Credit bearing module Advancing Clinical Decision-Making
Explore advancing clinical decision-making and develop knowledge to inform your understanding and professional practice.
Key facts
- Duration
- Part time: 1 semester
- Level
- Continuing professional development (CPD)
- Academic level
- 7
- Academic credits
- 20
- Location
- Distance Learning
- School
- Oxford School of Nursing and Midwifery
- Application deadline
CPD7007 Only runs in S1 and S3
- 18 August for a September start
- 1 April for a May start.
About this course
This module will seek to enable clinical practitioners to interrogate and understand the complex factors underpinning decision-making in the context of health and social care. The module will underpin themes running through the advanced clinical pathways in significantly more detail. The aim, to embed critical thinking in clinical decision-making and the adoption of a systematic and empowered approach. Targeted at experienced nurses, midwives and AHPs already working at or towards an advanced level of practice.
Entry requirements
Entry requirements
- students must be a registered health care professional:
- at least 3 years post qualification
- working at, or towards, an advanced level of practice.
This course is not available to international students who require a student sponsor to study in the UK.
Fees and funding
Fees
| Fee types | 2026/27 |
|---|---|
| Home distance learning | £1,000 per single module, where taken as part of an award-bearing course the module fee is £1,260 |
How and when to pay
Tuition fee instalments for the semester are due by the Monday of week 1 of each semester. Students are not liable for full fees for that semester if they leave before week 4. If the leaving date is after week 4, full fees for the semester are payable.
- For information on payment methods please see our Make a Payment page.
- For information about refunds please visit our Refund policy page.
Questions about fees?
Learning and assessment
Through teaching and learning activities you will have the opportunity to study and interrogate decision-making and to develop understanding by considering how relevant concepts, theory and constituent factors are involved in a decision making process.
You will be assessed 100% through coursework.
The module will be delivered using a mixture of asynchronous learning activities and discussions via the Moodle platform, and synchronous seminars delivered via Zoom. Students will be supported to build on their existing experience and develop the skills and knowledge required for achieving the learning outcomes. All activities will be facilitated by the module team, in conjunction with relevant specialist experts, while also providing the opportunity to learn both with and from peers.
In weekly seminars, taught online on Thursday mornings and through class and self-directed work, students will study the following topic areas:
- Process and reason
- The role of data and Information for decision making
- Key concepts affecting decision making
- Ethical, legal and professional accountability for decision making
- Decisions in action: challenges and opportunities.
Assessment
Assessment of the module is via forum postings and a summative piece of coursework in the form of a critical analytical essay or presentation of a decision in clinical practice. This should include a visual diagram of the options and constituent factors involved in the decision making process. The aim is to allow students to demonstrate their ability to interrogate a decision-making process and to develop their understanding of the decision by considering how relevant key concepts have been applied. A rubric will explicitly describe the required components in relation to the marking criteria.
How to apply
Our courses are reviewed regularly as part of our quality assurance framework, so module availability and course structures may vary from what is listed here. On rare occasions, we may also need to make updates to our course programmes after publication; for full details, please visit our changes to programmes page (opens in a new tab)