HCT352 - Advanced Practice in the Management of Minor Illness

This module is specifically aimed at healthcare professionals (nurses, pharmacists, paramedics and other allied healthcare professionals) who work in a general practice or other community settings. It is designed to build on current experience and take these onto an advanced level of practice which relates to the treatment and management of minor illness.

The aim of this module is to deliver the education and skills necessary for suitably qualified health professionals working in primary care to provide patients/clients with a minor illness service that is safe and effective. The module aims to develop the health professional’s breadth and depth of knowledge to fulfil their expanding role, and to manage a wide range of minor illnesses associated with the upper respiratory tract, eyes and ears, skin, gastrointestinal, genitourinary systems and mental health.

The module will offer the opportunity to empower practitioners to manage problems presented by patients who request same day appointments and enable them to expand the range of their professional practice (Johnson et al. 2018). The skills and knowledge gained in this module will support practitioners to identify conditions in patients which may require referral to relevant colleagues for further assessment.

The module will focus on the assessment, history taking, investigations, physical examination, differential diagnosis and treatment of common conditions that present within primary care.