Course overview
As a student nursing associate, you work alongside healthcare professionals including registered nurses and healthcare support workers, to provide hands-on and person-centred care. Nursing associates work across a variety of settings and care for all fields of nursing including adult, mental health, learning disabilities and children. You provide and monitor care, improving the safety and quality, by contributing to integrated care and working in teams.
Top reasons to study this course:
- Professional registration: you can register with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) and gain the legal right to practice in England as a nursing associate.
- Award-winning: Teesside University was named Nursing Associate Provider of the Year in 2020 and 2023 and were finalists as the Nursing Associate Trainee Nursing Associate Provider in 2021 and 2024 at the Student Nursing Times Awards.
- Industry-standard facilities: learn in our high-fidelity simulation suites, contributing to your theory and equipping you to care for people within the clinical setting.
- Future studies: this is a stand-alone role that provides a progression route into a shortened graduate level nursing programme.
Supporting information for applicants
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Course details
Course structure
Year 1 core modules
Anatomy, Physiology and Pathophysiology
You explore body systems, altered cognition, disability, illnesses and disease, ensuring parity of content. You engage in all four fields of nursing practice, utilising a whole person approach with emphasis on the complexity of the individual.
Developing Professional Practice of the Nursing Associate
You take part in practice-based learning within your place of employment and your placement areas. The variety of settings for your placements provides a broad learning environment. You also simulate clinical skills and procedures to support your work-based learning.
Introduction to Public Health for Nursing Associates
You explore decision-making and therapeutic interventions within nursing associate practice across a range of health and social care settings. You explore the relevant theories and influences linked to the wider determinants of health and wellbeing, developing your ability to facilitate an individual's health journey across the lifespan using a biopsychosocial approach.
Person-centered Care – the service user experience
You explore the philosophical basis and key concepts underpinning approaches to working with different people and service user groups. The biopsychosocial experience and impact of altered health and wellbeing, physical illness, cognition or treatment of the person and family is examined from the service user perspective.
Study Skills and Professionalism
You explore the knowledge to develop study skills, introduce reflective practice, and develop an understanding of professionalism and professional practice. You are introduced to the theoretical concepts underpinning professional practice including self-awareness, resilience, and self-management. You develop your understanding of the NMC Code, the expectations placed on them, and the principles of literature searching.
Year 2 core modules
Caring for People with Acute and Long-term Conditions and Co-morbidities
You develop your knowledge and understanding of acute and long-term conditions across the health and social care sector. You explore the impact of co-morbidities on patient experience and outcomes. A biopsychosocial approach ensures you look at the whole patient with consideration for assessment and safe management of all service users, across all health and social care settings.
Developing Public Health in Practice for Nursing Associates
You explore public health inequalities within health and social care practice. Appraisal of epidemiological and demographic data in addition to the national and local public health policies is undertaken to identify areas of need for service users, communities, and the wider population.
Enhancing Professional Practice for the Nursing Associate
You further develop your knowledge and skills for practice. You build on your clinical skills base and ability to select and use best available evidence to support your decision-making in practice according to your role. The module is work-based learning within your primary placement area and placements within other practice areas. Your placement journey provides learning opportunities in a variety of settings, including experience of child and adult patients, and service users with mental health conditions and learning disabilities.
Investigating Evidence and Contributing to Change
Build your knowledge and skills relating to health and social care practice, and your ability to critically appraise evidence relevant to the subject. Explore how evidence is used to underpin national guidelines, decision-making and high-quality nursing practice. Apply leadership and change management concepts to explore service improvement models that facilitate your ability to contribute to change.
You develop a comprehensive understanding of the unique perspectives, knowledge, and skills of the people you work with, and different members of the health and social care team. This knowledge is used to promote positive people-centred outcomes through collaborative and integrated working and further understanding of your scope of practice.
Modules offered may vary.
How you learn
This course is a two-year full-time programme. You attend study days at university in six block weeks a year. The remainder of your hours is a combination of study weeks and clinical placement. You study ten modules and take part in a variety of clinical placements across the four fields of nursing. To comply with regulations of the NMC, you must complete a minimum of 1,150 hours in practice placements, built into the course. You are also expected to complete guided study and self-directed learning to enhance your knowledge and understanding, plus interprofessional learning opportunities.
