Graduate Certificate of Intensive Care Nursing
2025 Deakin University Handbook
| Year | 2025 course information |
|---|---|
| Award granted | Graduate Certificate of Intensive Care Nursing |
| Deakin course code | H545 |
| Faculty | Faculty of Health |
| Campus | This course is only offered Online |
| Online | Yes |
| Duration | 1 year part-time study |
| Course Map - enrolment planning tool | This course map is for new students commencing from Semester 1 2025 Course maps for commencement in previous years are available on the Course Maps webpage or please contact a Student Adviser in Student Central. |
| Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) recognition | The award conferred upon completion is recognised in the Australian Qualifications Framework at Level 8 |
Course sub-headings
- Course overview
- Indicative student workload
- Professional recognition
- Career opportunities
- Pathways
- Course Learning Outcomes
- Course rules
- Course structure
- Fees and charges
Course overview
With job growth of 12.2% projected for registered nurses by 2028,* there is an industry demand for nurses with advanced specialty skills. As a registered nurse, Deakin’s Graduate Certificate of Intensive Care Nursing will equip you with the knowledge and skills required to comprehensively care for critically ill patients in intensive care and high dependency units at an advanced practice level.
Ranked #16 in the world^, our School of Nursing and Midwifery is one of the largest and best in Australia. By studying your Graduate Certificate of Intensive Care Nursing at Deakin, you will be guided through industry-informed coursework by experts in critical care nursing and have access to the School’s extensive cutting-edge research, which is recognised as well above world standard#.
Are you ready to build upon your existing knowledge and skills and play a greater role in the care of the critically ill?
If you want to take the next step in your nursing career, our Graduate Certificate of Intensive Care Nursing prepares you to practise effectively at an advanced practice level in critical care settings. As a graduate you will demonstrate ethical, safe, high-quality, expert clinical decision-making abilities within an interdisciplinary team, and psychomotor skills commensurate with specialised theoretical knowledge, evidence-based practice and person or client-centred care
Deakin’s strong industry connections ensure a high level of collaboration and support during your clinical practice. This means that while you study, you can immerse yourself in your speciality practice area with one of our numerous metropolitan, rural and regional health partners across Australia.
Our innovative online program delivers a rich, interactive and empowering learning experience designed for postgraduate nurses. Live-streaming seminars and class discussions will encourage critical thinking, problem solving and teamwork skills. Australia’s top-rated tech support and access to our expert teaching staff means you can learn at your own pace, when and where it suits you, without compromising quality or support.
This course enables you to:
- evaluate and intervene in response to complex data from patient and technologically-derived sources
- develop an advanced understanding of normal physiology, and the pathophysiology of illness and injury of critically ill patients
- perform focused, systematic and methodical patient assessments
- demonstrate advanced clinical judgement leading to autonomous decision-making
- enhance your professionalism and leadership skills.
Graduates are prepared to handle the contemporary challenges intensive care nurses may face in a course that responds to industry trends and demands. You will learn how to make a difference through roles in areas such as practice, education, leadership and research.
* Jobs and Skills Australia Employment Projections
^ 2023 ShanghaiRankings Ranking of Academic Subjects
# Excellence in Research Australia (ERA) 2018
Indicative student workload
As a student in the Graduate Certificate of Intensive Care Nursing you can expect to participate in a range of teaching and learning activities each week. You will attend on-line synchronous study days and complete asynchronous guided learning modules. There are also additional self-directed study commitments to complete for both university and clinical assessment tasks.
Professional recognition
Nurses employed under the Victorian public hospital award receive a higher duties allowance for postgraduate qualifications relevant to their practice.
Career opportunities
With job growth of 12.2% projected for registered nurses by 2028,* there is an industry demand for nurses with sophisticated specialty skills. Our Graduate Certificate of Intensive Care Nursing will allow you to meet that demand in a variety of roles across advanced practice, leadership, management and education including:
- ICU nurse
- associate or unit manager
- clinical nurse specialist
- clinical nurse educator.
* Jobs and Skills Australia Employment Projections
Pathways
Clinical practice
To undertake this course you must independently secure employment of at least 24 hours per week in an intensive care setting within a collaborating hospital in Australia.
Course Learning Outcomes
| Deakin Graduate Learning Outcomes | Course Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|
| Discipline-specific knowledge and capabilities | Demonstrate safe psychomotor skills and clinical practice commensurate with intensive care nursing theoretical knowledge, evidence-based practice and person-centred care. |
| Communication | Demonstrate communication skills to develop and implement plans of care to ensure the delivery of quality, safe nursing care to patients in the intensive care setting. |
| Digital literacy | Evaluate information using digital technologies to effectively disseminate relevant intensive care information to patients and/or the multidisciplinary team. |
| Critical thinking | Identify and evaluate complex data from multiple sources to inform clinical decision making in the intensive care setting |
| Problem solving | Apply specialised nursing knowledge and skills to routine and complex problems in the intensive care setting to optimise patient outcomes. |
| Self-management | Demonstrate professionalism, accountability, reflection, and personal autonomy as an intensive care nurse. |
| Teamwork | Establish and maintain inclusive, collaborative professional relationships with all members of the multidisciplinary team. |
| Global citizenship | Display accountability for, and sound professional judgement in behaviours that uphold ethical principles of practice within diverse social, cultural, and environmental contexts. |
Course rules
To complete the Graduate Certificate of Intensive Nursing students must pass 4 credit points and meet the following course rules to be eligible to graduate:
- DAI001 Academic Integrity and Respect at Deakin (0-credit-point compulsory unit) in their first study period
- 4 credit points of core units
Students are required to meet the University's academic progress and conduct requirements. See the enrolment codes and terminology to help make sense of the University’s vocabulary.
Note:
- This course is part-time only.
- Both the theoretical and clinical components of the assessment for each unit must be passed in order to successfully gain an overall pass in this course. Compulsory clinical hurdles form part of the assessment of this course.
- Failure of a compulsory clinical component in a unit will normally lead to exclusion.
Course structure
Semester 1 Entry
Semester 1
| DAI001 | Academic Integrity and Respect at Deakin (0 credit points) |
| HNN791 | Core Principles of Critical Care Nursing (2 credit points) |
Semester 2
| HNN794 | Intensive Care Nursing (2 credit points) |
Course duration
Course duration may be affected by delays in completing course requirements, such as failing of units or accessing or completing clinical requirements.
Further information
Student Central can help you with course planning, choosing the right units and explaining course rules and requirements.
- Contact Student Central
Fees and charges
Fees and charges vary depending on the type of fee place you hold, your course, your commencement year, the units you choose to study, and their study discipline or your study load.
Tuition fees increase at the beginning of each calendar year and all fees quoted are in Australian dollars ($AUD). Tuition fees do not include textbooks, computer equipment or software, other equipment or costs such as mandatory checks, travel and stationery.
For further information regarding tuition fees, other fees and charges, invoice due dates, withdrawal dates, payment methods visit our Current students website.