Page last updated 13 September 2024
Introduction
This course is studied and applied for on a modular basis.
Accreditations and partnerships:
The MSc Advanced Practice is a multi-professional course for all professional, statutory and regulatory body registered practitioners. Its content is developed in line with Health Education England (HEE)'s multi-professional framework for advanced clinical practice in England (November 2017), which provides the overarching benchmark for this subject.
This flexible course is designed to develop and enhance skills required to become an advanced practitioner. You'll be encouraged to advance your knowledge and understanding of current issues in your own field of practice and the wider context of health and social care.
The broad aims of the course are to:
- Enable students to demonstrate a comprehensive knowledge and understanding, evaluation of practice and implementation in relation to advanced practice.
- Produce an advanced clinical practitioner (ACP) who demonstrates a comprehensive understanding of complex and specialist knowledge and skills needed to practice as a competent, reflective practitioner.
- Enable students to develop a high level of autonomy based on critical thinking to make decisions, taking a patient-centred approach to act appropriately in complex, unpredictable situations.
- Enable students to demonstrate a systematic understanding and critical evaluation of current health and social care issues, using new knowledge in innovative ways and sharing this with a wider audience.
- Equip students to critically evaluate current research and advanced scholarship to effectively lead, manage, plan and evaluate care delivery in various complex, unpredictable contexts.
- Support students to work in partnership with service users to develop person- and family-centred holistic care.
Watch: The learning and teaching experience
Structure
Content
Indicative routes
The optional modules listed are those that are most likely to be available, but they may be subject to change.
Year one
You'll study:
- A Leadership module (20 or 30 credits depending on credit requirement)
Plus:
- Pathophysiology and Diagnostic Reasoning in Clinical Practice (20 credits)
Plus, one of the following:
- Examination of the Newborn (20 credits)
- Physical Assessment and Clinical Reasoning (20 credits)
- Physical Assessment and Clinical Reasoning of the Presenting Child (20 credits)
Or
- Advancing Practice in Clinical Examination and Diagnostic Reasoning for Urgent, Emergency and Primary Care Practitioners (40 credits)
Year two*
Once you've completed the Leadership and Clinical pillars, you'll move on to study one of the following:
- Health and Social Care Research for Advanced Clinical Practitioner (Distance Learning) (20 credits)
- Health and Social Care Research: Methods and Methodologies (Distance-Learning) (20 credits)
- Health and Social Care Research: Methods and Methodology (20 credits)
Plus:
- Independent and/or Supplementary Prescribing (40 credits) or 40 credits from the department's Continuing Professional Development Module Portfolio.
You may also elect to study:
- Supporting Students in Practice (non-credit bearing)
Year three*
In the final part of the course, you'll complete either a Dissertation (40 or 60 credits depending on credit requirement) or an Evidencing Work-based Learning module (40 or 60 credits depending credit requirement).
Plus:
- Up to 20 credits (the amount depending on credit requirement) from the Department's Continuing Professional Development Module Portfolio.
*Years two and three will be underpinned by a portfolio aligned to the four pillars of advanced practice. This will be supported by a clinical supervisor in your workplace.
The University continually enhances our offer by responding to feedback from our students and other stakeholders, ensuring the curriculum is kept up to date and our graduates are equipped with the knowledge and skills they need for the real world. This may result in changes to the course. If changes to your course are approved we will inform you.
Learning and Teaching
The course offers a wide range of teaching and learning strategies which are student centred, including action learning sets. The process of action learning allows you to engage fully in exploring challenges and issues relevant to practice in order to challenge existing perspectives and place theoretical knowledge in your own practice context. Other learning strategies include critical evaluation, directed reading, discussion groups, seminars, group work and your own practice.
For more details see our glossary of teaching and learning terms.
Study time
This course will enable you to work in a collaborative way to meet strategic health and social care targets. These targets will be met through:
- advancing the boundaries of health and social care through interprofessional leadership and workforce development
- applying the principles of advanced practice to their working context
- demonstrating innovation, enhanced decision-making, problem-solving and change management within advanced practice
- operating within a multi-cultural context that is responsive to health and social care
- engaging and encouraging research, evaluation and systematic reviews of practice
- promotion of life-long learning activities in yours and others development plans.
Assessment
A wide range of assessment methods are incorporated into this course, each one appropriate to the nature of the specific module. A module assessment normally comprises the application of theory to the your own practice.
For more details, see our full glossary of assessment terms.