and of enhanced recovery after surgery.
2. Articulate sophisticated knowledge of postoperative rehabilitation, mental capacity and advance care planning in the context of PACU.
3. Explain how older surgical patients are at increased risk of adverse outcomes due to the impact of frailty and the risk of developing acute confusional states.
4. Translate learning into a consolidated understanding of bedspace safety and of bedside patient care.
5. Formulate applicable insights in expert communication and teamwork in PACU, in both communicating with patients and colleagues, namely by recognising clinical human factors and difficult situations in practice.
6. Judge challenges and risks in the safe transfer of critically ill patients, demonstrating knowledge of how to prepare for a safe transfer, of safe monitoring and dignity during transfer and appropriate safe handover.

Preparation

Before enrolling on the course, learners need to ensure that they have support from their manager to work in supernumerary capacity and suitable mentorship while working in PACU. To discuss any limitations to this requirement, please contact the course team.

Further information

This course is part of a UCL postgraduate programme – the Postgraduate Certificate (PG Cert) in Perioperative Medicine Theatre Practice. Students completing this course can enter their 15 academic credits towards completion of the PG programme, and complete three other modules.

The remaining modules on the PG programme include:

• Landscape of Perioperative Care (15 credits, level 7, core mandatory module)
• Quality, Safety and Leadership in Perioperative Care (15 credits, level 7, core mandatory module)
• The Professional Assistant in Anaesthesia (15 credits, level 7, optional module)
• Enhanced Recovery Room Care (15 credits, level 7, optional module)
• Postoperative Care of the High-Risk Patient (15 credits, level 7, optional module)

For more information please contact dsis.pgcerttp@ucl.ac.uk or the course lead (carolina.britton@ucl.ac.uk).

Course team

Carolina Britton SFHEA MFPCEd MEd MSc RN

Carolina graduated in Nursing in 2004 and completed her PG Cert in Surgical Care Practice and the MSc in Advanced Clinical Practice in 2014. She then graduated from Imperial College London with an MEd in Surgical Education and is currently studying for a PhD at UCL. She has participated in numerous missions abroad, bringing cardiac surgery to children in low-income countries, and teaching local teams. She is currently Postgraduate Education Lead for a very large surgery department. She is also Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Perioperative Practice and a member of the Faculty of Perioperative Practice with the Royal College of Surgeons. She is interested in education in/for Perioperative Practice, leadership development and in research, and she has designed a number of postgraduate and CPD teaching programmes in the UK and internationally.

Nicola Stroud BA(Hons) BSc(Hons) MSc(Oxon)

Nicola has always enjoyed learning, so she explored various academic interests before eventually completing her DipHE in Operating Department Practice in 2011. She then joined a busy Orthopaedic department doing Anaesthetics and Scrub. She specialised in Anaesthetics in 2016 when she moved to a major trauma centre. She oversees a number of education projects within perioperative care and has recently completed an MA in Digital Education. Her interests include technology-enhanced learning, Human Factors, Resus, and pharmacology

Jasper Ballecer BSc PgDip MIH

Jasper is the Senior Nurse for Theatres Education at University College London Hospitals. He qualified as a nurse in 2011 after finishing his nursing degree with honours from St. Paul University Manila. He completed his Postgraduate Diploma in International Health in 2014 and his Master’s degree in the same field, with a specialisation track in Health Promotion, in 2016 from the University of the Philippines. He started his career in community maternity for the first two years after qualifying and has worked extensively thereafter in the operating theatres, across multiple specialties: general surgery, ophthalmics, plastics, ENT and Head & Neck Surgery, and Maxillo-facial Surgery. His interests include education in surgical settings and health promotion and education in different specialty groups.

David Walker BM (Hons) FRCA FRCP PFHEA

David is a professor at UCL working in the Centre for Perioperative Medicine, where he runs a number of educational programmes, courses, and research activities. He practices clinically as a Critical Care and Perioperative Medicine Consultant, with an interest in the high-risk surgical patient. He has worked nationally and internationally on Perioperative Care curricula and runs a large fellowship perioperative medicine programme at University College Hospital.

Course information last modified: 7 Oct 2024, 23:49