Unit rationale, description and aim
This unit prepares students to provide advanced, people-centred care within contemporary medical nursing environments. Medical settings are increasingly characterised by complex patient presentations, rapid clinical change, and the need for culturally responsive, ethical, and collaborative approaches to care. To meet these demands, nurses require advanced knowledge, clinical reasoning, and the ability to work effectively within interprofessional teams.
In this unit, students will critically examine the principles of interprofessional collaboration and shared decision-making that underpin equitable, patient- and family-centred care. Students will evaluate complex ethical issues, emerging practices, and contemporary challenges in medical nursing to develop context-responsive solutions that enhance patient outcomes. Emphasis is placed on the leadership role of the medical nursing specialist in upholding professional standards, advocating for safe and ethical care, and guiding evidence-based practice within diverse clinical contexts.
The aim of this unit is to enable students to integrate advanced knowledge, critical reflection, and ethical reasoning to deliver culturally responsive, evidence-based medical nursing care and to lead practice improvements in dynamic healthcare environments.
Campus offering
No unit offerings are currently available for this unit.Learning outcomes
To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.
Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.
Explore the graduate capabilities.
Critically apply principles of interprofessional c...
Learning Outcome 01
Critically evaluate complex ethical problems, info...
Learning Outcome 02
Critically examine and justify the leadership role...
Learning Outcome 03
Critically evaluate and apply evidence to inform c...
Learning Outcome 04
Content
Topics will include:
- Key Concepts in Advanced Medical Nursing Practice and Evidence-Based Care
- Introduction to Advanced Practice Nursing (APN)
- Role of the medical nursing specialist
- Professional identity, standards, and development
- Translating evidence into practice collaboration (IPE), communication, and shared decision-making (SDM)
- Family centred care and culturally responsive care
- Care for Older Persons in Acute Settings
- Age-related physiological changes
- Common clinical problems in older adults
- Cognitive impairment and dementia
- Family-centred care and cultural safety/linguistic diversity
- Ethical considerations in geriatric care
- Ethics and Ethical practice
- Health professionals’ codes of professional conduct
- Health professionals’ codes of ethical conduct
- Ethics, ethical issues and ethical decision-making
- Clinical Governance and high-quality care in Medical Nursing
- Safety, quality, and harm minimisation (NSQHS Standards)
- Australian accreditation standards in harm and risk mitigation
- Falls and pressure injuries: assessment, prevention, and management
- Hospital-acquired infections (HAIs)
- Principles of infection prevention
- Antimicrobial stewardship in advanced practice
- Patient deterioration and resuscitation
- Emergency Events in Oncology and Palliative Care
- Recognition and management of:
- Spinal cord compression
- Superior vena cava obstruction
- Hypercalcaemia
- Acute airway obstruction
- Sudden severe haemorrhage
- Tumour lysis syndrome
- Ethical decision-making in acute oncology/palliative emergencies
- End-of-Life Care and Bereavement in Medical Nursing
- Planning and preparing for death
- Commencing palliative care
- Final moments and bereavement support
- Psychosocial, cultural, and ethical impacts
- Moral distress and support for clinicians
- Discharge Planning and Care Across Diverse Populations
- Person-centred discharge planning
- Managing complex needs and barriers
- Care considerations for:
- Paediatric
- Obstetric
- Neurodiverse
- Gender diverse
- Primary care principles and rural/remote nursing practice
- Leadership, Ethics, Wellbeing and Self Care in Advanced Medical Practice
- Leadership and mentorship in APN roles
- Clinical decision-making and autonomy
- Recognising burnout and compassion fatigue
- Impact on clinical decision-making and patient safety
- Strategies for resilience, peer support, and reflective practice
Assessment strategy and rationale
The assessment strategy uses two scaffolded written assignments to develop advanced clinical reasoning, interprofessional collaboration and shared decision‑making, ethical analysis, leadership, and evidence‑based practice in medical nursing. Assessment Task 1 introduces critical analysis through an ethical dilemma, requiring students to apply collaborative and shared decision‑making principles to deliver culturally responsive, people‑ and family‑centred care. This task strengthens high‑level ethical reasoning and the ability to inform context‑responsive solutions to complex care needs.
The second assessment task requires students to provide a comprehensive case analysis that integrates advanced knowledge, critical evaluation of evidence, and justification of leadership actions in complex clinical contexts. Students apply research to inform context‑responsive, evidence‑based interventions and articulate the advanced clinical nurse’s role in advocating for safe, ethical practice.
The scaffolded approach reflects AQF Level 8 expectations by emphasising synthesis of theory and practice, autonomy in clinical decision‑making, and scholarly engagement with complex healthcare challenges. To pass the unit, students must demonstrate achievement of every unit learning outcome and obtain a minimum mark of 50% in graded units.
Overview of assessments
Assessment Task 1: Written Assignment This asses...
Assessment Task 1: Written Assignment
This assessment involves analysing a real-world case with an ethical dilemma. Critically examine clinical practices, ethical principles, and interprofessional collaboration. Evaluate the shared decision-making process and whether culturally safe, equitable, people- and family-centred outcomes were achieved.
30%
Assessment Task 2: Written Assignment This wri...
Assessment Task 2:
Written Assignment
This written case study involves analysing the care of a complex medical patient with a variation in health status. It assesses the ability to critically evaluate literature, analyse and justify the advanced practice nurse’s role in harm minimisation, quality and safety, propose evidence-based, culturally responsive interventions aligned with people-centred care and shared decision-making.
70%
Learning and teaching strategy and rationale
This online unit adopts active learning strategies to support students in developing advanced clinical reasoning, ethical decision-making, and evidence-based practice. Learning activities are designed to reflect the complexity of real-world healthcare environments, including primary care and rural/remote contexts, where adaptability and autonomy are essential. Students will engage with culturally safe, equitable, and people-centred care through structured online discussions and reflective activities. The unit highlights the specialist medical nurse’s role in interprofessional collaboration, risk assessment, harm mitigation, and leadership in evidence-informed practice, aligned with the National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) Standards. The flexible delivery model ensures accessibility for working professionals while providing expert academic support. Collaborative online discussions foster shared learning, professional networking, and the development of a forward-thinking, people-centred nursing practice.