Nursing and Midwifery Postgraduate Diploma Programmes

For all Postgraduate Diploma (PGDip) in Nursing & Midwifery programmes, the following admission criteria apply:

• a four-year bachelor’s degree in Nursing or have a qualification recognised by Senate as equivalent to the above.
• Registration as a General Nurse (R683) Legacy Qualification OR a Staff Nurse (new qualification R171); AND Midwife (R254 Legacy Qualification OR Advanced Diploma in Midwifery new qualification) will be considered for admission via the RPL admission route.
• Evidence of a personal portfolio of prior learning, including evidence of attendance at courses for which certificates or diplomas were issued; evidence of prior work experience and a clinical problem-solving exercise proving critical-thinking abilities, reading, and writing skills to be considered for admission via the RPL admission route.
• be registered with the South African Nursing Council (SANC) as a nurse and midwife.
• International applicants - registration with the South African Nursing Council (SANC) is required for applicants from outside South Africa.
• Two years’ post-registration experience as a registered nurse and midwife which includes at least two years of experience in the field of the speciality within the last five years. This excludes the community service year.
• have an approved level of basic computer literacy.
• show evidence of English literacy.                                       

Documents required

1. Curriculum vitae, including names and contact details of referees and evidence of clinical experience.
2. A personal portfolio of prior learning, including evidence of attendance at courses for which certificates or diplomas were issued; evidence of prior work experience and a clinical problem-solving exercise proving critical-thinking abilities, reading, and writing skills to be considered for admission via the RPL admission route.
3. Academic certificates - All professional (Nursing and Midwifery) qualifications.
4. Academic transcripts - All professional (Nursing and Midwifery) qualifications.
5. Professional registration certificate/s – Certificate/s of registration with the South African Nursing Council, and current practising license.
6. International applicants to submit certificate of registration with their national regulatory body for Nursing and Midwifery.
7. Evidence of professional indemnity insurance.
8. A letter of support from their employer granting the applicant study leave for the period of the programme. This is not necessary for a self-funding applicant.
9. Computer literacy
10. English literacy

APPLICATION LINK

FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE LINK

1) Leading Quality and Safety in Midwifery (16 credits): Leading Quality and Safety in Midwifery is a course that aims to provide students with the knowledge and skills to take a leadership role in ensuring high quality patient care and safety in maternity and neonatal health care settings. This course will facilitate application of knowledge in the core course, to planning and implementing policies, protocols and appropriate evidence-based care within settings where healthcare is provided to children and families. Clinical governance and resource stewardship are core to quality and safety and to this course.  It includes skills of accessing and utilising published data and research, data generated from day-to-day midwifery practice and epidemiological data pertaining to maternal and neonatal health and the provision of healthcare to childbearing women and neonates. This will be offered in the context of navigating processes of change management and leading practice improvement initiatives at unit level. All teaching and learning is placed within the context of ethico-legal frameworks and includes robust discussion and adherence to ethical principles, and the Declaration of Helsinki [1].

2) Principles of Midwifery (40 credits): This course subscribes to a Midwifery model of care where midwives work in partnership with women and their families to promote healthy pregnancy and normal physiological birth, to support the mother-infant dyad, and to facilitate the family to develop the new relationships brought about by the birth of a new member. A variety of approaches to offering care in various contexts, and at different levels of the health system, are included to assist the student to develop clinical leadership and advocacy using current evidence. This course will also prepare the student to manage complications of pregnancy and emergencies, to initiate appropriate care, and to work in a multi-professional team. This course will build on prior knowledge of clinical sciences and develop this further in relation to pregnancy and the various life stages from pre-conception, embryo, and fetus through to the neonate, in order to have a firm foundation on which to base clinical practice. This will include biosciences, pharmacology and their application to pregnancy and the developing fetus, health and illness assessment, developmental assessment and family assessment. This course will also include the use of appropriate technology and the evidence of its use. The course examines the philosophical foundations of Midwifery, considers various local and international approaches to organizing maternity care, as well as the legislative and regulatory framework for Midwifery. Using available local, national and international data, key issues affecting maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality are identified and appropriate Midwifery responses are developed.

