Postgraduate Certificate/Diploma in Primary Care Nursing

The Postgraduate Certificate/Diploma in Primary Care Nursing is a tailored course for nurses working in a primary care setting that delivers comprehensive and evidence-based education in sexual and reproductive health, women’s health, youth health and chronic conditions. The course also teaches strategies for health promotion, prevention, risk management and advanced nursing practice. Commonwealth government policy priorities in primary health care include an enhanced role for the practice nurse and this has been recognised in the course subjects. This course is delivered by flexible education (distance, online and face-to face).

Postgraduate Certificate/Diploma in Primary Care Nursing brochure.

Pap Test training for practice nurses brochure

Postgraduate Certificate

On completion of the Postgraduate Certificate in Primary Care Nursing students should be able to:

• Provide an evidence-based approach to clinical care in a range of basic clinical areas of their choice (e.g. chronic disease, health promotion, women’s health and youth health) that builds on their previous clinical nursing experience.
• Communicate with patients in primary care using a patient-centred and preventive approach.
• Contribute to the management of clinical conditions in primary care.

Postgraduate Diploma

On completion of the Diploma in Primary Care Nursing students should be able to:

• Provide further evidence based approaches to a greater range of advanced clinical areas of their choice that builds on the previous subjects completed.
• Practice effectively patient centred and preventive clinical care.
• Manage the clinical care of patients across their lifecycle in a holistic way and engender health promotion strategies in primary care

Subjects in the course

Semester 1

• 585 890 Taking Pap tests: Theory and Practice (Semester 1 and 2)
• 585 895 Primary Care of Type 2 Diabetes
• 585 897 Youth Health in Primary Care
• 585 699 Advanced Nursing Practice in Primary Care
• 585 881 Risk Management in Primary Care (Semester 1 and 2)
• 505 433 Sexual and Reproductive Health
• 585 883 Pregnancy Care in General Practice
• 585 891 Significant Issues in Women’s Health

Semester 2

• 585 896 Preventive Health Care
• 585 894 Management of common chronic conditions
• 585 890 Taking Pap tests: Theory and Practice (Semester 1 and 2)
• 585 881 Risk Management in Primary Care (Semester 1 and 2)
• 585 893 Communication Skills in General Practice
• 514 835 Applications of Clinical Pharmacology 1
• 585 892 Responding to Women in Primary Care
• 505 432 Sexually Transmissible Infections
• 514 831 Evidence for Practice

Course Structure

Students undertake 4 subjects to obtain the post-graduate certificate and 8 subjects to obtain the post-graduate diploma in Primary Care Nursing. All certificate and diploma students are invited to attend a two-day orientation workshop at the commencement of the course.  

Orientation workshop dates

• To be advised.

Completion of the post-graduate diploma provides credit toward the Masters in Advanced Nursing Practice (School of Nursing). Selected subjects are available to students enrolled in the Master of Advanced Nursing Practice. Enrolment is dependent on meeting prescribed registration and clinical experience requirements. Enrolment in a single subject is also available via the Community Access Program.

Postgraduate Certificate in Primary Care Nursing (PCPCN)

The PCPCN is a 50-credit-point, part-time, coursework program.  Most students study part-time over two years, taking one subject per semester.  Students must successfully complete four specialist elective subjects from the list below to achieve the award.  

Postgraduate Diploma in Primary Care Nursing (PDPCN)

The PDPCN is a 100-credit-point, part-time, coursework program.  Most students study part-time over four years, taking one subject per semester.  Students must successfully complete eight specialist elective subjects from the list below to achieve the award.  

Entry requirements

Applicants for the Postgraduate Certificate/Diploma are selected from:

Australian or overseas qualified nurses who hold a 3 year degree or diploma of nursing or approved equivalent AND have at least one year professional experience in a clinical setting.

Application forms

New Graduate Coursework Application Form

Closing date for applications in Semester 1 is 30 November 2009.

Closing date for applications in Semester 2 is 31 May 2010.

Fees & Fee-HELP

Students can calculate their exact fees based on their fee-type and the subject(s) enrolled, at http://www.futurestudents.unimelb.edu.au/fees/aust/ and http://futurestudents.unimelb.edu.au/int/fees/index.html.

Local students may be eligible for fee help through the higher education loan scheme.

Australian Taxation Office higher education loan scheme (Fee-HELP) information for postgraduate programs (Go to ‘Your situation’, ‘study’, then HECS and other support schemes, click on 5th (+) point on list).

Contact details

Prospective students should contact:
Bernie Cooper
tel: +61 3 8344 7275
cooperb@unimelb.edu.au