Graduate Certificate of Perianaesthesia Nursing
2025 Deakin University Handbook
| Year | 2025 course information |
|---|---|
| Award granted | Graduate Certificate of Perianaesthesia Nursing |
| Deakin course code | H569 |
| Faculty | Faculty of Health |
| Campus | This course is only offered Online |
| 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
Each year 2.8 million hospitalisations in Australia result in surgical interventions. Integral to these interventions are the perianaesthesia nurses providing care and support before, during and after the administration of anaesthesia. Deakin’s Graduate Certificate of Perianaesthesia Nursing will equip you with the assessment, practical and communication skills needed to be a high-performing member of a multidisciplinary perioperative team.
Ranked #16 in the world^ our School of Nursing and Midwifery is one of Australia’s largest and most established schools. You’ll be learning from the best with the School’s cutting-edge research recognised as well above world standard#. Our strong industry connections mean you will be guided by experts in critical care and perioperative nursing as you explore the current and emerging trends, concepts, knowledge and evidence that provides the policy and practice framework in which perianaesthesia nursing takes place.
Are you ready to take the next step in your career in the specialised field of perianaesthesia nursing?
As a graduate of Deakin’s Graduate Certificate of Perianaesthesia Nursing you will demonstrate ethical, safe, high quality, expert clinical decision-making abilities within a multidisciplinary team. Your specialised theoretical knowledge, evidence-based practice and person-centred care will allow you to practise effectively at an advanced practice level, ensuring you are well placed to meet the industry demand for nurses with specialty skills.
Elective units available from your first year enable you to pursue specific areas of interest and career goals. You can choose from complementary areas of practice to your specialisation, or undertake studies preparing you for roles in education, leadership or management.
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 specialty nursing 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 will enable you to:
- critically assess and apply the concepts and principles of anaesthetic management and postoperative care
- develop an advanced understanding of pharmacological therapies including anaesthetic agents, adjunct therapies and pain management therapies
- perform patient assessment and monitoring of neurological, cardiovascular, respiratory and haemodynamic states
- manage complex and special populations to identify risk and inform decisions that deliver safe, high quality nursing care to promote optimal patient outcomes
- assess and manage anaesthetic requirements for complex patients and emergency presentations
- demonstrate skills in advanced monitoring and postoperative anaesthesia care following complex and specialty surgery.
Graduates are prepared to handle the contemporary challenges perianaesthesia 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.
* Australia’s hospitals at a glance 2022 - Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) Australian Government (2022)
^ 2023 ShanghaiRankings Ranking of Academic Subjects
# Excellence in Research Australia (ERA) 2018
Indicative student workload
As an online student in the Faculty of Health you will be expected to spend 11-13 hours every week studying, interacting online and completing assessment tasks for each unit in your course. Refer to the individual unit details in the course structure for more information.
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 Perianaesthesia Nursing will allow you to meet that demand in a variety of roles across advanced practice, leadership and management.
* 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 a perianaesthesia care setting within a collaborating hospital in Australia.
Clinical requirement
Clinical practice with perianesthesia speciality areas (anaesthesia and Post Anaesthesia Care Unit) per semester.
Enrolment in a clinical intraoperative unit HNN740 as an elective (semester 1 only) requires additional clinical practice in intraoperative nursing roles (instrument/circulating nurse).
Core clinical certificate units in this course are semester based. Students are expected to attend synchronous seminars on Wednesdays throughout the semester.
Course Learning Outcomes
| Deakin Graduate Learning Outcomes | Course Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|
| Discipline-specific knowledge and capabilities | Demonstrate safe psychomotor skills and clinical practice commensurate with perianaesthesia 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 perianaesthesia care setting. |
| Digital literacy
| Evaluate information using digital technologies to effectively disseminate relevant perianaesthesia 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 perianaesthesia care setting. |
| Problem solving | Apply specialised nursing knowledge and skills to routine and complex problems in the perianaesthesia care setting to optimise patient outcomes. |
| Self-management | Demonstrate professionalism, accountability, reflection and personal autonomy as a perianaesthesia 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 Perianaesthesia 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
- 2 credit points of core units
- 2 credit points of course electives
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. Recognition of the importance of clinical assessments is calculated in the overall student workload.
- Failure of a compulsory clinical component in a unit will normally lead to exclusion.
- Students wishing to complete a thesis at the masters level, must complete HNN730 Advanced Health Assessment and Diagnostic Reasoning and HNN749 Patient and Risk Management during their Graduate Certificate or Graduate Diploma in order to gain the Perianaesthesia Nursing Specialisation at the masters level.
Course structure
Core units
Semester 1
| DAI001 | Academic Integrity and Respect at Deakin (0 credit points) |
| HNN755 | Core Principles of Perianaesthesia Nursing Care |
Plus 1 credit point course elective or specialisation unit
Semester 2
| HNN742 | Principles of Complex Perianaesthesia Nursing Care |
Plus 1 credit point course elective or specialisation unit
Perianaesthesia Specialisation
| HNN730 | Advanced Health Assessment and Diagnostic Reasoning |
| HNN749 | Patient Safety and Risk Management |
Course Electives
| HND701 | Pathophysiology of Diabetes |
| HND702 | Management of Diabetes |
| HND731 | Contemporary Approaches to Diabetes Education |
| HND732 | Diabetes in Social and Psychological Contexts |
| HNN714 | Ethical Dimensions in Nursing |
| HNN715 | Leadership and Management in Nursing |
| HNN740 | Core Principles of Intraoperative Nursing Care |
| HNN754 | Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples' History, Culture and Health |
| HNN761 | Biopsychosocialspiritual Mental Health Nursing Assessment |
| HNN762 | Person-Centred Approaches to Engagement in Mental Health Nursing |
| HNN771 | Facilitating Clinical Learning |
| HNN772 | Healthcare in Low Resource/Complex Environments |
| HNN773 | Healthcare Management of Vulnerable Populations |
| HNN780 | Quality and Safety in Medication Management |
| HNN781 | Therapeutic Medication Management |
| HNN782 | Recognising and Understanding Mental Illness |
| HNN783 | Therapeutic Interventions in Mental Health Nursing |
| HNN789 | The Physical Health Needs of Persons with Mental Illness |
| HNN790 | Sustaining the Mental Health Nursing Workforce |
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.