Advanced Practice (Health) MSc (PGDip)

Course in brief

Our Advanced Practice (Health) MSc enables a broad range of 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.

Key facts

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Location Brighton: Falmer

Part-time 2–6 years

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You can apply for 2016 and 2017: please check that you meet the entry requirements before you make your application.

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Entry requirements

The entry requirements listed here are our typical offer for this course if you wish to begin studying with us in 2017. They should be used as a general guide.

We operate a flexible admissions policy – this means that you could receive a lower conditional offer than the typical offer, informed by our assessment of your complementary non-academic achievements and experiences. For courses that require interview or portfolio review, this may also be considered in the level of any conditional offer that follows if your application is successful.

Degree and experience

Students should:

be registered with the appropriate professional body in the UK and should have a minimum of three years post-registration experience
be working for a minimum of 15 hours a week, in a role which is suitable for the development of an advanced level of practice
normally be expected to hold a first degree.

Graduates who have not studied in the previous five years would normally be required to complete and pass a single module relevant to the course, before enrolling on the full course. Credits from this module will then count towards the total number of credits needed.

Applicants without a first degree would normally be expected to demonstrate an ability to study at level 7 by completing a level 7 module, for example a study skills module, before enrolling for the full course.

Students require the support of a workplace mentor who is educated to at least masters level.

Applicants who meet the admissions criteria will also normally be required to attend an interview and provide one academic reference and one employer reference as to their suitability for the course.

Course in detail

Course structure

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

There are two compulsory modules on this course:

Professional Competency
Leading Advanced Practice.

Students begin with a course induction day, where you will begin the Professional Competency Module and be introduced to the ePortfolio. The ePortfolio requires students to collect evidence in support of completing 30 generic advanced practice competencies. This is done with guidance from their workplace mentor. This module is supported by three action learning sets per year and runs throughout the postgraduate diploma part of the programme. Students will engage in peer review and have the support of a personal tutor from their own discipline. Progress towards achieving the competencies will be assessed each year.

Leading Advanced Practice is usually taken as the first taught module of the course. Students may then take modules in any order but are encouraged to discuss their personal development plan and choice of optional modules required to support their evolving advanced practice with their practice mentor and their employer.

Syllabus

Compulsory modules

Professional Competency (non-credit rated)
Leading Advanced Practice (20 credits)
An advanced practice module, for example Advanced Physical Assessment; Advanced Mental Health Assessment; Advanced Assessment Child; Advanced Midwifery Practice or any other 20-credit advanced practice module.
An education module, for example Practice Teacher; Mentorship Preparation; Preparation for the Supervision of Midwives or any other 20-credit education module
A research module, for example Research Methods and Critical Appraisal; Research Theory and Practice; Research Methods for Health Professionals, or any other 20-credit research module.
Dissertation (60 credits)
A choice of research dissertation formats is available.

Option modules

40 credits of option module choice from the university’s postgraduate education programme.

If a student wishes to take non-medical prescribing this will take the place of the 40 option credits.

Facilities

Clinical Skills and Simulation Suite

Our state-of-the-art Clinical Skills and Simulation Suite is among the best-equipped in the country, and may be used as part of your education option module.

You may also benefit from our physical assessment suite, with a range of resources for developing advanced assessment skills.

Postgraduate education programme

Options modules for this course are chosen from the university's postgraduate education programme.

Find out more about individual modules, and their timetabling.

Careers and employability

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.

Fees and funding

Your fees

UK/EU 8,550 GBP

For individual module fees, contact fees@brighton.ac.uk.

NHS funding is available and may vary depending on individual circumstances.

If you require funding via NHS Trust Health Contract (formally the PTD contract) you may need to submit your application to a panel and/or need a designated signatory before you send it to the university. The forms for Health Education Contract or other sponsorship funding are available from the School of Health Sciences postgraduate education programme.

Location and living here

Location

About Brighton

Brighton has been called the happiest place in the UK, and it’s easy to see why. With five miles of pebble beach, more than 300 pubs and a packed festival calendar, Brighton is the ideal place to spend your student years.

Arts and culture: The Royal Pavilion is the most famous landmark in Brighton, opening its doors to around 400,000 tourists every year. Right next door is the Brighton Dome, the south coast’s premier multi-arts venue, and the Brighton Museum & Art Gallery, which holds a diverse collection of decorative arts, textiles and archaeological artefacts.

Festivals: The Brighton Festival is now the largest arts festival in England and a major milestone in the international cultural calendar. Meanwhile, The Great Escape has been established as the UK’s leading event for new music, with over 300 bands playing 30 venues across the city over three days.

Nightlife: Aside from the many nightclubs that line the city’s seafront, student favourites include The Haunt, Concorde 2 and Patterns, which attract leading bands and DJs from around the world. If you don’t feel like dancing, you can take your pick from the many hundreds of pubs and bars that dot the city centre.

Shopping: The quirky North Laine district houses Brighton’s finest collection of boutique shops and independent cafes, while the narrow, winding streets of the South Lanes house collections of jewellery and antiques. Churchill Square is the city’s main shopping centre and serves all of your high street needs.

Sports: Brighton’s seaside location offers the perfect opportunity to try paddle boarding, kayaking and windsurfing. Further into the city, The Level has a skate park for skateboarders and BMX riders to practise their skills.

Campus where this course is taught

Falmer campus

Surrounded by the South Downs National Park and just five miles from the centre of Brighton, our Falmer campus has benefited from over £60million of investment over the past 10 years. 7,000 students are based here, studying subjects including English, education, social science, nursing and medicine.

Recent developments include the Falmer Sports Centre – with its fitness suites and sports hall – and the innovative Checkland Building, which has natural ventilation systems and an insulating green roof.

Falmer has also recently installed more than 600 solar panels, which reduce the campus’s carbon emissions by more than 80 tonnes. The renovation has made us one of the top universities in the UK for on-site renewable energy production.

Accommodation

Brighton

Our Brighton halls of residence are located across the city in Grand Parade, Moulsecoomb, Varley Park and Falmer.

Our Grand Parade campus is in central Brighton and has one hall of residence, Phoenix Brewery, within walking distance. We have around 300 rooms available in Phoenix Brewery, which are all ensuite and self-catered.

Moulsecoomb is two miles from the city centre and also has one hall of residence, Moulsecoomb Place, on campus. All accommodation in Moulsecoomb Place is catered, offering breakfast and an evening meal during term time. There are more than 150 rooms available here, with six to eight rooms per flat.

Varley Park offers the biggest choice of student accommodation with ten halls of residence. The site is four miles from Brighton centre but within walking distance of Falmer train station. You can also catch a free bus service to Grand Parade, Moulsecoomb and Falmer campuses, which is operated by local bus service The Big Lemon.

Falmer campus has two halls of residence: Great Wilkins and Paddock Field. Great Wilkins offers 150+ self-catered single rooms and one-bed couples flats, while Paddock Field offers 450+ catered and self-catered single rooms only. All rooms in Falmer are en-suite.

Aside from halls, you have the option of Unihomes, which we let out to our students on behalf of private landlords. The rent covers all utilities and includes £5,000 of contents insurance for your personal belongings.

You can also choose to join the many students who live away from campus in private rented accommodation. We have a list of high-quality, university-endorsed private sector accommodation and can help you find housemates to move in with.

If you have any questions about accommodation in Brighton, our accommodation team will be happy to help. You can contact them by email at accommodation@brighton.ac.uk or by telephone on 01273 644100.

Paddock Field