Emergency Care and High Dependency Nursing (5 ECTS)

Objective

Students
- are familiar with legislation related to emergency care and high dependency nursing and understand nurses’ responsibilities and obligations in relation to the patients of emergency care and high dependency nursing
- understand the significant aspects of emergency care and high dependency nursing and the importance of multiprofessional collaboration from the perspective of patient’s overall care
- are familiar with nurses’ key competence areas in nursing of emergency care and high dependency patients
- understand the importance of needs assessment of emergency care patients as part of patient safety
- can implement patient triage categories
- are able to use diagnostic methods for patients in emergency care
- understand the importance of emergency care and high dependency care as part of the acute care patient’s clinical pathway
- can provide information on medical, work-related and population-level exposure to radiation in general terms and interpret radiation risks
- can inform about the quality and extent of exposure to radiation in daily work tasks
- understand the general principles of radiation protection and can apply them to practice

Content

- legislation, significant aspects and nurses’ competence areas in emergency care
- emergency care in primary health care and specialized health care, joint emergency departments
- emergency care and high dependency units, staffing structure, multiprofessional collaboration
- needs assessment of emergency care patients
- triage categories
- laboratory tests, minor procedures (pleural puncture and pleural drain, lumbar puncture)
- nursing care of epidural/spinal anaesthesia patients
- monitoring and care of emergency surgery patients
- radiation safety
- basics of radiation physics and biology and their significance to the use of medical radiation
- effective legislation on the use of medical radiation
- major technical and physical factors affecting radiation safety and procedures related to them in medical situations involving exposure to radiation at work

Location and time

15.9.-10.10.2025

Materials

To be announced in the orientation

Teaching methods

Interactive lectures
Guided assignments
Laboration
Simulation
Independent e-learning
Exam

Exam schedules

The date of the EXAM will be announced in the orientation.
The date of the retake exam will be announced later.

Exam period:
The EXAM can be taken the following week once all parts of the course implementation, such as laboratory work and simulations, have been completed.
You may attempt the retake exam twice on designated retake dates. After that, the course must be retaken. You may improve your course grade once during the first retake exam. A retaken exam cannot be improved further. Retake exams are conducted as EXAM-tests in the exam aquarium.
EXAM Retake 1 and grade improvement exam: The exact date will be confirmed once the course schedule is finalized (approximately one month after the first exam of the course).
EXAM Retake 2: The exact date will be confirmed once the course schedule is finalized (approximately one month after the first retake exam).
Students must familiarize themselves with the EXAM guidelines and follow the instructions when using the EXAM system and the exam aquarium. https://oma.metropolia.fi/henkilokunnalle/strategia-ja-kehityspalvelut/digitalisaatio/ohjelmistojen-ohjeet/exam/exam-opiskelijoille

Completion alternatives

Student can enroll to the course together with the Finnish-speaking group

Student workload

5 cr = 135 h

Emergency care and high dependency nursing (2,5 cr = 67,5 h):
Lectures 4 x 4 h = 16 h
Lab + simulation 2 x 4 h
Independent studying and assignments 40 h
Exam 2 h

Surgical and perioperative nursing (1,5 cr = 40,5 h):
Simulations 2 x 2 h = 4 h
Independent studies for the simulation 8 h
Article assignment 28,5 h

Radiation safety (1 cr = 27 h):
Lectures 4 h
Independent studying and assignment 23 h

Further information

Prerequisites
Medical Nursing Competence
Basic knowledge of Pharmacotherapy

Evaluation scale

0-5

Assessment criteria, satisfactory (1)

See the attachment "Framework for evaluation criteria of competence"

Assessment methods and criteria

Exam 1-5, failed
Simulations and laboratories passed/ failed

Qualifications

Medical Nursing Competence.
Surgical nursing Competence.