3) Midwifery Practice (40 credits): The aim of this course is to apply the knowledge of the clinical sciences and Midwifery theory base to enhance clinical judgement, and to optimise the experience of pregnancy and childbirth for pregnant women, their babies and their families. In addition to the assessment skills developed in the clinical sciences course, guided practice and simulation will enable students to manage various birth positions and presentations, master the facilitation of alternative birthing positions, and obtain skills to manage obstetric and neonatal emergencies. A range of clinical learning activities outside traditional institutional settings include childbirth education, postnatal home visits, lactation and support, and others. Teaching ward rounds and student responsibility for patient presentations enhance the capacity to develop a whole person response to the care of the individual/dyad concerned.

1) Principles of Children’s Nursing (40 Credits): Focuses on evidence-based knowledge, understanding and skills core to the practice of nursing children, intentionally supportive of the mother-child dyad and using the primary healthcare approach in each encounter with children and their families. It includes the integration of biomedical and psychosocial sciences, and related pathophysiology and pharmacology as these pertain to growth and development of the growing and maturing child. It ensures a developing knowledge base of communicating with infants, children, parents and families in ways that promote health while working as an active contributory member of the interprofessional team. A family-centered approach is integral to the course.  
The course is structured to ensure a sound knowledge of normal health and development, to recognize deteriorating health and illness in children as this guides the Child Nurse Specialist with an approach to assessment, diagnosis, plan for intervention, care and when appropriate referral to the next levels of care; primary, secondary, and tertiary. It includes an understanding of WHO and national child health approaches and programmes and essential management in local child health care settings.
Principles of adult education underpin classroom, online and clinical learning experiences. Students are assisted towards self-directed learning that also builds clinical judgment. In clinical areas and in work-integrated learning (WIL) activities, challenging and versatile experiential learning opportunities are carefully designed within all clinical  settings; primary, secondary and tertiary health care settings and in the community.

2) Children’s Nursing Practice (40 Credits): Focuses on the clinical skills refined by research- and practice-based evidence, knowledge and understanding as these are applied in the practice of nursing infants and children, intentionally supportive of the mother-child dyad, and using the primary healthcare approach in each encounter with children and their families. The course includes integration of biomedical and psychosocial sciences to do a full assessment of the child and family, related throughout the developmental phase of the infant, child and adolescent as these affect health and illness. Recognition of deterioration and emergency care related to children are included.  Students are mentored in the skill of astute and perpetual observation, accurate assessment, individualized planning, execution and evaluation of children’s nursing care.
The course includes intentional application to and learning in actual clinical settings in African health systems where children receive care with a focus on quality and safety in efficient ways. It ensures the development of skills to communicate in teams, and with infants, children, parents and families in ways to promote health. It includes skills required for appropriate referral to the next levels of care, primary, secondary and tertiary. It includes an appropriate level of competency in WHO and National Child Health approaches and programmes and essential management in local child health care settings.
This course will complement knowledge, skills and insights gained during other courses in this programme.

3) Leading Quality & Safety in Children’s Nursing (16 Credits): Aims to provide students with the knowledge and skills to take a leadership role in ensuring high quality patient care and safety in children’s’ health care settings. The content of this includes planning and implementing policies, protocols and appropriate evidenced based care within settings where healthcare is provided to children and families. When a child is ill and particularly when in hospital, the family system is in distress.
Clinical governance and resource stewardship are core to quality and safety.  The course will facilitate the skills of accessing and utilising published research data, data generated from day-to-day nursing practice and epidemiological data pertaining to child health and the provision of healthcare to children.
Students will be supported in exploring, and where feasible, in navigating processes of change management and leading practice improvement initiatives at unit level. All teaching and learning occur within the context of ethical-legal frameworks and includes robust discussion and an understanding of children as a vulnerable population in terms of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child (1998) and the Declaration of Helsinki (World Medical Association, 2013).

World Medical Association 2013. WMA Declaration of Helsinki – Ethical Principles for Medical research Involving Human Subjects. Journal of the American Medical Association e1-e4.

