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Why choose the School of Nursing, Midwifery and Health Education
98% of our Nursing graduates are in graduate-level employment (Guardian, 2024)
100% of Health graduates went into highly skilled employment or further education (HESA, 2023)
£5,000 a year available with the NHS bursary.
About the course
If you are applying for apprenticeship through your organisation, please go to the Advanced Clinical Practitioner apprenticeship and note that contracts need to be set up with your employer, which can take up to 3 months.
If you are a practising registered healthcare professional ready to take your career to the next level then this part-time three-year course will give you the skills to become an advanced practitioner who can lead innovate and improve healthcare across a wide range of settings.
This Master’s course covers all areas of your practice and uses your current work and development needs to build on your existing skills and experience. You study key areas such as understanding advanced practice in today’s profession; exploring the opportunities of the workplace and how advanced practitioners challenge and lead change; and developing specialist expertise as an independent learner.
To be eligible for this course you must be registered with the NMC or HCPC and working as a healthcare professional in your chosen discipline (and remain so for the duration of the course).
Why choose this course?
Accredited by the Centre for Advancing Practice
- It links with the four pillars of ACP and the HEE's multi-professional framework for England: research; education; leadership; and clinical practice
- Explore mentorship people management patient safety and resilience as well as clinical and theoretical practice
- Gain sound knowledge and experience in a range of areas enabling you to progress to more senior roles and be recognised as a well-grounded and capable individual
- Develop critical thinking skills through learning how to evaluate and present evidence from a range of sources within your area of practice
- Undertake a service-improvement project
Course Leader - Rachel Bruce
I have been a registered adult nurse for thirty years, specialising in the community. I have been a Rehabilitation Nurse, District Nurse, Community Matron and Team leader.
I took up my position as a lecturer within the field of healthcare practice, specialising in District Nursing in 2015.
More recently I have progresses to senior lecturer within this field branching also into Mentorship education and pre-registration nurse education.
I am passionate about education within nursing and enjoy adopting a creative and innovative approach to my teaching at undergraduate and postgraduate level.
Course Leader - Rachel Bruce
I have been a registered adult nurse for thirty years, specialising in the community. I have been a Rehabilitation Nurse, District Nurse, Community Matron and Team leader.
I took up my position as a lecturer within the field of healthcare practice, specialising in District Nursing in 2015.
More recently I have progresses to senior lecturer within this field branching also into Mentorship education and pre-registration nurse education.
I am passionate about education within nursing and enjoy adopting a creative and innovative approach to my teaching at undergraduate and postgraduate level.
What will you study?
Education In Healthcare
This unit provides a sound theoretical underpinning to your practice as a healthcare educator. It supports the development of a full range of healthcare educator skills and opportunities to develop your practice as part of an innovative, informed and forward thinking community of healthcare educators.
The unit seeks to address the key question - How can I develop an informed approach to teaching, learning and assessment in order to be an effective and innovative healthcare educator?
In addressing this question, the unit provides you with opportunities to promote best practice and innovation in learning, teaching and assessment while developing your role as an educator.
This unit adheres to The Multi-Professional Framework for Advanced Clinical Practice in England (HEE, 2017).
Pillar 1: 1.11
Pillar 2: 2.4
Pillar 3: 3.1,3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5, 3.6, 3.7 and 3.8
Pillar 4: 4.5.
Research Methods In Healthcare
This unit is about engaging critically with, or evaluating, the claims made by writers, commentators and researchers about a particular field of study. This critical evaluation involves asking about the findings and the evidence that people have to support their claims. This unit focuses on examining the process of research and assisting postgraduate students to gain a wide range of knowledge and skills necessary to conduct research in the health sciences in general.
This unit adheres to The Multi-Professional Framework for Advanced Clinical Practice in England (HEE, 2017).
Pillar 1: 1.11
Pillar 4: 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, 4.5.
Work-Based Learning 1 (Assessment And History Taking)
The aim of this unit is to enable you to experience advanced clinical practice both in your usual workplace and in other settings surrounding concise physical and psychosocial history to enable for you to develop as an autonomous practitioner.
You will have the opportunity to explore body systems in more depth.
The unit will assist you to then improve your clinical decision making process to plan care provision for the client
Through this unit you will be shown how to use a range of structured and semi structured tools to assess the client’s physical, mental and social health status and make an appropriate referral.
As practitioners you will be expected to appreciate the implications of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 for the assessment process.
You will work under the supervision of a practice based supervisor/assessor who will help you identify opportunities to develop your skills and to practice them safely and in accordance with the values enshrined in healthcare and within the NHS Constitution, professional codes of practice and national and local policies and legislation thus ensuring safe and compassionate care delivery.
This unit adheres to The Multi-Professional Framework for Advanced Clinical Practice in England (HEE, 2017).
Pillar 1: 1.1, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 1.8 and 1.11
Pillar 2: 2.11
Pillar 3: 3.2.
Leadership And Supervision In Healthcare
The aim of this unit is to provide you with the knowledge and skills to provide effective leadership, management and supervision of others within the healthcare team and the wider health and social care sector through a critical reflective account of yourself
This unit will challenge and develop your current leadership and management practice. This syllabus is based upon the current challenges in healthcare delivery in the 21st century. The unit seeks to address a key question: what are the strategies to enable healthcare leaders balance the requirements of an increasingly complex and evolving healthcare environment with the challenges of meeting patient expectations?
This unit adheres to The Multi-Professional Framework for Advanced Clinical Practice in England (HEE, 2017).
Pillar 1: 1.9 and 1.10
Pillar 2: 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.5, 2.7 2.8, 2.9, 2.10 and 2.11
Pillar 4: 4.4, 4.5 and 4.6.
