Advanced Clinical Practice MSc (PGCert, PGDip)

Course structure

The course is part-time. Normally you will begin the MSc Advanced Clinical Practice course in September and follow the course pathways or routes in order.

All students take a core set of modules in year 1 before choosing between two routes: ACP research advancement or ACP service improvement.

The course is normally taken as 60 credits per year. Modules are 20 credits unless otherwise specified.

The structure detailed here is indicative as the course can be studied over a flexible period up to six years.

Year 1 

All students take three core modules.

• Managing Complexity in Advanced Clinical Practice (ePortfolio)

One from

• Advanced Physical Assessment, Pathophysiology and Clinical Decision-making (Adult) (Level 7)
• Child Advanced Physical Assessment, Pathophysiology and Clinical Decision-making (Level 7)

One research module from

• Research Theory and Application for Health Professionals
• Qualitative Research
• Mixed Methods Research
• Quantitative Research Methods

In years 2 and 3, you choose between two routes: ACP research advancement and ACP service improvement.

ACP research advancement route

Year 2

• Independent Prescribing (40 credits)
  or
  Advanced Therapeutic Interventions through Work-based Learning (20 credits) plus an education module – Health Professional as Educator or a Brighton and Sussex Medical School education module (20 credits)
• Leading Advance Practice (20 credits)

Year 3

• Dissertation (60 credits)

On this pathway, successful completion of years 1 or 2 enables you to graduate with the Advanced Clinical Practice postgraduate certificate (year 1) or postgraduate diploma (years 1 and 2). The PGDip and PGCert can only be awarded on meeting the four pillars of advanced practice.

ACP service improvement route 

Year 2

Pathway 1

• Independent Prescribing (40 credits)

Plus one from:

• Advancing Competency in Specialism through Work-based Learning (20 credits)
• An education module – Health Professional as Educator (20 credits) or a Brighton and Sussex Medical School education module (20 credits)
• Advanced Therapeutic Interventions through Work-based Learning (20 credits)

Pathway 2

• Advanced Therapeutic Interventions through Work-based Learning (20 credits)
• An education module – Health Professional as Educator or a Brighton and Sussex Medical School education module (20 credits)
• Advancing Competency in Specialism through Work-based Learning (20 credits)

Year 3

• Leading Service Improvement Project (LSIP) in Advanced Clinical Practice (40 credits)

Plus one advanced option module from the following:

• End of Life: Principles of Care (Advanced Practice)
• End of Life Care for People with Long-term Conditions (Advanced Practice)
• Heart Failure (Level 7)
• Physical Assessment of Cardiac and Respiratory Systems (Level 7)
• Respiratory Care (Level 7)
• Health Law and Ethics for Informed Practice

Module descriptions

Modules

• Independent Prescribing

  This module will teach you to prescribe safely, appropriately and cost-effectively as an independent prescriber within your own scope of practice, using a patient-centred approach. The module content includes consultation, decision-making and therapy, including referral; the influences on, and psychology of, prescribing; prescribing in a team context; clinical pharmacology; evidence-based practice and clinical governance in relation to nurse prescribing; legal, policy and ethical aspects; and professional accountability and responsibility.

• Health Professional as an Educator

  Practitioners in health, social care and diverse practice settings have an increasingly educational role so this module is designed to enhance the skills necessary for you to develop your role as an educator in the work-based setting. It will focus on your educational role with learners, including students, colleagues, service users, families/carers, interprofessional teams and the public.

• Health Law and Ethics for Informed Practice

  This module aims to highlight the complexities of the English legal system with regard to health law and its relation to ethics. As there can be confusion in separating a legal point from an ethical argument, you will explore the difference and analyse and evaluate health law and ethics in a rapidly changing healthcare environment. You will also discuss and debate areas including equality, diversity, rights and responsibilities.

• Research Theory and Application for Health Professionals

  In this module you will explore the underlying philosophy, design considerations and data analysis options in qualitative and quantitative research models. The main focus will be on the skills and knowledge base required for critical evaluation of published literature and the module will also equip you with the expertise to design, carry out and analyse the data from your own masters level research project.

• Quantitative Research Methods

  In this module you will develop skills in quantitative research design and data collection so you can critique the research of others (eg, media, research articles) and use quantitative skills in your own research projects. You will gain a new understanding of the critical evaluation of statistical techniques and develop skills in how to formulate a good research question, information handling, report writing, data presentation and use of statistical packages.

• End of Life Care for People with Long Term Conditions (Advanced Practice)

  People with long-term health conditions have complex and specific problems that require knowledge and skills to deliver end of life care tailored to their needs. This module draws on palliative care principles to enable you to develop your understanding and skills in end of life care. The focus of this module is on supporting people with non-cancer related life limiting conditions and the unpredictable disease-associated trajectories.

