Principles of Anaesthetic Practice

A 10 week course for nurses working alongside anaesthetists in the perioperative environment and caring for service users undergoing anaesthetic procedures.

With a focus on safety and resilience, this 10-week course encourages you, as a nurse working in the perioperative environment, to develop your knowledge and skills relating to the care of service users in the anaesthetic areas of the operating department.

A nurse working in this area is responsible, in conjunction with the anaesthetist and others, for the safe care of service users undergoing anaesthetic procedures. Nurses need to develop their knowledge and skills in this area for them to be able to recognise and respond to changes in clinical circumstances and in the perioperative environment.

Learning outcomes

On completion of this course, you will be able to:

• Critically evaluate service-user care and the professional responsibilities of an anaesthetic nurse in the perioperative environment
• Critically analyse research evidence related to the management and delivery of care to service users undergoing local, regional and general anaesthetic
• Critically review the management of changes in clinical circumstances and the perioperative environment

Course content

• Assessment for anaesthesia and importance of service user engagement including pre-assessment, history, examination, investigations and what they mean for the patient, anaesthetic choice and implication for service-user
• Triad of anaesthesia including narcosis, analgesia and muscle relaxation
• Stages of anaesthesia including induction, maintenance and emergence/reversal
• Principles of airway management and O2 therapy including airway management techniques and adjuncts
• Types of anaesthesia including general anaesthesia, local infiltration, regional anaesthesia, plexus techniques, single nerve techniques and intravenous regional anaesthesia
• Management of anaesthetic equipment including safety checks, anaesthetic machines, medical gases, breathing circuits, intubation equipment, infection control
• Monitoring (non-invasive) including clinical observation (physiological and psychological), pulse oximetry, blood pressure monitoring, ECGs and capnography
• Role of operating department practitioner in caring for service users undergoing anaesthesia including correct identification, communication and establishing rapport, maintaining high standards of care in situations of personal incompatibility with service users or staff, caring for vulnerable service users, carers and guardians in the anaesthetic room, resilience in compassion
• Pain including physiological mechanisms of pain, introduction to analgesic agents, anti-emetics
• Basic resuscitation
• Pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics including methods of drug administration/anaesthetics, premedication, anaesthetic induction agents, maintenance of anaesthesia, anticholinergic pharmacology, blood products, crystalloid fluids, drug calculations
• Neuromuscular blockade including pharmacology, peripheral nerve stimulation, scoring for observation of depth of anaesthesia
• Ventilation, vaporisers and volatiles

• Shahadat Al-Thanawaya Al-Aama
• Students with an overall score of 60% would usually be eligible for the International Foundation Year
• UKVI IELTS 4.5 with a minimum of 4.0 in all components (CEFR B1) is also required

• If you are studying and completing any internationally recognised qualification such as A-levels; International Baccalaureate (IB) or the American Curricula from the International Schools within Jordan, then you can begin from the first year of a Bachelors degree. Please see individual course pages for specific entry requirements
• If you have completed a recognised international foundation programme with good grades
• Advanced entry to year 2 or 3 may be possible. You will need to supply detailed information including courses taken, grades achieved, syllabus and a grading guide