Graduate Certificate in Critical Care Nursing (Intensive Care)

Critical care nurses provide essential care to seriously ill patients and their families. It's a specialist role that requires collaboration within an interprofessional team, ensuring patients receive the highest quality care when facing potentially life-threatening conditions.

The Graduate Certificate in Critical Care Nursing (Intensive Care) expands the scope of practice for Registered Nurses. It advances your knowledge, specialist skills and core competencies related to Intensive Care Nursing, which are required to care for patients in this high acuity environment.

Drawing on current evidence-based practice in the care and management of the critically ill, this course will equip you to assess and manage seriously unwell patients. You'll have the opportunity to develop your analytical reasoning and problem-solving skills, as well as your critical care knowledge and capabilities. You'll acquire the skills to analyse and critique delivery of specialist nursing care in the current healthcare context. Through this course, you'll become proficient in using evidence-based nursing knowledge and skills to plan, implement and evaluate the provision of care in critical care environments.

Offered in a blended online and Work-Integrated Learning model, this flexibly delivered course will enable you to competently practice as a critical care registered nurse in accordance with the Australian College of Critical Care Nurses Practice Standards.

This course is not available to international students unless registered under APHRA and working in an Australian accredited health care facility.

The Graduate Certificate in Critical Care Nursing (Intensive Care) draws on scientific knowledge and evidence-based research to develop nursing skills critical for the Intensive Care setting. The course focuses on learning to identify and understand complex physiological problems and develop and implement appropriate, safe and timely solutions.

You will learn how to:

• Review, analyse, consolidate and synthesize knowledge and identify and provide solutions to complex patient-related problems
• Make high level, independent judgements in a range of clinical technical or care management functions
• Initiate, plan, implement and evaluate nursing interventions within their scope of practice in the context of critical care nursing.

Upon completion of the Graduate Certificate in Critical Care Nursing (Intensive Care) you will be able to:

• Apply specialist knowledge and clinical competence in the critical care setting to facilitate patient centred care and ensure optimal clinical outcomes
• Draw on a sound theoretical base to inform your nursing practice in dynamic, complex and demanding critical care environments
• Comprehensively assess and care for patients with life-threatening health problems using informed and advanced clinical judgement and skills
• Utilise and evaluate qualitative and quantitative health research to determine best evidence for critical care nursing practice
• Justify and prioritise clinical decisions using evidence-based data to ensure professional integrity and ethical nursing practice.

By specialising in Intensive Care Nursing, you will:

• Participate in continuous learning to practice safe and effective critical care nursing thorough enhancing critical thinking, clinical skills and knowledge
• Develop leadership, mentoring and educational skills to contribute to high standard critical care practice and facilitate quality improvement in the healthcare setting.

This course has been designed specifically for:

• Division 1 Registered Nurses with AHPRA or equivalent registration with an international health practitioner regulation agency.

To be eligible for the Graduate Certificate in Critical Care Nursing (Intensive Care) you must be nominated by your hospital to support you to undertake the clinical component of the course. Speak with your Education Manager or Clinical Nurse Educator to confirm that your hospital is willing to support your course enrolment.

For more information and clarification about this process, contact our Student Support team via the below enquiry form.

It takes about 20 minutes to complete the form using the online application system.

You can save your work in progress and complete the application at a later date.

Once you initiate an application, you will be assigned a personal student support consultant who will guide you through the process.