Thursday 30th April 2026

£100

Course Overview

What the course covers

The course includes revision, demonstration, and hands-on practice of key assessment areas:

• Mental state, cognition, and delirium

• Sensation and proprioception

• Muscle testing, motor function, and coordination

• Balance, mobility, and walking gait

These areas are explored in the context of common urgent and emergency presentations, including:

• Falls

• Delirium and acute confusion

• Functional decline and reduced mobility

• Dehydration and electrolyte imbalance

• Polypharmacy and adverse drug reactions

How you will learn

The course is highly practical and designed for real-world application. Learners will:

• Refresh and apply relevant anatomy, physiology, and pathophysiology

• Practice functional assessment techniques suitable for time-pressured environments

• Apply structured clinical reasoning to identify patterns and causes of functional change

• Work through case-based scenarios to support decision-making and risk management

• Explore how assessment findings inform management, discharge planning, and access to community and rehabilitation pathways

Teaching is interactive and practice-based, with opportunities to apply skills, receive feedback, and translate learning directly into clinical practice. Participants will be given neuro tips and cotton wool pads to practise sensation testing, ensuring they leave with skills they can apply immediately in clinical settings.

Pre- and Post-Course Learning

To maximise impact, the course includes structured learning before and after the face-to-face day:

• Pre-course (2–3 hours): Refresh core anatomy and physiology, review assessment approaches, and reflect on real clinical scenarios

• Post-course (3–5 hours): Apply assessment skills in practice, reflect on clinical decision-making, and explore pathways and interventions using real cases

Total CPD Time

• Core course: 13–16 hours (including pre- and post-course learning)

• With TTT module: Additional 1 hour

Learning Aim

To enable clinicians to undertake enhanced, holistic functional assessment in urgent and emergency care, integrating clinical examination and advanced clinical reasoning to identify underlying causes of functional change and inform safe, person-centred management, discharge planning, and onward care pathways.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this course, learners will be able to:

1. Integrate medical assessment and red flags into functional assessment and clinical decision-making

2. Assess and interpret cognitive, mental state, and neurofunction within acute presentations

3. Assess sensation, proprioception, and motor function to identify underlying impairment

4. Assess balance, mobility, and gait to identify falls risk and functional impairment

5. Apply enhanced clinical reasoning to identify causes of acute functional change

6. Formulate safe, person-centred management plans including escalation and discharge decisions

7. Integrate health promotion, self-management, and care pathways into practice

8. Demonstrate clinical leadership and collaborative working in complex scenarios

Additional Learning Objectives – Train the Trainer Module

An optional 1-hour Train the Trainer (TTT) module can be included at the end of the course to support organisations in building internal capability and sustainability.

This module enables participants to facilitate elements of the course within their own teams, supporting local workforce development, consistency of practice, and ongoing service improvement.

By the end of the optional TTT module, learners will be able to:

A. Apply core educational principles to facilitate safe and effective learning in practice

• Use adult learning principles and the teaching cycle to structure teaching

• Adapt learning to meet diverse and inclusive needs

B. Facilitate learning using coaching, communication, and feedback skills

• Use questioning and feedback to support understanding and application

• Adapt communication to learner needs and clinical context

C. Create psychologically safe learning environments and manage group dynamics

• Enable participation, reflection, and constructive challenge

• Manage behaviours and dynamics to maintain safety and engagement

D. Adapt and deliver training to meet local needs and service priorities

• Tailor training to population needs, inequalities, and system pressures

• Use simple, flexible, and digital approaches to support delivery

E. Reflect on and evaluate teaching to support ongoing development and impact

• Use feedback and reflection to improve facilitation

• Recognise the role of education in improving practice and service delivery

Outcome

By the end of the course, learners will not only be more confident in functional assessment, but able to use those assessments to make better clinical decisions, reduce risk, and support effective patient flow across urgent and emergency care systems.

For organisations, the optional Train the Trainer module provides an opportunity to build internal capability, sustain learning, and embed consistent, high-quality practice across teams.