Nurse Practitioner
BSc(Hons)

• Course summary and entry requirements

  Course duration

  Full-time: 1 year
  

  Part-time: 2-3 years
  

  Professional accreditation

  The course offers students an academic award and a professional qualification as a specialist practitioner in adult, mental health or children's nursing. Specialist practice is the exercising of higher levels of judgement, discretion and decision making in clinical care. The standards for qualification as a specialist practitioner are set and approved by the Nursing and Midwifery Council.

  About the course

  The Nurse Practitioner is an exciting course developed in partnership with local Trusts in response to the changing workforce development agenda. The course is aimed at meeting the educational needs for those supporting or undertaking new roles in the community and other relevant settings, such as:
  - community matrons
  - new primary nurse or nurse practitioner roles
  - new and existing community specialist nurse roles
  - new mental health nurse roles (eg assertive outreach, crisis resolution)
  - new nursing roles to support the expanding out of hours and unscheduled services provision.

  Typical entry requirements

  The entry requirements listed here are for students starting their course in 2014. Entry requirements for students thinking about starting a course in 2013 can be found in the online prospectus. Individual offers may vary

  For non-native speakers of English:
  IELTS 6.5 overall, and 6.0 in writing.

  Degree and/or experience:
  Candidates for all pathways should:
  - hold current and appropriate registration with the NMC (parts RN1 or RNA, RN3 or RNMH, RN8 or RNC)
  - have a minimum of six months post-registration experience
  - spend a minimum of 15 hours a week in practice.
  - have evidence of successful study in the last 5 years at diploma level or above.

• Course content

  Course structure

  The course is delivered over 32 weeks per year - 50 per cent is taught and the rest of your time is spent in practice to meet the NMC requirements for Specialist Practice. Module assessment is based equally on course work and on clinical practice. The focus of the work is normally related to the student's field of practice. Students are also required to collate their evidence of achievement for clinical practice in the form of a portfolio and to map their evidence against the NMC Standards for Specialist Practice. Students are also encouraged to map their evidence against other key competency frameworks that are relevant to their specific roles, for example, RCN Nurse Practitioner Competencies, Knowledge and Skills Framework and National Service Frameworks.

  Areas of study

  Students are able to choose from a wide range of modules enabling them to tailor their study to the specific needs of their role. Each student is supported by the course leader in identifying an individual learning package to meet their personal and professional development needs.

  All students must complete an assessment skills module relevant to their field of specialist practice:
  - Physical Assessment of Adults
  - Mental Health Assessment
  - Child Physical Assessment

  All students must also complete Project Development through Work-based Learning: Specialist Practice, which is designed specifically to support the development of specialist practitioners. This module facilitates students to plan and implement a practice development, and is in place of the traditional research and dissertation modules required for degree level study. The module requires students to engage in inter-professional learning and service development.

  In order to further support the development of the NMC's core competencies for Specialist Practice, students can select relevant modules from the undergraduate CPD module choices pack, which includes modules from the Professional Practice and Community Specialist Practice degrees.
  

  Syllabus

  Core modules
  Project Development Through Work-based Learning
  Pathway-specific assessment module
  - Physical Assessment of Adults (Adult pathway)
  - Mental Health Assessment (Mental Health pathway)
  - Child Physical Assessment (Children's Nursing pathway)

  Options
  Students select relevant modules from the undergraduate module choices. Examples include:
  Developing Practice: the challenges of change
  Decision Making for Health and Social Care
  Health Promotion: the Challenges for practice
  Independent and Supplementary Prescribing
  Delivering Innovative Care in Diabetes
  Respiratory Care (Adult)
  Case Management for Health and Social Care
  Mental Health Medication Management and Psychopharmacology
  Health Law and Ethics
  Mental Health: Promoting Recovery through Professional Practice
  People and Dementia
  Child Protection: Advancing Practice

• Fees and costs

  Funding for modules may be available through your Trust or employer.

• Location

  Location Falmer (some optional modules based in Eastbourne and Worthing)

  View map

• Career opportunities

  Graduates will be able to work at a more senior level of clinical practice and be equipped to work towards advanced level practice. The course prepares practitioners to be able to work in a specific field of care, as well as to apply a broader range of generic skills. Students will be in a good position to apply for posts where they are required to practise with a high degree of autonomy with minimal supervision or direction and lead new nurse-led service developments.

  Visit the careers service website.

01273 644037
Email c.l.cossu@brighton.ac.uk

Visit the school that delivers this course