MSc Advanced Clinical Practice (advanced clinical practitioner integrated degree route)

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Why study MSc Advanced Clinical Practice at BU?

Advanced Clinical Practitioners are experienced clinicians with expertise in their scope of practice, managing defined episodes of clinical care independently, from beginning to end
Build on your current registrant level of practice through academic and workplace-based learning, to attain advanced clinical practice competencies and capabilities, in-line with nationally recognised advanced level criteria (Health Education England)
Extend your critical thinking, analytical and reflective skills, and integrate new, as well as enhance existing clinical practice skills, knowledge and competence, within your practice setting
Gain the skills to support the provision of high-quality healthcare through a more autonomous, independent practice role within the multi-disciplinary healthcare team
2 pathways available: if you are a nurse, you will undertake the MSc Advanced Clinical Practice (Advanced Nurse Practitioner) qualification; if you are an allied health professional, pharmacist, midwife, healthcare scientist or other registered non-medical healthcare professional then the MSc Advanced Clinical practice is appropriate for you, in supporting your advanced clinical practice role.

Please note: Applications for the apprenticeship route must be made via an employer - therefore prospective apprentices should be employed in a healthcare role and have the support of their employer. We also offer a standard Master’s degree route for MSc Advanced Clinical Practice and MSc Advanced Clinical Practice (Advanced Nurse Practitioner).

Fast-track route available

A shortened fast-track route is available for students who have already completed the units History Taking & Physical Examination and Independent & Supplementary Prescribing at level 7 as CPD stand-alone units.

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Next start date:

September 2021, fast-track pathway October 2021

Location:

Bournemouth University, Lansdowne campus

Duration:

Three years, part time

Entry requirements:

A Bachelors Honours degree with minimum 2:2 in any subject, or equivalent.

You must have been registered with your respective statutory regulator of health and care professions (i.e. NMC, HCPC), for a minimum of 3 years and provide proof of current registration.

Level 2 English and Maths. If you do not hold this you must complete this level prior to applying for the MSc Advanced Clinical Practice Apprenticeship.

International entry requirements:

If English is not your first language, you will need to provide evidence that you can understand English to a satisfactory level. English language requirements for this course are normally IELTS (academic) 7.0 or above with minimum 7.0 in each component.

Course details

Advanced Clinical Practitioner responsibilities

As an Advanced Clinical Practitioner, you will:

Have a high level of autonomy (refers to Advanced Clinical Practitioners working to the full scope of their professional practice) and freedom to make decisions about how people should be cared for and treated and act in complex and unpredictable situations
Use person-centred approaches to taking an individual’s detailed history and examine body systems to help you make a diagnosis
Select, undertake or request a range of appropriate clinical tests and assessments to help you make a diagnosis
Initiate and evaluate a range of interventions, which may include for example prescribing of medicines, therapies and care
Apply a skillset that may have traditionally been the remit of other disciplines so that you can enhance the care and experience of individuals
Analyse, interpret and act on the results of clinical tests and assessments and formulate a plan of care, which may include admission to a care setting such as a hospital, referral to settings for another opinion or discharge from services
Drive service improvements, educate others and provide consultancy services within your scope of practice
Undertake research activities to develop new knowledge and undertake audit to evaluate and further develop your area of expertise to improve care and services for the people you are treating.

Course pathways

There are two pathways available:

If you are a nurse then the MSc Advanced Clinical Practice (Advanced Nurse Practitioner) qualification will be most suitable; for midwives, allied health professionals and other non-medical healthcare professionals, the MSc Advanced Clinical Practice route is appropriate.

1. MSc Advanced Clinical Practice (Advanced Nurse Practitioner) (180 credits level 7, ECTS 90) (advanced clinical practitioner integrated degree route) For NMC Registered Nurses only

2. MSc Advanced Clinical Practice (180 credits level 7, ECTS 90) (advanced clinical practitioner integrated degree route) for registrants of the appropriate professional body for their profession

See a diagram with a flowchart of the various pathways (pdf 88Kb)

Programme specification

Programme specifications provide definitive records of the university's taught degrees in line with Quality Assurance Agency requirements. Every taught course leading to a BU Award has a programme specification which describes its aims, structure, content and learning outcomes, plus the teaching, learning and assessment methods used.

Whilst every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the programme specification, the information is liable to change to take advantage of exciting new approaches to teaching and learning as well as developments in industry.

If you have been unable to locate the programme specification for the course you are interested in, it will be available as soon as the latest version is ready. Alternatively please contact us for assistance.

Download the programme specification (Advanced Nurse Practitioner) (PDF)

Download the programme specification (PDF)

Entry requirements

Employer requirements

You must have a contract of service with an employer which is long enough for you to complete the apprenticeship successfully (including, the end-point assessment). This is expected to be three years / typically 36 months.
You must be employed in clinical practice for a minimum of 30 hours per week and be working to a job description that enables development in line with the occupational profile and apprenticeship standard of the Advanced Clinical Practitioner Apprenticeship.
You must have support from your employer to work enough hours each week so that you can undertake sufficient regular training and on-the-job activity. This is to ensure you are likely to successfully complete the apprenticeship. You must keep evidence of the agreed average weekly hours, including time spent on off-the-job training, in the evidence pack.
On-programme and supervised work place learning should be structured to enable increasing independence and autonomy as an Advanced Clinical Practitioner, as the apprenticeship progresses. Your progress academically and in the workplace will be monitored at regular intervals prior to gateway progression.
You must have a suitable, named supervisor / assessor, agreed by your employer and University, who will support you in applying, reinforcing and demonstrating the required knowledge, skills and behaviours within the workplace.
Your employer must allow you to complete the apprenticeship within working hours. This includes off-the-job training requirement of 20% of your whole time equivalent hours, as well as the stipulated on-the-job training.

Information for employers

Academic requirements

A Bachelors Honours degree with minimum 2:2 in any subject, or equivalent.
You must have been registered with your respective statutory regulator of health and care professions (i.e. NMC, HCPC), for a minimum of 3 years and provide proof of current registration.
Level 2 English and Maths. If you do not hold this you must complete this level prior to applying for the MSc Advanced Clinical Practice Apprenticeship.
If English is not your first language, you will need to provide evidence that you can understand English to a satisfactory level. English language requirements for this course are normally IELTS (academic) 7.0 or above with minimum 7.0 in each component.
Your employer, in conjunction with your supervisor/assessor and the university, will confirm when you have met the criteria and are eligible to progress to the end point assessment.
The University will uphold all requirements for independent assessment in the end point assessment as identified by the Institute of Apprenticeships, which you need to complete in a maximum three month period
You cannot commence another DfE funded FE/HE programme, at the same time as any apprenticeship.
You cannot use a student loan to pay for an apprenticeship. Where an individual transfers to an apprenticeship from a full-time further education or higher education course, and that course has been funded by a student loan, the loan must be terminated by the individual and confirmed with the University

Careers

After completing this course you will have met the nationally recognised advanced practice criteria and will be in a position to practice as an advanced nurse practitioner/advanced clinical practitioner.

Alternatively, you could to pursue a career as a clinical academic.

Industries you could work in include:

NHS (hospital and community)
Private and independent healthcare sector (nursing homes and private hospitals)
Education
Academic research.

MSc Advanced Clinical Practice – Apprenticeship (advanced clinical practitioner integrated degree route)

Why study MSc Advanced Clinical Practice at BU?

Fast-track route available

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