SAQA All qualifications and part qualifications registered on the National Qualifications Framework are public property. Thus the only payment that can be made for them is for service and reproduction. It is illegal to sell this material for profit. If the material is reproduced or quoted, the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) should be acknowledged as the source.
SOUTH AFRICAN QUALIFICATIONS AUTHORITY 
REGISTERED QUALIFICATION: 

Postgraduate Diploma in Adult Critical Care Nursing 
SAQA QUAL ID QUALIFICATION TITLE
123434  Postgraduate Diploma in Adult Critical Care Nursing 
ORIGINATOR
Life Healthcare Group (Pty) Ltd 
PRIMARY OR DELEGATED QUALITY ASSURANCE FUNCTIONARY NQF SUB-FRAMEWORK
CHE - Council on Higher Education  HEQSF - Higher Education Qualifications Sub-framework 
QUALIFICATION TYPE FIELD SUBFIELD
Postgraduate Diploma  Field 09 - Health Sciences and Social Services  Curative Health 
ABET BAND MINIMUM CREDITS PRE-2009 NQF LEVEL NQF LEVEL QUAL CLASS
Undefined  120  Not Applicable  NQF Level 08  Regular-Provider-ELOAC 
REGISTRATION STATUS SAQA DECISION NUMBER REGISTRATION START DATE REGISTRATION END DATE
Registered  EXCO 0729/25  2025-02-04  2028-02-04 
LAST DATE FOR ENROLMENT LAST DATE FOR ACHIEVEMENT
2029-02-04   2032-02-04  

In all of the tables in this document, both the pre-2009 NQF Level and the NQF Level is shown. In the text (purpose statements, qualification rules, etc), any references to NQF Levels are to the pre-2009 levels unless specifically stated otherwise.  

This qualification does not replace any other qualification and is not replaced by any other qualification. 

PURPOSE AND RATIONALE OF THE QUALIFICATION 
Purpose:
The purpose of the Postgraduate Diploma in Adult Critical Care Nursing qualification is to develop intellectual and practical skills and professional values and to strengthen and deepen the learners' knowledge and expertise in nursing as a speciality.

Acquiring this qualification will enable the graduate nurse specialist to function as a clinical leader who is clinically focused, competent, independent, service orientated and autonomous with the ability to render comprehensive, scientific nursing care as determined by legislation.

This qualification is aimed at developing specialist nurses for the adult critical care environment that supports the vision of developing a sustainable pipeline of nurses who are competent and knowledgeable to be able to provide nursing care in a specialist unit where patients are vulnerable during the care period.

In addition, this qualification provides career development opportunities for nurses who have completed their undergraduate nursing studies and are compliant with South African Health and Nursing legislation.

Upon completion of the qualification, learners will be able to:
  • Provide clinical leadership in the care of patient/s throughout the lifespan in a
    specialist nursing/midwifery field.
  • Provide comprehensive evidence-based nursing/midwifery care including
    technology for patients in a specialist nursing/midwifery field.
  • Practice within an ethical-legal framework.
  • Evaluate health care outcomes and make innovative suggestions to improve quality care and safety.
  • Provide professional support for personnel, patients, families, and groups to promote independence and behavioural change.
  • Explore and improve current practices to meet the changing needs of patients and communities.
  • Demonstrate accountability and moral reasoning for independent clinical
    decisions made.
  • Participate in research activities such as fieldwork and publication of clinical findings.

    Rationale:
    This qualification is required to meet the South African Nursing Council's (SANC) competency profile for the adult critical care specialist nurse. Nurses trained to the undergraduate level have limited exposure to the critical care unit. Since the phase-out of the legacy non-HEQSF Diploma in Medical and Surgical Nursing (Critical Care Nursing Science), there has been a paucity of training of specialist nurses for all specialist areas including the critical care unit. Specialist units such as the critical care unit require specially trained nurses who have undergone quality education and exposure to the institution's world-class facilities for clinical learning to provide safe patient care.

    The SANC published a position paper dated 25/2/2021 stating that a specialist nurse should manage specialist units, should have a shift leader who is a specialist nurse and that non-specialist nurses in training require supervision from a specialist nurse. In line with the vision and the mission of the institution, this qualification seeks to train nurse specialists, that will address, in the immediate, the needs of specialised critical care for its patients and that of Human Resources for Health in South Africa.

