School of Nursing

PG Cert Adult Critical Care

PG Cert Part-time 1 year

This high-quality Adult Critical Care course will increase your knowledge, skills and career development within this specialised environment, providing an opportunity to gain experience of master's study and to progress to a full Master of Science qualification.

This high-quality Adult Critical Care course will increase your knowledge, skills and career development within this specialised environment, providing an opportunity to gain experience of master's study and to progress to a full Master of Science qualification.

Award
PG Cert
Start date(s)
8 September 2025,12 January 2026
UCAS Code
Course specifications
Course length
Part-time (1 year)
Campus location
University: Walsall Campus
UCAS points calculator

What happens on the course?

This course aims to facilitate the registered healthcare professional (HCP) to continue to develop their theoretical knowledge and practical skills to provide a patient-centred approach to the care of the critically ill adult.  The course will provide learners with the ability to apply up-to-date and research-based learning into the clinical setting, enabling health care professionals to deliver high-quality patient care safely.  Students will be able to demonstrate leadership skills to enable them to educate and train their peers, disseminating their newly acquired knowledge.

The course has been devised to be inclusive of students' individual learning needs by providing diverse learning activities, which include lectures, group work, quizzes, group and class discussions, directed study, formative assessment tasks using synchronous and asynchronous techniques and a combination of face-to-face contact and online activity.

You will continue to develop a systematic understanding and critical awareness of applied knowledge of a range of topics relevant to caring for the critically ill adult patient, achieving proficiency in advanced competence at the end of this course. Through assessment, students will be supported to fulfil their academic and clinical development and will complete steps 2 and 3 of the National Competency Framework for Adult Critical Care Nurses (CC3N, 2023).

Course Modules

Potential Career Paths

Successful completion of the course provides the student with a nationally recognised and transferable award in Adult Critical Care, which is a requirement for professional progression and promotion within the speciality.

The curriculum and course content are based on the practices and underpinning theory required to work in critical care. As you progress through the course, you will work towards completing Steps Two and Three of the CC3N national standards and competences, a requirement of the post-registration academic programme in critical care. This will also give you the potential to progress to Step Four (Leadership) competencies as part of your ongoing professional development.

The completion of the PgCert will demonstrate the student’s ability to study at academic level 7, a requirement for several senior roles within the speciality and related areas, they could continue onto the master's programme in critical care.

Additional Information

Everything you need to know about this course!

The adult critical care course is attended by healthcare professional staff working in critical care units across the Midlands region. This course provides students with the opportunity to gain further knowledge and understanding of different specialities and practice techniques. Allowing students to network within the community of practice and learn from one another.  Students will have a foundation of knowledge when starting the course, having completed step 1 of the CC3N competencies. This course will further enhance students’ theoretical knowledge and clinical skills.

Students work in a variety of critical care units, from speciality critical care units to general critical care.  This allows the opportunity for placements, where possible. These are arranged by the local critical care staff and not monitored by the University of Wolverhampton.   The core academic team have a varied and expert knowledge and experience providing care to the critically ill and specialist environments.

Having this varied experience provides students with a platform to participate in group activities and discussions on best practice and local variances to patient care.   Students completing the PGc in Adult Critical Care will be able to work independently to provide clinical care and demonstrate leadership within the critical care environment, disseminating knowledge within the critical care environment.

The adult critical care course meets the National Standards for Critical Care Nurse Education published by the Critical Care Network National Nurse leads (CC3N, 2023) and incorporates the relevant steps of the National Competency Framework for Adult Critical Care Nurses (CC3N, 2015). This ensures the adult critical care course meets the recommendations for Critical Care nurse education set out in the Guidelines for the Provision of Intensive Care Services (GPICS) published by the UK Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine and the Intensive Care Society (FICM & ICS 2022). The course curriculum is aligned with to meet the national standards, ensuring that the award achieved remains one which is professionally recognised and transferable and will be adapted as required to continue to maintain these.

The course continues to build and maintain close working relationships between the university and the critical care units within the local region and beyond. This is maintained through yearly review meetings with the course team and unit practice development nurses (PDNs), PDN input to course developments and regular contact by the course leader with the practice areas. This relationship ensures that the content of the course remains responsive to the reality of practice in the clinical environment.

The Adult Critical Care course will provide learners with a broad theoretical knowledge and skills to enhance their clinical practice and become experts in their field, and lead the future of critical care standards.  The course will work alongside national clinical competences, the course is designed around the Critical Care National Network Nurse Leads (CC3N) Framework, which is recognised throughout England and beyond.  This is a recognisable and transferable qualification.

Location Mode Fee Year
Home Part-time £2938 per year 2024-25
Home Part-time £3029 per year 2025-26

These fees relate to new entrants only for the academic year indicated for entry onto the course, any subsequent years study may be subject to an annual increase, usually in line with inflation.

 Entry Requirements:

    • You must hold 12-months experience within critical care and working in a critical care department for the duration of the course.
  • You must have completed Step 1 of the National Competency Framework for Critical Care Nursing (CC3N, 2023), by the start of the course.
  • You must have previously completed a degree in nursing or related topic. This may be an honours or non-honours degree.
  • You must be able to demonstrates the ability to study at level 7 to be determined on an individual basis by the course team.
  • “I enjoyed all the lectures, learned a lot and consolidated a lot. Enjoyed the case studies and putting the knowledge into case studies.

    It has been very educational, supportive and interesting.  Having most of the sessions online actually has been very helpful and worked for me as a busy mother of 4, full-time worker, wife and student.

    Face-to-face sessions, one-to-one tutorial support and workshop sessions are the part I like the most.”

    The lectures are lovely.

    Fantastic course leaders.”

    Postgraduate Loyalty Discount:

    You can get 20% discount on a taught postgraduate course if you’re a University of Wolverhampton Graduate.

    The University offers a generous 20% Loyalty Discount to students progressing from an undergraduate programme to a taught postgraduate on-site programme, where both courses are University of Wolverhampton Awards.

    There is no time limit on how long ago you completed your degree as long as this is your first Masters level qualification.

    The discount applies to the first year of enrolment only. Students who receive a loyalty discount are not entitled to any further tuition discount or bursary. For full terms and conditions click here.


    Self-funded:

    If you are paying for the fees yourself then the fees can be paid in 3 instalments: November, January and April. More information can be found by clicking here.


    Sponsored - Your employer, embassy or organisation can pay for your Tuition fees:

    Your employer, embassy or organisation agrees to pay all or part of your tuition fees; the University will refer to them as your sponsor and will invoice them for the appropriate amount.

    We must receive notification of sponsorship in writing as soon as possible, and before enrolment, confirming that the sponsor will pay your tuition fees.


    Financial Hardship:

    Students can apply to the Dennis Turner Opportunity Fund for help with course related costs however this cannot be used for fees or to cover general living costs.


    Charitable Funding:

    You might also want to explore the possibility of funding from charitable trusts. Please contact Association of Charitable Foundations, Directory of Social Change or Family Aid. Most charities and trust funds offer limited bursaries targeted to specific groups of students so you will need to research whether any of them are relevant to your situation.

    You can find more information on the University’s Funding, cost, fee and support pages.

    Telephone

    01902 32 22 22

    Email

    enquiries@wlv.ac.uk

    Online

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