1) Leading quality and safety in child critical care nursing (16 credits): Leading Quality and Safety in Children’s Critical Care Nursing is a course that aims to provide students with the knowledge and skills to take a leadership role in ensuring high quality patient care and safety in children’s’ health care settings. This course will facilitate application of knowledge in the core course, to planning and implementing policies, protocols and appropriate evidenced based care within settings where healthcare is provided to children and families. All teaching and learning is placed within the context of ethical-legal frameworks and includes robust discussion and adherence to ethical principles, and the Declaration of Helsinki [1].

2) Principles of child critical care nursing (40 credits): This course focuses on evidence-based knowledge, understanding, and skills core to the practice of nursing critically ill children, intentionally supportive of the mother-child dyad, and using the primary healthcare approach in each encounter with children and their families. The course is structured to ensure a clear understanding of deterioration from onset of critical illness or injury, stabilisation, transfer and ongoing critical care. It includes the integration of biomedical and psychosocial sciences, and related pathophysiology and pharmacology, as these pertain to growth and development of the growing and maturing child and ensures a developing knowledge base in communicating with infants, children, parents and families in ways that promote health while working as an active, contributory member of the inter-professional team. A family-centred approach is integral to the course.

3) Child critical care nursing practice (40 credits): This course focuses on the clinical skills refined by research- and practice-based evidence, knowledge and understanding as these are applied in the practice of nursing critically ill infants and children, intentionally supportive of the mother-child dyad, and using the primary healthcare approach in each encounter with children and their families. The course includes integration of biomedical and psychosocial sciences to do a full assessment of the child, related throughout to the developmental phases of the infant, child and adolescent as these relate to health, illness and critical illness. Recognition of deterioration and emergency care related to children are included. Students are mentored in the skill of astute and perpetual observation, accurate assessment, individualized planning, execution and evaluation of children’s nursing care.

1) Leading Quality and Safety in Nephrology Nursing (40 Credits): Aims to provide students with the knowledge and skills to take a leadership role in ensuring high quality patient care and safety in renal health care settings. This course will facilitate application of knowledge from the core Foundations of Specialist Practice (FSP) course, to planning and implementing policies, protocols and appropriate evidence-based care within settings where renal healthcare is provided to persons of all ages. Clinical governance and resource stewardship are core to quality and safety and to this course. It includes skills of accessing and utilising published data and research, data generated from day-to-day nephrology nursing practice and epidemiological data pertaining to renal health and the provision of renal healthcare services to persons of all ages.

Students are encouraged to participate in raising awareness of kidney disease on World Kidney Day with the emphasis on risk factors such as family history or age, co-morbidities such as diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity or other kidney or immune conditions, ethnicity and lifestyle habits.
Students will be supported in exploring, and where feasible, navigating processes of change management and leading practice improvement initiatives at unit level. All teaching and learning are placed within the context of ethical-legal frameworks and includes robust discussion and adherence to ethical principles, and the Declaration of Helsinki 2. This course will complement knowledge, skills and insights gained during other courses in this programme.

2) Nephrology Nursing Principles (40 Credits): Aimed at the acquisition of knowledge (terms, concepts, and principles), skills and attitudes related to nephrology nursing practice for adults and children in all renal healthcare settings, to inform clinical judgement and clinical decision-making, and to ensure patient safety.

Links between the biosciences, technology, and nephrology nursing practice are explored. Application of knowledge of the biosciences and technology will inform clinical decision-making. The intention is the development of a clear understanding of the reasons for every action and the progressive development of skilful practice in health assessment, diagnosis of certain renal conditions, management, and appropriate referral.
In primary healthcare settings, main concepts include health promotion with the emphasis on promoting renal health, principles of the primary healthcare approach, prevention of renal conditions and end-stage kidney failure, and the rehabilitation and psychosocial considerations for individuals of all ages, families and communities.

In secondary and tertiary care settings, main concepts include research-based evidence renal nursing care of patients with end-stage kidney failure receiving various modalities of renal replacement therapy. The course prepares the student to engage in exploring the effects of chronic kidney failure on family dynamics in the primary, secondary and tertiary settings.
This course will complement knowledge, skills and insights gained during other courses in this programme.

3) Practice of Nephrology Nursing (40 Credits): Aim is the application of knowledge of biosciences technology, and to inform clinical judgement and clinical decision-making in Nephrology nursing practice in all healthcare settings to ensure patient safety. Emphasis is on the whole person approach, deliverance of quality care, and patient safety. Different educational strategies will be explored for the treatment of patients with end-stage kidney failure receiving various modalities of renal replacement therapy.

