-18.gif "Masters Degrees at Buckinghamshire New University")
Visit our website for more information on fees, scholarships, postgraduate loans and other funding options to study Advanced Practice in Health Care at Swansea University - 'Welsh University of the Year 2017' (Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2017).
The student-centred Advanced Practice in Health Care postgraduate programme is the only one in Wales to be accredited by the Royal College of Nursing. The Advanced Practice in Health Care programme enables experienced health care professionals from varied clinical backgrounds to develop their skills and knowledge to an advanced level of practice in health care. The MSSc and PGDip in Advanced Practice in Health Care has also been carefully mapped against the prospective Advanced Nurse Practitioner competencies of the Nursing and Midwifery Council. The clinical component of the Advanced Practice in Health Care programme is taught by a team of active practitioners consisting of: Advanced Nurse Practitioners, an Advanced Paramedic Practitioner and a Medical Doctor.
The Advanced Practice in Health Care programme is consistent with current thinking on advanced practice and complies with both the competencies provided by the Royal College of Nursing, 2012 (RCN) and their high standards of course delivery. Students of the Advanced Practice in Health Care programme will develop critical and creative thinking skills in relation to clinical practice to an advanced level on the programme. Additionally, students of the Advanced Practice in Health Care programme will develop their knowledge and skills with regard to their role as a researcher, educator, manager and leader in health care.
The Advanced Practice in Health Care programme at Swansea University commenced in 1992. Since then it has undergone several changes in order to remain at the forefront of contemporary practices in health care. The modules are designed to enable the clinician to develop knowledge and skills essential to the role of an advanced practitioner (Scottish Government, 2008). Students may also undertake studies for non-medical prescribing.
Modules on the Advanced Practice in Health Care programme typically include:
• Foundations in Research
• Clinical Assessment and Diagnostic Skills
• Non Medical Prescribing
• Anatomy, Physiology and Pathophysiology
• Advanced Practice: Management and Leadership
• Advanced Practice and Education
The academic lead for the Advanced Practice in Health Care team works on a national basis with the Welsh Government on advanced practice policy.
The Programme Coordinator is a committee member of the RCN Accredited Advanced Nurse Practitioner Educators Group.
Several members of the teaching team for the Advanced Health Care programme have published books and papers on the subject of Advanced Practice in health care.
Swansea was one of the first universities in the UK to offer nurse practitioner/advanced nurse practitioner education. We now have twenty years of experience of doing so. The programme is informed predominantly by the Advanced Practice Toolkit, the Royal College of Nursing document (RCN, 2012) and by working closely with our colleagues in the NHS.
The practitioner teachers work within the local NHS and so provide a link. There is a formal link between the College of Human and Health Sciences and the Bridgend Rehabilitation Team. Several members of the teaching team work on committees with Hywel Dda Health Board and Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Health Board.
Our Advanced Clinical Practice MSc enables healthcare professionals to develop their career at masters level, and be at the forefront of professional knowledge in their area of interest.
Open to all healthcare professionals, for example, nurses, paramedics and paramedic practitioners, midwives, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, podiatrists and health visitors will all benefit from the curriculum. You will gain understanding, knowledge and skills to support advanced-level practice in a variety of settings.
A wide choice of modules is available from the university’s postgraduate education programme, and enables you to specialise in areas of personal and professional interest.
Graduate with the confidence and resilience to work in autonomous roles; inspired and equipped to become a leader of change and practice innovation.
The course prepares students from a number of different disciplines to practice at an advanced level.
Students complete a total of 180 credits for the MSc (including a 60-credit dissertation), or 120 credits for the postgraduate diploma. The contents of the compulsory modules form the basis of knowledge used in advanced practice in a multi-professional context and are the same for both the MSc and PGDip.
The compulsory modules are based on the emerging consensus that in the absence of government or professional body legislation or guidance, advanced practice consists of four underpinning pillars: Practice, Leadership, Education and Research (NIALH 2010, DH 2010).
The course is based on our Falmer campus, with tutorials available at Falmer, Eastbourne and Hastings and on Skype.
Compulsory modules
Option modules
If a student wishes to take non-medical prescribing this will take the place of the 40 option credits.
Options modules for this course are chosen from the university's postgraduate education programme.
Find out more about individual modules, and their timetabling.
Masters-level education is an important component of advanced practice. It allows you greater autonomy and to accelerate personal and professional development or promotion in your practice.
