Apply the principles of reflection to critically analyse and evaluate an episode of care relating to a patient with a minor illness.

Minor Illness for Emergency Practitioners Assignment Guidance

This module assignment addresses the critical need to apply theory to practice in the emergency and urgent care setting with reference to patients presenting with a range of minor illnesses. There are two components to the assignment which together will provide you with the opportunity to demonstrate how you have met the four module learning outcomes:

LO1 Apply key subject knowledge and understanding to inform the assessment and management of a range of minor illnesses across the lifespan.

LO2 Demonstrate the competent use and interpretation of investigations to support clinical decision making.

LO3 Integrate clinical reasoning skills in order to establish diagnosis on a firm or differential basis

LO4 Develop a competent level of independent practice when managing a caseload of patients with minor illnesses across the lifespan

The Assignment:

Case study –Apply the principles of reflection to critically analyse and evaluate an episode of care relating to a patient with a minor illness.

The Case Study: A Critical Analysis of Care (2000 words +/- 10%)

In this part of the assignment you will apply the principles of reflection to critically analyse and evaluate an episode of care you have experienced relating to any type of undifferentiated/undiagnosed minor illness. You should identify your own learning needs and areas for development derived from the case and demonstrate critical analysis and evaluation of these with reference to contemporary literature, research, national policy/guidelines etc. to support your discussion. You should also make some recommendations to improve either your own practice or that of the clinical setting and explore how your role has or will develop in light of your findings.

It is important that your case study is not a referenced description of the case or your actions and you must maintain patient, staff and organisational confidentiality within your work as any breach of confidentiality will result in the awarding of a fail mark.

You are not required to use a reflective model but your case study should include the following sections (the principles of reflection are shown in blue as a guide):

Introduction 10% approx. (What?)
Briefly introduce your role and the clinical setting – maintaining confidentiality
Provide an overview of the case including relevant details relating to the history, presenting complaint, assessment and management of the patient.
Include a brief rationale for why this case has been selected and identify your own learning needs and areas for development derived from the case.
Main Body of assignment 80% approx. (So What?)
You must critically analyse and evaluate the pivotal aspects of the case that you have identified for further learning and support your arguments with contemporary evidence/literature, research, national guidelines/policy etc. using the Cite Them Right Harvard referencing system.
You must present a balanced view and not simply identify poor practice – where the care given has been of a high standard this should be identified and celebrated.
Your discussion must also take into consideration how your analysis will meet the module learning outcomes.
Conclusion 10% approx. (Now What?)
This section should not introduce any new discussion/information, but should summarise the threads of the discussion in the main body.

Think about:

What has been learnt during your critical analysis?
How will your role/practice develop in light of your findings?
Make some recommendations to improve either your own practice or that of the clinical setting based on your discussion.

The Reference List

Compiled using the Cite Them Right Harvard referencing system (online guide available at www.citethemright.com).

You should demonstrate evidence of widespread reading using relevant and contemporary evidence based literature, research studies, policy etc. used to support the discussion (NB. Websites such as NHS Choices, Web MD and Patient UK are not suitable academic resources).

Appendices
You may include any further relevant information relating to the case in the appendices section. The content of the appendices does not count towards the overall word count. If you include case notes these must be transcribed from the originals and must not contain any patient identifiable information.

Other Things to Consider:

Terminology and abbreviations: you must avoid using slang terms and non-standard abbreviations in your academic writing e.g. abx instead of antibiotic. All terms you wish to abbreviate should be written in full with the abbreviation afterwards in brackets when you first include them in the work, following this the abbreviation can be used.

Spelling and grammar: spelling errors and poor grammar must be corrected before submission as this detracts from the overall value of the work and does not reflect undergraduate level writing.

Format: avoid using several small paragraphs when writing; only start a new paragraph when the subject under discussion changes.

Word count: you are permitted to stray no more than 10% above or below the word count without penalty; however going above/below this limit will have an impact on the mark awarded.

Word count exclusions: headings/sub-headings, in-text references, contents of tables, appendices or the final reference list do not count towards the overall word count and should be deducted from the overall total.

Planning your case study
You must submit one 2000 word reflection.

You may use the first person writing style using the principles of reflection (you are not required to use a reflective model).
Ideally use size 12 font – Arial or Verdana, 1.5. line spacing
The case study must be fully referenced using the Cite Them right Harvard style referencing system.
You must maintain confidentiality throughout the work; no information that could lead to the identification of the patient, clinical area, NHS Trust or clinical staff involved should be included in any part of the assignment. Any breach of confidentiality will result in an automatic fail grade being awarded.

Further Help & Advice:

Tutorials for assignment work can be booked directly with the module leader. Additionally a sample of your draft case study work can be uploaded to Canvas for formative feedback up to two weeks before the submission date. NB. Only a sample of your work will be looked at so please indicate which section you want your tutor to focus on.
Support with specific study skills e.g. searching the literature, critical writing and referencing is available from the University’s study skills advisors who can be contacted via any of the university libraries or via the study skills area of the University website.

Assignment Submission:

You must submit your clinical practice document and case study via Canvas by 2pm on the due date shown in.

Case Study

Upload your case study as a single Word file (do not pdf your work) to the ‘Portfolio’ assessment link.
Mac Users: Note that Canvas does not support documents created in Pages, so these must be converted to Word documents before submission otherwise they cannot be opened for marking.

Note there are penalties for the late submission of assignment work without an approved extension or extenuating circumstances claim; a copy of the late submission and extension policy is available to download in Canvas.

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