Program Overview

Advanced Clinical Practice MSc

Overview

This course enables you to develop your personal and professional autonomy, providing you with a comprehensive and critical understanding of professional practice, ensuring that you are fit for future challenges within health and social care.

Course Structure

Year 1 Core Modules

• Competencies for Advanced Practitioner
  • You develop your knowledge and skills within the four pillars of advanced clinical practice – research, education, leadership and clinical.
  • You are supported to develop and apply advanced knowledge and skills to your practice through work-based learning.
  • Taught on Wednesdays.
• Advanced Physical Assessment and Disease Management Skills
  • Designed to equip you as a registered healthcare professional, with the knowledge and skills required for focused clinical assessment, differential diagnosis, diagnostic triage and management of common disease presentations in primary and acute care.
  • You attend sessions addressing the focused application of core clinical skills, and common symptom and sign presentations across the lifespan.
  • This module is delivered over one semester through fortnightly sessions.
  • Work-based experience is a strong focus to apply your knowledge to practice, supported by a workbook.
  • You develop knowledge and skills in the assessment and management of patient cases.
• Holistic Assessment and Clinical Management for Advanced Practice
  • This module prepares you to undertake a structured, person-centred, holistic assessment.
  • You apply your person-centred consultation skills and develop an understanding of a systematic assessment process as applied to clinical practice.
  • You develop the fundamental skills of holistic assessment.
  • Our systematic approach recognises the symbiotic relationship between the physical and psychological self, and their interconnectedness.
  • Holistic assessment skills are delivered in a classroom/lab setting.
  • You further develop your practical skills guided by a practice facilitator.
  • Taught on Wednesdays.

Year 2 Core Modules

• Developing Research Projects
  • Develop the knowledge and skills you need to design and manage primary or secondary research, audit or evaluation project relevant to your practice, preparing you for dissertation.
  • You also cover research governance and ethics, to prepare you to apply for ethical approval or release.
  • You are assessed through a written 4,000-word proposal for a research, audit or evaluation study, which is worth 100% of the module marks and should be submitted in week 13.
• Advancing Non-medical Prescribing
  • Independent and supplementary prescribing is an integrated feature of health service delivery – some health-specific professionals are qualified to prescribe across a range of healthcare settings.
  • Advancing roles within both nursing and allied health professions have provided a greater access to medicines.
  • This award provides nurses and allied health professionals (physiotherapists, radiographers, podiatrists, dietitians and paramedics who are working in advanced practice roles) with the knowledge and skills to prescribe safely and effectively.
  • You must work within your own scope of practice and area of competence, and be in a position to complete the care cycle in a holistic manner for clients within your care.
  • You must meet the individual entry criteria for this course.
  • Taught on Tuesdays.
• Negotiated Learning in Advanced Clinical Practice
  • You explore a specific area of advanced professional practice or academic study in depth, critically evaluating relevant theory and research, and linking this theory to advanced professional practice.
  • Your chosen topic should demonstrate development in your area of specialist practice.
  • You are encouraged and facilitated in an independent approach to learning with tutor support.
  • The module leader introduces you to the module and assessment process at the beginning of the semester.
  • You are allocated a supervisor who provides tutorial support.
  • Alternatively you can study this module online through the virtual learning environment and email.
  • Assessment is negotiated within the learning contract and can take a variety of forms such as a 4,000-word written assignment, viva, defended poster or a report.
  • The assessment must include a critical evaluation of the impact of the module on your personal learning and professional practice.
  • Taught on Mondays.

Final-Year Core Modules

• Advanced Practitioner Independent Dissertation Portfolio
  • This innovative approach to developing a portfolio dissertation enables you to demonstrate how acquiring mastery impacts on clinical practice.
  • You evidence how you have developed as an independent, autonomous advanced practitioner within your specialist area of expertise.
  • This is a negotiated independent learning portfolio, demonstrating you have achieved the four pillars of advanced practice – research, leadership, education and clinical practice.
  • You do this through a negotiated practice competency and an autonomous independent 3,000-word piece of work in the format of an appropriate academic journal article.
  • This can take the form of a research project, service evaluation, audit or systematic review with approval from ethics committees if required.
  • A viva explores and justifies the approach and methodologies used for your project.
  • You also explore your findings and recommendations.
  • And you examine areas for developing practice and disseminating findings to instigate change.
  • Using a blended approach, you must attend three, three-hour seminars in semester 1.
  • The sessions are designed to establish, maintain and support you throughout the dissertation module.
  • You are allocated an academic supervisor in Year 2 of the course.
  • The academic supervisor guides and supports you throughout the ethics submission and development of your portfolio.
  • Support from an appropriately qualified clinical supervisor in practice is an essential prerequisite for the module.
  • Taught on Tuesdays.

Entry Requirements

• You must:
  • have current registration with relevant professional healthcare body such as the Nursing and Midwifery Council or Health and Care Professions Council
  • have an honour’s degree in a health-related subject (previous experience and evidence of study at Level 6 may be considered)
  • work in a healthcare organisation, normally at equivalent of band 6 (or above) within an area of advanced practice
  • work in a role which requires diagnostic and therapeutic responsibility for a patient caseload for a minimum of 20 hours a week
  • have a minimum of three years’, full-time or equivalent in part-time hours, post-registration clinical experience
  • be able to organise for a suitable practitioner (for example, a medical doctor or an active advanced practitioner) to act as a practice supervisor

Professional Accreditation

This programme is accredited by Health Education England’s Centre for Advancing Practice.

Fees

• Part-time: £855 for each 20 credits

Length and Attendance

• Part-time: 3 years, attendance: 1 day a week

Start Date

• March or September

How You Learn

We use a range of teaching and learning methods throughout the course. These include key lectures, seminars, laboratory-based learning, structured resource-based learning, electronic discussion, action-learning sets, masterclasses, formative processes, tutorials, small-group work, research tutorials, practical skills-based sessions, reflective practice, independent working and work-based learning.

How You Are Assessed

Modules within this course have summative assessments to assess the module learning outcomes. The modules use a variety of assessment methods to help develop advanced knowledge and skills for clinical practice. You are assessed on the four pillars of advanced practice throughout the course. Assessment methods include a written assignment, work-based learning through advanced clinical practitioner competencies, consultation clinics, reflective accounts, portfolio development, critical appraisal and evaluation of the evidence base, modified objective structured clinical examination record, viva (oral exam), patient case studies to develop and exhibit high levels of clinical reasoning and practical exams to demonstrate advanced decision-making skills.