About This Course
Who is this course suitable for?
This short course is suitable for:
- health and care professionals working in a relevant health related role
- allied health professionals
- professionals in non-clinical roles (e.g. within public health)
Learners are not required to be a registered health and care professional to enroll on this short course.
Why study this course
This short course has been designed to support the learner to critically explore the topic of breastfeeding and human lactation at a political, strategic and operational level.
The learner will explore the evidence base to support breastfeeding and human lactation from a public health perspective at both the level of individual and populations. Barriers to improving rates of breastfeeding and human lactation are critically explored.
This module provides a platform for health professionals to expand on existing knowledge in this important area of healthcare through critical discussions with those undertaking the modules and from exploration of related evidence.
How long does this course take to complete?
This course is spread over 12 weeks.
- The first 8 weeks include 4 taught days (one session every 2 weeks). Learners can access these sessions virtually, or in person (Bangor or Wrexham campus).
- Further engagement will be through online interactive blogs where leaners will discuss practice issues, and information and evidence relating to the learning aims.
Assessments on this short course will include:
- one written assignment
- learners are encouraged to engage in sharing experiences from their sphere of practice in on online blog. This generates professional debate regarding module content and enables candidates to learn from each other.
Tutor
Sheila Brown
Sheila is a senior lecturer in health sciences (midwifery) at Bangor University and deputy lead midwife for education (deputy LME). Sheila was LME from 2016 to 2022 and led on the development, approval and validation of the new midwifery programme at Bangor University which commenced in September 2022.
Sheila’s journey as a health care professional started in British Columbia, Canada, where she trained as a nurse in the Fraser Valley. Her area of expertise was in perinatal nursing.
Whilst living in Australia, Sheila completed a MSc (Midwifery) at the University of Wollongong in NW.
Sheila has worked in 4 different countries, including in the Arctic, Canada and Central Australia. She has also spent some time volunteering in West Africa as a nurse.
Sheila grew up in Scotland, and moved back to the UK, to live in Wales in 2004. She completed an 18 month Midwifery programme at Bangor University in 2007 and worked as a midwife in North Wales until 2015 before moving into full-time midwifery education. Sheila is also an international board certified lactation consultant (IBCLC).
Course Content
What will you study on this course?
This short course will enable the learner to expand on existing knowledge in relation to human lactation and breastfeeding support. It is designed to build on knowledge developed within relevant health professional qualifying programmes.
The course will enable practitioners to:
- develop in-depth knowledge of the public health implications of breastfeeding on a local and global scale;
- examine physiological and psychosocial barriers and facilitators in relation to breastfeeding;
- critically examine clinical management of breastfeeding issues; and
- develop the ability to support breastfeeding despite challenging circumstances.
The focus will be how health and care practitioners can support women in order to optimise breastfeeding success, experiences and outcomes.
What will attendees get out of the course?
By the end of the module learners will be able to:
- Critically examine and demonstrate in-depth understanding of the public health implications for breastfeeding and human lactation.
- Through critical reflection on your area of professional practice, critically discuss how you can work to optimise breastfeeding and human lactation, despite challenging circumstances.
- Critically examine and demonstrate in-depth knowledge of physiological and psychosocial barriers and facilitators in relation to the initiation and continuation of breastfeeding and human lactation.
Course Cost
- Enquiries regarding Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB) funding should be directed to bcu.nurseeducation@wales.nhs.uk.
- Funding opportunities may be available for those working locally (i.e. in the north Wales and Powys areas), please contact the relevant module co-ordinator for details.
- All other application and funding related enquiries should be directed to the module co-ordinator .
Please see our Postgraduate Fees and Finance page for further information.
Entry Requirements
To study this level 7 short course, applicants will require an undergraduate degree at 2:2 or higher.
This short course is suitable for:
- health and care professionals working in a relevant role
- allied health professionals
- professionals in non-clinical roles (e.g. within public health)
Learners are not required to be a registered health and care professional to enroll on this short course.
If you do not meet the academic requirements detailed above but have at least 3 years of relevant work experience and evidence of recent study or professional development (to demonstrate an ability to study at level 7), we will consider your application. Please contact the course lead to discuss further.
Application
How to Apply
Please make sure you read and follow the step-by-step application guide as this will specify which sections of the application form are compulsory for the type of course you want to apply for and save you time.
Please prepare the following information (in a Word document):
- Current employment details;
- Years of experience, and employment history (where relevant)
- Name of staff member and organisation that have approved your funding for this module.
This will speed up the process of completing the application form.
To apply for this course, you need to create an account in our APPLICANT PORTAL
You will need access to the email address you specify while creating your account to confirm it.
Step 2 - Application Tabs (Personal, Info, Contact)
After creating an account, you will see a homepage with several tabs:
- Personal
- Programme
- Info
- Contact
- Education
- Employment
- Language
- Finance
You need to complete all sections before submitting your application.
When a section is complete, a ‘tick’ symbol will appear below it.
- Click on ‘Non-graduating applications / Stand alone Modules’, then select ‘Non-graduating Postgraduate Taught’.
- In the next section, select Non-Graduating Taught Modules in Health(NGGT/HEALTH) Click Save and Continue.
- On the next page, the default for the first question is Full Time. You need to change this to ‘Part time’:
- You now need to input the module code. Optimising Breastfeeding and Human Lactation: the code is NHS:4386 . This section must be completed for your application to be processed.
- You also need to state the start date. Please make your selection, then click ‘Save and Continue’.
- IMPORTANT: You do not need to write a personal statement to apply for this course. Instead, please upload the document including employment, experience and education information that you have created prior to starting the application that contains the name of your current employer, the number of years of experience you have, and your highest qualification to date. Click Save and continue.
You only need to enter the details of your highest qualification to date, e.g. if you have a postgraduate qualification, please only only include this.
You will be asked for evidence of the qualification. Please either upload a copy of your qualification if it's easily accessible, or upload the Word document again (that you prepared earlier).
Please scroll to the bottom of the page and click on ‘I have no employment history’ (as you have already provided this in your Word document).
If you are HEIW / Health Board funded, please answer the questions as follows:
- How will you finance your studies? Sponsored
- Exact name of funding authority: Health Board
- Country: United Kingdom
- Give details of the amount of the award? Fully funded.
- Sponsorship will cover: Tuition Fees
- Have you been awarded this funding? Please select ‘yes’ * Note that you will be required to upload evidence of the funding. If you wish to confirm ‘yes’ to this question, but do not have any written confirmation to upload, you can upload your Word document here again.
If you are self-funding, please provide all details as appropriate.