The Professional Healthcare Practice programme at the University of Bradford offers students the opportunity to apply knowledge to a range of clinical and professional situations through reflection and practice experience, supported by an experienced mentor.
It develops skills designed to meet the challenges of delivering and advancing quality healthcare within a global context.
Learning and teaching is designed to equip students with skills in using a range of information, data, tools and techniques to improve the quality of patient care and health outcomes as well as demonstrate impact and value. There is a focus on patient safety, risk assessment and risk management within a clinical governance context.
The programme is intended to:
-Provide a flexible educational framework that is vocationally relevant, which meets your professional development needs, as well as the organisational needs of employers
-Provide opportunities for inter-professional teaching and learning to share the knowledge, skills and experience common to a range of different health and social care disciplines
-Provide a framework within which the curriculum, where required, meets the regulatory needs of professional bodies such as the NMC, GPhC and HCPC and recognised National benchmarks
-Stimulate you to become a self-directed learner who is motivated to sustain and advance your own continuous professional learning
-Develop your clinical skills, knowledge and critical understanding to an advanced level, applicable to your own field of practice
-Further develop your cognitive and practical skills to undertake data synthesis, complex problem solving and risk assessment
-Prepare you to become an autonomous practitioner, to work in advanced and specialist roles with high levels of accountability
-Develop you as a practitioner who will innovate, promote evidence informed practice and improve service user outcomes
-Develop you as a leader with skills and confidence, to act as a role model, supporting the professional development of colleagues and the work of your organisation
-Develop you as a critically reflective, competent leader who will manage service development towards effective, sustainable, inclusive, fair and ethically sensitive service provision
Additionally if you wish to undertake a Masters dissertation:
-Develop your understanding of the theoretical constructs underpinning research or project management
-Demonstrate how the findings can influence practice and policy
Why Bradford?
This programme is part of the interdisciplinary Specialist Skills and Post Registration Development (SSPRD) Framework within the Faculty of Health Studies. The Framework enables you to undertake a named award or create an individualised programme of study that will meet either your needs and/or your employer’s needs for a changing diverse workforce within a modern organisation.
The SSPRD Framework offers a structure within which students undertaking the Professional Healthcare Practice programme and named awards have a wide choice of modules. Whilst some students can build their own awards by choosing their own menu of module options the module choice on specialist, named award pathways is more clearly defined. If you are a UK student your programme of study will not only focus on research informed knowledge and understanding but will also extend your skills and competence in practice. International students will focus on modules that assess application to practice through a more reflective approach. The module choice for international students and UK students who are not working in a healthcare setting is restricted to those modules with an ‘international’ version.
Your programme of study and the collection of modules you may choose to study will contextualise your learning by addressing the Aims and Learning Outcomes for the programme which are outlined in the next section of this document. Modules such as the research or work based project modules, for example, enable you to shape your own focus of study within the modules aims and learning outcomes by learning the principles being taught and applying them to your own professional/employment area.
The flexibility offered by the Faculty of Health’s framework will enable you to take forward your current experience whatever the area of your work in collaboration with the University of Bradford. If you are not currently working in a UK healthcare setting you will have your choice limited to those modules with an ‘international’ version. An academic advisor will discuss with you and support your choices.
The Faculty of Health Studies is a major provider of education and training for individuals working within the health, social, independent and community/voluntary sector organisations across the Yorkshire and Humber Region and wider. The Faculty focus on excellence though knowledge, practice, research, leadership and management aims to support the future sustainability of the individuals, through lifelong learning and improved employability and thereby influencing the future adaptability of individual organisations and service delivery to promote change.
Career support and prospects
The University is committed to helping students develop and enhance employability and this is an integral part of many programmes. Specialist support is available throughout the course from Career and Employability Services including help to find part-time work while studying, placements, vacation work and graduate vacancies. Students are encouraged to access this support at an early stage and to use the extensive resources on the Careers website.
Discussing options with specialist advisers helps to clarify plans through exploring options and refining skills of job-hunting. In most of our programmes there is direct input by Career Development Advisers into the curriculum or through specially arranged workshops.
Experienced nurses and healthcare practitioners now have the opportunity to take on challenging roles, working across professional, organisational and system boundaries to meet diverse patient needs.
Healthcare practitioners working towards these advanced practice roles, often at the forefront of innovative practice, are expected to undertake master’s level education. The programme is designed to develop the skills in complex reasoning, critical thinking and analysis required to undertake these roles.
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