Our graduates are working in many different strands of advanced practice, for example, Assistant Director of Nursing, Senior Lecturer, Emergency Practitioners.
Successful completion of this course will give you access to second-level registration on the NMC register as either a qualified general practice nurse, district nurse, or as a nurse in a home setting.
The course provides registered nurses with the opportunity to gain both a professional qualification and an academic award at degree level.
On graduation, you will be equipped with the skills and knowledge to become a capable and confident general practice nurse, district nurse, or home nurse.
We are known for our flexible approaches to practice-based learning, with course durations and intensities that can be adapted to your individual needs and outside commitments.
The values of the NHS constitution – respect, dignity, compassion and working together for patients – and the recognition that patients come first in everything the NHS does are embedded in our curriculum.
Our high quality teaching and research are renowned, and have an applied focus. We have established strong links with community specialist practice educators to ensure the provision of support and guidance both within the university and in community practice.
We have a dedicated team of academic staff who are actively engaged in internationalising the nursing and midwifery curriculum.
The course is delivered in a variety of ways, and is flexible enough to meet the needs of part-time students. Delivery is typically via e-learning, lectures, seminars, workbooks for work-based learning and simulation in our state-of-the-art Clinical Skills and Simulation Suite and Flexible Learning Environment.
You will be allocated practice placements by your employing trust, and assigned a dedicated tutor to support your learning in practice. You will also undertake a period of alternative practice during which you can spend a week in another practice environment, to diversify your skills and experience base.
A variety of learning and teaching strategies are used including problem-based and work-based learning. You need to be highly motivated and be prepared to actively engage with all aspects of your learning.
Public health roles are diverse, and flexibility in the course gives you the opportunity to gain the knowledge and skills to suit your personal and professional ambitions.
With the guidance of a tutor, you will set out a professional development plan (PDP) from the initial interview, which will be reviewed throughout the course. The PDP helps to integrate your personal areas of advancement with the existing requirements of the knowledge and skills framework. It also serves as evidence of your expanded skill set in order to boost your future employability.
The PDP also ensures that your needs are assessed on an ongoing basis and adjustments made accordingly, particularly useful if an extended part-time route is taken.
You will be supported throughout your course and placements by a practice teacher and mentors. An exciting variety of learning approaches are utilised in the course, which can be tailored to your preferred learning styles.
Research Methods
This module, shared with other students in the graduate programme, facilitates the development of knowledge and skills required to inform evidence-based practice, and prepares students for completion of a dissertation.
Research Evidence in Practice
This is a practice-based module focusing on the evidence underpinning clinical practice and theory – practice relationships.
Transforming Practice: the challenges of change
The aim of this module is to develop practitioners who will take a lead role in the management and development of effective strategies for health and social care interventions. This module is shared across the community nursing programmes with level 6 students.
Nurse Prescribing from the Community Nurse Prescribers Formulary
This module is mandatory for those undertaking the Nursing in the Home / District Nursing pathway.
In addition to the core modules mentioned above, you can choose from a wide choice of optional modules which allow you to study topics of personal and professional interest, including:
Flexible Learning Environment
The Flexible Learning Environment is an adapted home environment in a residential location where you'll be able to practise skills and learn from other students while taking part in a realistic training experience.
Every room is fitted with cameras and microphones, so that students can be directed and monitored from the control room while the observation room provides the opportunity to review, playback and debrief.
Clinical Skills and Simulation Suite
Our Clinical Skills and Simulation Suite is among the best equipped in the country, and is an invaluable tool for assessment and monitoring students' progress throughout the course.
You will benefit from practising nursing skills in an environment that simulates real-life professional experiences. Provided by the NHS’ South East Coast Ambulance Service, you may have access to our Simbulance, enabling you to work alongside paramedic students in an interprofessional learning environment. On board is a high fidelity mannikin with multiple uses, and a child-size mannikin for paediatric scenarios.
Learning by simulation means you will be confident in your ability to apply your knowledge and skills in your professional life.
Most graduates go on to work, or continue working, within the NHS in a variety of community nursing and primary care settings.
The skills and knowledge that you will have achieved by graduation can also be applied to a wide range of community nursing or public health roles in various settings.
The context of public health practice both within and outside of the NHS is constantly changing and the opportunities for career development and innovative approaches to service provision exist.