This course equips the nephrology nursing practitioner to apply learnt knowledge and skills in the clinical laboratory setting using simulation, and in the clinical practice under the mentorship of a clinical facilitator. Students incrementally develop skills as specialist practitioners alongside other team members within the healthcare system to become safe competent practitioners.
Students gain experience in providing renal screening, physical examination, and in-service training in primary renal care to primary healthcare workers. In secondary and tertiary renal settings, students use evidence-based studies to holistically nurse renal patients of all ages who are receiving various modalities of renal replacement therapy, including their family.

Palliative and end-of-life care is provided with sensitivity and cultural relevance.
This course will complement knowledge, skills and insights gained during other courses in this programme.

1) Leading Quality and Safety in Ophthalmic Nursing (16 credits): The Leading Quality and Safety in Ophthalmic Nursing course aims to provide students with the knowledge and skills to take a leadership role in ensuring high quality patient care and safety in eye healthcare settings. This course will facilitate application of knowledge in the core course, to planning and implementing policies, protocols and appropriate evidenced based care within settings where eye care is provided to persons of all ages.

Clinical governance and resource stewardship are core to quality and safety and to this course. It includes skills of accessing and utilising published data and research, data generated from day-to-day Ophthalmic Nursing practice and epidemiological data pertaining to ophthalmology and the provision of eye health services to persons of all ages.
            

This will be offered in the context of navigating processes of change management and leading practice improvement initiatives at unit level. All teaching and learning are placed within the context of ethical-legal frameworks and includes robust discussion and adherence to ethical principles and the Declaration of Helsinki. [1] An understanding of persons requiring eye healthcare as a vulnerable population will be emphasized throughout the course.  

2) Principles of Ophthalmic Nursing (40 credits): This course aims to achieve competency in assessment and history taking of persons of all ages who have an eye condition. The evidence-based course includes anatomy, pathophysiology, microbiology, ophthalmic pharmacology, optics, technology, psycho-social aspects of healthcare, research, ethics and specialist ophthalmic nursing. This includes acquisition of knowledge (terms, concepts, and principles), skills and attitudes related to ophthalmic nursing practice in all healthcare settings. In primary healthcare settings, main concepts include a whole-person centred approach for health promotion with the emphasis on promoting eye health, principles of the primary healthcare approach, prevention of eye conditions and avoidable blindness. The development of independence is fostered. Psychosocial considerations of visual impairment are emphasised for individuals of all ages, families and communities. In secondary and tertiary care settings, main concepts include evidence-based perioperative nursing care of the patient having eye surgery. A portion of this course is web-based, guided by a self-paced workbook that builds on prior knowledge of clinical sciences. Application of knowledge of the biosciences and technology will inform clinical decision-making. The intention is the development of a clear understanding of the reasons for every action and the progressive development of skillfulpractice in health assessment, diagnosis of certain eye conditions, and management and appropriate referral. Of utmost importance is consideration of the consequences of loss of dependence caused by visual impairment or blindness, including pain management, wound healing and altered body image, disability awareness, communication and interventions that improve communication, effects of occupational hazards, and ethical-legal aspects of practice.

3) Ophthalmic Nursing Practice (40 credits): This practice-based course includes guided clinical learning experiences and the development of ophthalmic nursing skills of persons of all ages with the aim of developing clinical judgement and to equip the ophthalmic nurse to practice independently in a variety of settings. Students incrementally develop skills as a specialist practitioner alongside other team members within the healthcare system.
The aim of this practice-based course is the application of knowledge of the biosciences, technology and principles of ophthalmic nursing to inform clinical decision-making in all eye healthcare settings to ensure patient safety. Emphasis is on the whole-person approach and early detection of loss of vision. For this purpose, students are required to become competent in history taking, eye examination/screening and vision testing for loss of vision and to intervene appropriately. Students also gain experience in nurse-led community outreach campaigns to limit avoidable vision loss or blindness and to train primary health care nurses in basic eye examination and vision testing.
When needed, end-of-life care is provided with sensitivity, dignity and religious and cultural relevance.