On study days you learn through taught sessions on campus including lectures, seminars, group work and practical sessions.
Placements develop your knowledge and clinical skills. You gain a range of experience caring for people in different settings, receiving feedback to help you develop academically and professionally. Placements may require up to an hour’s travel from your term-time address, and could include out-of-hours and weekend working.
How you learn
How you are assessed
How you are assessed
Assessment strategies include assignments, multiple-choice questions, written examination, numeracy examination and clinical proficiencies within a practice assessment document.
Our Disability Services team provide an inclusive and empowering learning environment and have specialist staff to support disabled students access any additional tailored resources needed. If you have a specific learning difficulty, mental health condition, autism, sensory impairment, chronic health condition or any other disability please contact a Disability Services as early as possible.
Find out more about our disability services
Find out more about financial support
Find out more about our course related costs
Entry requirements
Entry requirements
For general information please see our overview of entry requirements
International applicants can find out what qualifications they need by visiting Your Country
You can gain considerable knowledge from work, volunteering and life. Under recognition of prior learning (RPL) you may be awarded credit for this which can be credited towards the course you want to study.
Find out more about RPL
Entry requirements
You are expected to have:
- a minimum of two GCSEs at grade 4 (C) or above including English language and maths. Key Skills/Functional Skills Level 2 in Communication and Application of Number can be accepted in place of English and Maths GCSE
- a minimum of 54 UCAS points which can be achieved through A level (or equivalent qualifications).
Your application will be measured against the following criteria:
- your ability to complete all sections of the application form fully and correctly
- the level of all qualifications and grades are specified
- appropriate academic entry requirements achieved or predicted
- personal statement supportive of chosen course and demonstrates the uniqueness of the profession and the role
- satisfactory appropriate supportive references (academic/employer/character).
Interview criteria
A mini multiple interview process is used as part of the selection process. This involves you moving through a series of three interview stations (approximately ten minutes per station). At each station you explore a different scenario and are measured against the six Cs and the following criteria, which has been mapped against the NHS Constitution:
- knowledge of chosen profession/career
- an appreciation of the demands of the course and chosen profession
- enthusiasm for the course/profession
- ability to communicate effectively both verbally and non-verbally
- a future for the specialism.
- evidence of achievement of the required academic qualifications
- a successful work-based risk assessment which will reflect the appropriate HEOPS recommendations. Find out more about all of the HEOPS standards
- an enhanced criminal history (DBS) check may be required for certain modules or placements which involve working with children and/or adults at risk. The DBS check is funded by the School of Health & Life Sciences, so you do not need to pay for this process
- satisfactory references.
International applicants
International applicants must have a minimum IELTS score of 7.0 or equivalent in line with the University English Language Policy that equates to overall IELTS 7 with a minimum of 6.5 in writing (or equivalent), before an unconditional offer is made.
If you are successful at shortlisting, you will be invited to attend an interview (which may be in person OR video call) in one of our international offices in either India, Malaysia or China, or through a secure web link (which will be arranged by the University).
If you cannot attend an interview as stated, you will be unable to proceed with your application.
For general information please see our overview of entry requirements
International applicants can find out what qualifications they need by visiting Your Country
You can gain considerable knowledge from work, volunteering and life. Under recognition of prior learning (RPL) you may be awarded credit for this which can be credited towards the course you want to study.
Find out more about RPL
Employability
Career opportunities
A career as a nursing associate is rewarding, challenging and lifelong. Once you complete this course and gain NMC registration, your learning continues. You maintain professional knowledge on an ongoing basis to meet NMC revalidation requirements. The University offers postgraduate education to support your development, ranging from short courses and masterclasses to master’s degrees.
You can use this course to gain module and credit exemptions, so you wouldn’t need to repeat learning and can enter a degree at the appropriate point to further your development.
A popular choice of further study is BSc (Hons) Nursing Studies. Your course team can discuss the opportunities during the course and are happy to answer any questions about future studies.
Career opportunities
Work placement
Work placement
At Teesside we pride ourselves on being able to offer a range of placement opportunities in settings such as:
- hospitals
- community care settings
- general practice
- private and independent providers
- social care
- charity organisations.
Information for international applicants
Qualifications
International applicants - find out what qualifications you need by selecting your country below.
Select your country:
Useful information
Visit our international pages for useful information for non-UK students and applicants.