The Health Promotion MSc will equip you with the practical skills and theoretical knowledge to work in health promotion and public health at local, national or international levels.
The course is modular, so you will study the essential core modules and then be able to choose one of four pathways to match your previous experience, future ambitions, and if you wish to study full-time or part-time.
During the course you will explore the environments and social conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age in relation to health, and the factors that influence our health behaviours.
You will have the opportunity to combine your health promotion study with complementary disciplines by choosing relevant modules from the Brighton Business School and Brighton and Sussex Medical School.
The course will benefit you if you are working in a role with a health promotion component and want to deepen your knowledge, or if you want to develop skills for working in a public health-related field. Our students include health and social care professionals, school teachers, voluntary workers and those changing career.
The Health Promotion MSc has four possible course pathways.
All pathways share two core modules, providing a sound foundation in health promotion and public health systems thinking as well as an opportunity for you to get to know other health promotion students.
The combination of other modules depends on the pathway you choose and will be selected in consultation with the course leader – for information on the pathways, look at the other tabs on this page and the course structure diagram (pdf).
The multidisciplinary and international student mix provides a lively and stimulating classroom experience with plenty of interactive learning and sharing of experience.
Many UK-based students study part-time, alongside their work and home-life. This helps them incorporate their work into their studies through the course's dissertation/work-based project.
Academic contributors include local public health and health promotion practitioners, international health promotion academics and researchers and staff from the university's School of Health Sciences, and Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS). The course also benefits from educational exchanges with health promotion specialists at the University of Toronto and Hong Kong University.
School of Health Sciences postgraduate education
This course is part of our School of Health Sciences postgraduate education programme. The programme allows you to sign up for one module at a time and build your qualification as you go. It also gives you access to interdisciplinary modules across a broad selection of health and social science subjects.
You will take these two core modules no matter which pathway you choose.
The masters award
You need to earn a total of 180 credits for the masters award, consisting of six 20-credit taught modules and a 60-credit dissertation. Twenty-credit modules have approximately 30 hours' classroom-based lecturer contact or group work and we expect this to be backed up by approximately 170 hours of individual study and work on assignments.
The course team are active in public health research particularly around healthy weight, inequalities, mental health, sexual health, infant feeding, diabetes prevention and young people and we provide dissertation research opportunities in these areas.
You will experience formal teaching alongside a series of extracurricular seminars both within the school and through forums such as the Brighton and Sussex Universities Food Network, or the Global Health Network which operate across University of Brighton, Brighton and Sussex Medical School and University of Sussex.
The assessment and teaching methods are varied, including problem based learning in response to public health triggers, and assessments by presentation, vivas as well as formal written critical reports.
The dissertation consists of a literature review, small-scale prime research or a work-based learning project.
You will be supported through your dissertation via monthly optional discussion groups in addition to formal dissertation supervision. If you are working, the dissertation provides an opportunity to conduct a work-based learning project (if you wish), for example evaluating or developing a particular aspect of your organisation's work from a health promotion perspective.
Clinical Skills and Simulation Suite
Our Clinical Skills and Simulation Suite is among the best equipped in the country, and is an invaluable tool for assessment and monitoring students' progress throughout the course.
You will benefit from practising nursing skills in an environment that simulates real-life professional experiences. Provided by the NHS’ South East Coast Ambulance Service, you may have access to our Simbulance, enabling you to work alongside paramedic students in an interprofessional learning environment. On board is a high fidelity mannikin with multiple uses, and a child-size mannikin for paediatric scenarios.
Learning by simulation means you will be confident in your ability to apply your knowledge and skills in your professional life.
On graduation, you will be prepared for a career as a health promotion specialist working in public health practice in the public, not-for-profit, voluntary or commercial sector.
Our students often find employment in public health, or change their job role to include more public health, part way through their masters and may shift from full-time to part-time study to complete their MSc.
Typical roles include, programme coordinators or commissioners for local public health, health project coordinators for voluntary sector organisations, young peoples’ welfare or sexual health advisers in a college or primary prevention setting.
Global health issues are considered throughout the teaching, making the course relevant to participants from all types of economies.
If you are a UK student, you will graduate with a better understanding of international health for working with diverse communities in Britain, preparing you for working internationally and raising awareness of the challenges for public health in our globalised world. The course has long-standing links with the International Union of Health Promotion and Education (IUHPE) and local public health departments and organisations.