    The target candidate profile for admission to this qualification should have:
    Registration with the SANC as a Professional Nurse and Midwife (NQF level 8).
    or
    Registration with the SANC as a General Nurse with a Midwifery qualification (NQF level 7).
    In addition, two years' experience after registration as a Professional Nurse and Midwife or General Nurse and Midwife which includes at least one year of experience in the field of the speciality within the last five years, but this excludes the Community Service year. 
    		•

    LEARNING ASSUMED TO BE IN PLACE AND RECOGNITION OF PRIOR LEARNING 
    Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL):

    RPL for access:
    At this stage, there is no anticipated RPL for access.
    The SANC's Education and Training Guideline for Postgraduate Diplomas is specific with regard to the minimum requirements for admission:
  • Proof of current registration as a Professional Nurse and Midwife or a General Nurse with a Midwifery qualification. Considering this requirement, it is challenging for a higher education institution to accommodate applicants via the route of RPL for access. The future possibility of RPL for access may be an implementable option in the case of:

    Entry Requirements:
    The minimum entry requirement for this qualification is:
  • Advanced Diploma in Critical Care Nursing, NQF Level 7.
    Or
  • Advanced Diploma in Trauma and Emergency Nursing, NQF Level 7.
    Or
  • Bachelor of Nursing Science, NQF Level 7.
    And
  • Registration with the SANC as a Professional Nurse and Midwife.
    or
    Registration with the SANC as a General Nurse with a Midwifery. 
    		•

    RECOGNISE PREVIOUS LEARNING? 
    Y 

    QUALIFICATION RULES 
    This qualification consists of the following compulsory modules at National Qualifications Framework Level 8 totalling 120 Credits.

    Compulsory modules, Level 8, 120 Credits:
  • Advanced nursing practice, 16 Credits.
  • Research for practice development, 8 Credits.
  • Advanced critical care nursing science, 92 Credits.
  • Healthcare policy development, 4 Credits. 
    		•

    EXIT LEVEL OUTCOMES 
    1. Practice and facilitate specialist nursing within the ethical-legal parameters of the profession.
    2. Appraise and develop self, peers and nurse specialist learners by facilitating self-directedness or leadership and lifelong learning to maintain competence.
    3. Facilitate advocacy for the profession and provision of specialist professional support for personnel, patients, families and communities.
    4. Engage in planning, commissioning and managing a specialist unit.
    5. Utilise, manage and communicate data to support decision-making and research.
    6. Engage in scholarly activities to inform evidence-based practice.
    7. Render and co-ordinate patient-centred specialist nursing practice within a continuum of care using the scientific approach, integrating biomedical and psychosocial sciences including advanced pharmacology.
    8. Mobilise appropriate resources to implement standards of practice relevant to the area of specialization to ensure quality patient care and safety.
    9. Collaborate within the inter and intra-professional team by engaging in health dialogue, shared leadership, decision-making and sound clinical judgment
    10. Develop and implement institutional policies, protocols, and guidelines in specialization, utilising the process of change management in the improvement of quality of care. 

    ASSOCIATED ASSESSMENT CRITERIA 
    Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 1:
  • Demonstrate conformity to the relevant code of ethics in the practice of specialist nursing.
  • Account for own professional judgment, actions, outcomes of care and continued competence is demonstrated.
  • Apply and identify relevant latest legislation, policies, regulations and guidelines pertaining to specialist practice are identified and applied.
  • Document care activities accurately, comprehensively and timeously considering the legal requirements for record keeping.

    Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 2:
  • Demonstrate leadership skills through application of appropriate leadership styles, principles and theories.
  • Utilise feedback gained from self-reflection, peers, learners and management to improve effectiveness in the specialist role.
  • Facilitate Continuous Professional Development (CPD) for self and others effectively for lifelong learning by creating a positive learning climate in the workplace through the processes of mentorship, preceptorship, supervision, and performance appraisal.
  • Engage in performance appraisal and illustrate an understanding of the purpose and processes of the performance management and development system.

    Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 3:
  • Facilitate advocacy for the profession and provision of specialist professional support for personnel, patients, families and communities.
  • Illustrate understanding of the purpose of the advocacy role for a specialist nurse.
  • Apply advocacy principles to advocate for safe and quality care in healthcare institutions.

    Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 4:
  • Engage in planning, commissioning and managing a specialist unit.
  • Illustrate an understanding of levels and/or classification of the respective specialist units.
  • Commission tasks considering the burden of diseases and priority services as determined by current events.

    Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 5:
  • Utilise, manage and communicate data to support decision-making and research.
  • Document all data or information gathered in the context of the specialist practice for utilisation and storage in accordance with the set standards.
  • Identify problems, diagnoses and opportunities for improvement based on gathered and critically analysed assessment data from the patients or clients, families, communities, learners or employees including current scientific evidence.

    Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 6:
  • Practice in the respective specialisations with knowledge of appropriate search engines and databases for review of the literature to inform evidence-based practice.
  • Apply appropriate methods to generate evidence for utilisation in specialist practice (e.g.: research, systematic reviews).
  • Illustrate awareness of the peer-reviewed journals to use for sharing of evidence.
  • Actively participate in inter-professional dialogues, debates, and discourses in quality improvement.

    Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 7:
  • Render and co-ordinate patient-centred specialist nursing practice within a continuum of care using the scientific approach, integrating biomedical and psychosocial sciences including advanced pharmacology
  • Illustrate understanding of the position of own specialist service within the health care system.
  • Render specialist care and integrate promotive, preventive, curative, rehabilitative and palliative care in a continuum.

    Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 8:
  • Mobilise appropriate resources to implement standards of practice relevant to the specialisation, to ensure quality patient care and safety.
  • Illustrate understanding of the infrastructure and equipment needed in the specific area of specialisation.
  • Render care with an understanding of operating and monitoring the equipment used in the specialist area.

    Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 9:
  • Consult and provide appropriate and timely provision of holistic care in a continuum through awareness of one's competence.
  • Carry out patient referrals appropriately and timeously as dictated by the patient's condition and in accordance with the referral guidelines.
  • Engage in the inter-professional team and be recognised by the members of the team.

    Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 10:
  • Apply the process of change and illustrate knowledge of the process and or steps of development of policies, standards, guidelines and protocols.
  • Involve the relevant and pre-determined stakeholders in the development of policies, standards, protocols and guidelines.
  • Apply the appropriate methods in the development and evaluation or testing of guidelines and protocols such as systematic or scoping reviews to inform development, and guidelines to the specialist area to demonstrate understanding and application of the change process.

    INTEGRATED ASSESSMENT
    Formative and summative assessment during the qualification takes place through a process of evaluation to promote assessment for learning using feedback as a means of supporting learner development and informing teaching and learning practices.

    The assessment plan is guided by the intention to assess the achievement of the respective exit level learning outcomes listed for an NQF level 8 qualification together with the desired graduate attributes that reflect higher-order thinking and critical cross-field outcomes.

    Formative assessments:
    All assessments must include relevant knowledge, skills and attitudes related to the module.
    Ten percent (10%) of learners in a particular programme will have their formative assessments conducted by the Specialist Educator.
    The remaining 90% will be conducted by the relevant Clinical Training Specialist (CTS).
    Formative clinical assessments must be conducted by two assessors, with at least the lead assessor being a registered assessor with the SANC.
    A pass mark for formative clinical assessments is 50% or more.

    Summative clinical assessments
    The Subject Coordinator will compile the summative clinical assessment tool, student instructions and assessor instructions for the speciality clinical module using the relevant format and style for assessment tools as determined by the College. 
    		•

    INTERNATIONAL COMPARABILITY 
    Country: Australia
    Institution name: University of Adelaide
    Qualification title: Graduate Diploma in Nursing Science (Critical Care Nursing specialisation)
    Duration: One year

    Entry requirements:
  • Registered (or eligible for registration as a Nurse) in Australia or New Zealand
    And
  • Bachelor's degree in nursing
    Or
  • Equivalent and have at least one year experience as a Registered Nurse in the field of specialisation to be undertaken.

    Purpose/Rationale
    The Graduate Diploma in Nursing Science is a highly flexible online degree. It's well suited to registered rural or remote nurses, and those not yet working in a specialty. The degree is structured to include face-to-face sessions to meet requirements for international learners. This specialisation is suited to nurses currently practising intensive care nursing who want to build their competencies for senior positions in the area.

    Graduate attributes:
  • Deep discipline knowledge and intellectual breadth
  • Creative and critical thinking and problem-solving
  • Teamwork and communication skills
  • Professionalism and leadership readiness
  • Intercultural and ethical competency
  • Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural competency
  • Digital capabilities
  • Self-awareness and emotional intelligence

    Course structure:
    Modules:
  • Foundations of Critical Care
  • Critical Care Essentials
  • Professional Practice
  • Research Literacy

    Similarities:
  • The University of Adelaide (UA) and the South African (SA) qualifications both accept learners who have completed a bachelor's degree in nursing.
  • Both qualifications are offered over one year and are designed for practising nurses who are registered with the health councils in their respective countries.
  • The graduate attributes for both qualifications are comparable, namely: Deep discipline knowledge and intellectual breadth; Creative and critical thinking, and problem-solving; Teamwork and communication skills; Professionalism and leadership readiness;
  • Both qualifications include research, and the UA qualification has research literacy as a subject.
    The SA qualification has a Research for practice development as a subject/module.

    Difference:
  • It is unclear from the UA qualification's outline if there is a comparable subject to healthcare policy development.