Work-Based Learning 2 (Planning And Evaluation)
The aim of this unit is to enable you to experience advanced clinical practice both in your usual workplace and in other settings surrounding diagnostic, interpretation and evaluation of care provision for clients.
You will have the opportunity to explore body systems in more depth. The unit will then assist you to analyse the data you have collected, to enable a reflective approach to future interventions. The Unit will enable you to be more reflective in you care of clients and yourself as an autonomous practitioner.
You will work under the supervision of a practice based supervisor / assessor who will help you identify opportunities to develop your skills and to practice them safely and in accordance with the values enshrined in healthcare and within the NHS Constitution, professional codes of practice and national and local policies and legislation thus ensuring safe and compassionate care delivery.
This unit adheres to The Multi-Professional Framework for Advanced Clinical Practice in England (HEE, 2017).
Pillar 1: 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.7, 1.9, 1.10 and 1.11
Pillar 2: 2.6
Pillar 4: 4.2.
Non-Medical Prescribing
The aims of this course are to:
• Prepare you to successfully meet the standards set out by your professional, statutory, and regulatory body within the context of prescribing practice. Allowing you to apply for registration to practice as independent prescribers upon successful completion.
• Provide advanced, challenging, and meaningful education and develop skills, knowledge and attitude required for safe and effective prescribing practice.
• Ensure you are prepared to practice safely and effectively to such an extent that the protection of the public is assured.
• Develop a critical understanding of the role and management of effective prescribing within your scope of practice and practice environment.
This unit also adheres to The Multi-Professional Framework for Advanced Clinical Practice in England (HEE, 2017).
Pillar 1: 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 and 1.7,
Pillar 2: 2.11
Pillar 3: 3.2
Pillar 4: 4.3.
Mental Health Skills For Healthcare Practitioners
The NHS Long Term Plan (2019) and the NHS: People Plan for 20/21 highlight the need for healthcare professionals to advance their skills and knowledge surrounding mental health.
Mental health conditions and psychological distress often co-exist with physical illness and impact negatively upon quality of life/work and health outcomes.
This unit will equip practitioners with the core mental health skills to support themselves, staff/colleagues and patients or their carers with their mental health needs. No prior knowledge of mental health is required.
This unit adheres to The Multi-Professional Framework for Advanced Clinical Practice in England (HEE, 2017).
Pillar 1: 1.1, 1.2, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6,1.8 and 1.9
Pillar 2: 2.6, 2.7 and 2.9.
Service Improvement Project
The ability to critically analyse issues and evidence from a variety of perspectives along with the ability to negotiate with staff and service users is essential in the development of a quality healthcare environment. The unit provides the opportunity to argue rationally for change and then devise and evaluate an appropriate strategy, including consideration of the impact of the proposed change and budgetary requirments A central question in this unit is: How do healthcare practitioners evidence their ability to critically analyse the existing evidence for current practice, and formulate views and judgments about how future practice might be developed and evaluated? This unit will provide you with the opportunity to develop and exercise these skills in improving practice. The project you undertake will result in planned change for better and safer health care.
This unit adheres to The Multi-Professional Framework for Advanced Clinical Practice in England (HEE, 2017).
Pillar 1: 1.1, 1.2 and 1.11
Pillar 2: 2.2, 2.3, 2.5, 2.6, 2.8 and 2.9
Pillar 3: 3.2 and 3.7
Pillar 4: 4.2, 4.4, 4.5, 4.7 and 4.8.
How will you be assessed?
Assessment is integral in all units to check that you have met the threshold standards expected of all graduates undertaking this level of study. They are also linked to learning designed to promote the development of key subject specific and transferable skills for future employment. The requirements of each assessment will be detailed in a formal assessment brief document and discussed in teaching sessions. Each unit is designed to help you to develop your healthcare related skills in ways which are directly relevant to your interests or workplace.
The overarching course assessment strategy is designed to assist you in identifying reflecting on and meeting your own learning needs. Furthermore where appropriate the unit assessments provide the flexibility for you to choose to investigate a contemporary issue. The assessments will include a range of possible approaches: - Practice Assessment Document/ Portfolio of learning - Case studies - OSCE - Reflective accounts - Presentations - Essays - Journal and report writing - Clinical examinations Service Improvement project Each of these completed assessments will enable you to demonstrate the ability to critically understand and evaluate complex issues relevant to healthcare and communicate these effectively to a range of audiences. This strategy informs the assessment methods for each individual unit within the course and is based on Masters level descriptors and course learning outcomes.
Careers
On completing this course you should be equipped to initiate developments at both national and local level within healthcare settings and contribute specialist expertise in your area of practice to improve standards and contribute to improved outcomes in patient care. We work with the employer to ensure there is an ACP role at the end of the course.
This Master’s can also lead to accreditation with Health Education England.
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Entry Requirements
Entry Requirements
Fees for this course
UK 2024/25
The full-time standard fee for a taught Master's degree for the Academic Year 2024/25 is £10,000 per year. You can apply for a loan from the Government to help pay for your tuition fees and living costs. Visit www.gov.uk/postgraduate-loan
Alternatively if you have any questions around fees and funding, please email admission@beds.ac.uk
International 2024/25
The full-time standard fee for a taught Master's degree for the Academic Year 2024/25 is £15,600
If you have any questions around fees and funding, please email international@beds.ac.uk
Fees for this course
UK 2024/25
The full-time standard fee for a taught Master's degree for the Academic Year 2024/25 is £10,000 per year. You can apply for a loan from the Government to help pay for your tuition fees and living costs. Visit www.gov.uk/postgraduate-loan
Alternatively if you have any questions around fees and funding, please email admission@beds.ac.uk
International 2024/25
The full-time standard fee for a taught Master's degree for the Academic Year 2024/25 is £15,600
If you have any questions around fees and funding, please email international@beds.ac.uk