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Understanding NHS Values: Becoming a Nurse or Midwife

Discover NHS values and prepare for a career in nursing and midwifery with this free online course.

5,790 enrolled on this course

Photograph of the NHS logo.
  • Duration

    2 weeks
  • Weekly study

    2 hours

If you are thinking about becoming a registered nurse or midwife, understanding NHS values is important.

You’ll want to be as confident as possible that you are making the right career choice. Being fully informed about working within healthcare environments is an important step in this process.

Building an understanding of healthcare environments as early as possible helps to prepare you for being a nursing or midwifery student.

Thirdly the NHS values form a key part of the recruitment process for nurses and midwives.

On this course, you’ll use a mixture of articles, interviews with academics and students to explore the NHS Values which underpin healthcare delivery.

Understand the NHS values and how they relate to nursing and midwifery

On the course you will get an overview of the NHS values and the implications they have for nursing and midwifery. You’ll review case studies and learn how the values apply in different situations.

We’ll look at:

  • Respect and dignity - seeing how this relates to the importance of choice in maternity care
  • Commitment to quality of care - evaluating the different factors that influence the quality of healthcare systems
  • Compassion - examining the concept of advocacy
  • Improving lives - exploring health protection and public health
  • Working together for patients - focusing on collaboration, partnerships and the multidisciplinary teams vital in health and social care
  • Everyone counts - understanding the importance of informal carers and supporting them

Prepare to apply for nursing and midwifery programmes

Through the course you’ll reflect on your own beliefs and values in preparation for application to programmes leading to registration as a nurse or midwife.

Learn from leading educators and student experiences

King’s College London is world-renowned for its health sciences programmes. The Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery has a strong tradition of delivering programmes leading to registration as a nurse or midwife. It is ranked sixth in the world and top in the UK in the 2016 QS World University Rankings by Subject. The course has been developed by academic staff, with input from current nursing and midwifery students - so you can learn from those on the front line.

Download video: standard or HD

Skip to 0 minutes and 12 seconds My name is Ian Norman. And I’m the Dean of the Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery at King’s College London. Our students need to be bright, but being bright is not sufficient. They also need to hold positive values and attitudes, because professional nursing and midwifery are person to person activities, which often occur at times of great stress or distress for patients and their relatives. We expect nurses and midwives studying and graduating from King’s to hold the six core values which should underpin all activities of the British National Health Service. It is these values which are the focus of this course.

Skip to 1 minute and 2 seconds These six values, which are set out in the NHS constitution, are respect and dignity, commitment to the quality of care, compassion, improving lives, working together for patients, and everyone counts. I do hope you enjoy the course.

What topics will you cover?

  • Respect and dignity - evaluate how this relates to the importance of choice in maternity care
  • Commitment to quality of care - investigate the different factors that influence the quality of healthcare systems
  • Compassion - examine the concept of advocacy
  • Improving lives - explore health protection and public health
  • Working together for patients – a focus on collaboration, partnerships and the multidisciplinary teams; vital in health and social care
  • Everyone counts - understand the importance of informal carers and supporting them

Learning on this course

On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.

What will you achieve?

By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...

  • Describe the NHS values
  • Explore the implications of each of the NHS values for nursing and midwifery
  • Reflect on their own values and beliefs in preparation for applying to programmes leading to registration as a nurse or midwife

Who is the course for?

This course has been specially created for those looking to apply to become a nurse or midwife. It might also be useful for those looking to apply to allied health professions, medicine and dentistry.

You don’t need any specific qualifications or healthcare experience to study on this course.

Who will you learn with?

I am senior lecturer at King's College London with an interest in partnership working with service users.

Who developed the course?

King's College London

King’s College London, established in 1829 and a founding college of the University of London, is one of the world’s leading research and teaching universities, based in the very heart of London.

Learning on FutureLearn

Your learning, your rules

  • Courses are split into weeks, activities, and steps to help you keep track of your learning
  • Learn through a mix of bite-sized videos, long- and short-form articles, audio, and practical activities
  • Stay motivated by using the Progress page to keep track of your step completion and assessment scores

Join a global classroom

  • Experience the power of social learning, and get inspired by an international network of learners
  • Share ideas with your peers and course educators on every step of the course
  • Join the conversation by reading, @ing, liking, bookmarking, and replying to comments from others

Map your progress

  • As you work through the course, use notifications and the Progress page to guide your learning
  • Whenever you’re ready, mark each step as complete, you’re in control
  • Complete 90% of course steps and all of the assessments to earn your certificate

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