    Country: Ireland
    Institution name: The University College Cork
    Qualification title: Postgraduate Diploma in Intensive Care Nursing
    Duration: One year

    Entry requirements:
  • Hold active registration on a division of the professional register maintained by the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland.
    Or
  • be eligible for such registration as required for individual pathways. For the Intensive Care Nursing Pathway, applicants must be Registered General Nurses.

    Purpose/Rationale
    This qualification will inform Intensive Care nurses with the knowledge required to competently address the needs of the patient and the family, improve standards of care, maintain patient safety, engage in interdisciplinary collaboration and develop healthy work environments.

    The aim of this qualification is to challenge nurses to think critically and creatively about intensive care nursing and to enable them to develop knowledge and skills in pace with developments in the critical care environment. It will provide learners with a platform from which to further their academic and professional portfolios.

    Exit outcomes:
  • Enhance intensive care nursing practice through the application of theoretical, practical, and policy knowledge and clinical skills.
  • Exercise accountability within the clinical, ethical, and professional boundaries of the role of intensive care nursing.
  • Critically appraise, evaluate and integrate current research evidence and reflection for intensive care nursing and its implications for practice.
  • Interpret and critically examine assessment results and data using supportive research to determine normal values and underlying pathophysiology for critically ill patients.
  • Critically appraise the role of the Critical Care Nurse in the delivery of quality healthcare for individuals and families within the context of cardiac intensive care nursing.
  • Conduct a comprehensive health needs assessment of the critically ill patient
    Utilise advanced knowledge and critical thinking skills to, directly and indirectly, provide optimum nursing care in the critical care environment.

    Course structure:
    Modules:
  • Evidence-Based Practice for Healthcare Professionals, comparable to Advanced Nursing Practice.
  • Intensive Care Nursing
  • Professional, Ethical, and Legal Decision-making in Specialist Practice
  • Clinical Leadership in Practice Enhancement for Nursing and Midwifery
  • Health Assessment of the Critically Ill Patient
  • Principles in Critical Care Nursing

    Similarities:
  • The University College Cork (UCC) and the South African (SA) qualifications both accept practising nurses who are registered with the nursing councils in their respective countries.
  • The UCC qualification covers modules that are comparable to the SA qualification, such as Evidence-based Practice, Intensive Care Nursing, Professional, Ethical, and Legal Decision-making in Specialist Practice, and Clinical Practice Specialist Nursing.
  • The purpose of the SA qualification is to develop intellectual and practical skills and professional values and to strengthen and deepen the student's knowledge and expertise in nursing as a speciality.
  • Similarly, the UCC qualification aims to challenge nurses to think critically and creatively about intensive care nursing and to enable them to develop knowledge and skills in pace with developments in the critical care environment.
  • Both qualifications share similar outcomes such as taking accountability for own learning and that of others, ethical compliance with legal frameworks, management and communication. 
    		•

    ARTICULATION OPTIONS 
    Horizontal Articulation:
  • Bachelor of Nursing and Midwifery, NQF Level 8.
  • Bachelor of Nursing Honours, NQF Level 8.
  • Bachelor of Nursing Science Honours, NQF Level 8.
  • Postgraduate Diploma in Critical Care Nursing, NQF Level 8.

    Vertical Articulation:
  • Master of Philosophy in Adult Critical Care, NQF Level 9.
  • Master of Nursing Science, NQF Level 9.

    Diagonal Articulation
    There is no diagonal articulation for this qualification. 
    		•

    MODERATION OPTIONS 
    N/A 

    CRITERIA FOR THE REGISTRATION OF ASSESSORS 
    N/A 

    NOTES 
    N/A 

    LEARNING PROGRAMMES RECORDED AGAINST THIS QUALIFICATION: 
     
    NONE 


    PROVIDERS CURRENTLY ACCREDITED TO OFFER THIS QUALIFICATION: 
    This information shows the current accreditations (i.e. those not past their accreditation end dates), and is the most complete record available to SAQA as of today. Some Primary or Delegated Quality Assurance Functionaries have a lag in their recording systems for provider accreditation, in turn leading to a lag in notifying SAQA of all the providers that they have accredited to offer qualifications and unit standards, as well as any extensions to accreditation end dates. The relevant Primary or Delegated Quality Assurance Functionary should be notified if a record appears to be missing from here.
     
    1. Life Healthcare Group (Pty) Ltd 


    All qualifications and part qualifications registered on the National Qualifications Framework are public property. Thus the only payment that can be made for them is for service and reproduction. It is illegal to sell this material for profit. If the material is reproduced or quoted, the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) should be acknowledged as the source.