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

21.10.-30.11.2025

Materials

To be announced in the orientation

Teaching methods

Interactive lectures
Guided assignments
Laboration
Simulation
Independent e-learning
Exam

Exam schedules

Exam room 24.-29.11.2025
1st re-exam 12.-18.12.2025
2nd re-exam TBA

Completion alternatives

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

Student workload

5cr = 135h
Emergency care and high dependency nursing (2,5cr = 67,5h)
Lectures: 4 x 4h = 16h
Lab + simulation 2 x 4h
Independent studying and assignments 40h
Exam 2h

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

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

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.