• Respiratory Care (Level 7)

  In this module you will advance your knowledge and understanding of the assessment, pathophysiology, investigations and treatment of respiratory conditions. The psychosocial and ethical implications of chronic respiratory conditions and the role of self-management will be explored alongside issues relating to delivering sustainable healthcare to patients with respiratory disease.

• Integrated Care for the Older Person

  This module focuses on integrated person-centred care in complex health and social care systems for older people living with long-term conditions and frailty. Content will include contemporary and critical understandings of care and care ethics; participatory and partnership models of health and social care; shared decision-making, collaboration, coordination and co-production; integrated health and social care systems; and complexity and risk.

• Integrated Care for the Older Person (Level 6)

  This module focuses on integrated person-centred care in complex health and social care systems for older people living with long-term conditions and frailty. Areas covered will include contemporary and critical understandings of care and care ethics; shared decision-making, collaboration, coordination and co-production; integrated health and social care systems; and case management in health and social care.

• Managing Complexity in Advanced Clinical Practice

  In this module you will demonstrate your critical engagement with the complexities of advanced clinical practice. You will need to successfully map your advancing practice to the current Advanced Clinical Practice framework. These capabilities will be achieved in the workplace and through course-related activity under the guidance of a named supervisor and personal tutor.

• Leading Service Improvement Project (LSIP) in Advanced Clinical Practice

  In this module you will critically examine an aspect of your practice and role and reflect on its challenges. You will develop skills in effective and efficient quality care and initiatives for service delivery through the application of change and leadership theories. Your creative and strategic thinking will enhance experience and organisational development, and increased research knowledge will build on your pre-existing abilities and skills to meet the standards for advanced practice.

• Mixed Methods Research

  This module addresses the current legislative and regulatory frameworks and reviews changes to health and social care research. You will explore mixed methods research in order to produce research that is likely to drive these changes, and address issues surrounding Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) in research. The module also provides an opportunity to explore specialist techniques such as concepts of health economics and health evaluation and insider researcher reflexivity.

• Qualitative Research

  This module will introduce you to the approaches involved in qualitative research and critically explores the philosophical and theoretical underpinnings of qualitative research knowledge, its methodologies and methods, as well as the ethicopolitical issues involved. You will also examine the practical considerations of design and methods, data and analysis, and evaluate the quality, value and use of qualitative research.

• Child Advanced Physical Assessment, Pathophysiology and Clinical Decision-Making (Level 7)

  This module enables you to develop and demonstrate the critical knowledge, clinical and interpersonal skills in undertaking a holistic, advanced physical health assessment of infants, children and young people. This includes history-taking, child development, clinical examination, interpreting assessment findings to formulate diagnoses and complex clinical decision-making.

• Health Law and Ethics for Informed Practice

  This module aims to highlight the complexities of the English legal system with regard to health law and its relation to ethics. As there can be confusion in separating a legal point from an ethical argument, you will explore the difference and analyse and evaluate health law and ethics in a rapidly changing healthcare environment. You will also discuss and debate areas including equality, diversity, rights and responsibilities.

• Research Theory and Application for Health Professionals

  In this module you will explore the underlying philosophy, design considerations and data analysis options in qualitative and quantitative research models. The main focus will be on the skills and knowledge base required for critical evaluation of published literature and the module will also equip you with the expertise to design, carry out and analyse the data from your own masters level research project.

• End of Life: Principles of Care (Advanced Practice)

  You will develop skills in end of life care and gain a background to delivering person-centred care to people who are dying and those close to them, with an emphasis on palliative care and interventions. You will learn about similarities of symptom management for patients who do and do not have cancer and will develop communication strategies to promote faultless assessment, planning, implementation and evaluation of end of life care.

• Heart Failure (Level 7)

  The number of people living with heart failure continues to rise in the UK and these individuals are supported by healthcare professionals working across integrated care systems. This module draws on the content from the Heart Failure Specialist Nurse Competency Framework and explores the theory and practice underpinning the assessment and management of patients with heart failure.

• Leading Advance Practice (LAP)

  This module covers the fundamentals of leadership in advanced clinical practice and introduces key principles and theories to help you analyse, evaluate and identify potential innovation within the workplace. It not only facilitates professional expertise but also gives you the skills needed to become a leader in the development of practice in a complex, challenging and constantly changing and fluid environment.

• Physical Assessment of Cardiac and Respiratory Conditions (Level 7)

  Healthcare professionals are increasingly required to carry out in-depth physical assessments in clinical practice. In this module, you will develop skills in advanced cardio-respiratory physical assessment, interpret assessment findings, recognise cardio-respiratory abnormalities and formulate differential diagnosis. This will form the basis for clinical decision-making appropriate to your role and demonstrate safe practice.

• Dissertation

  This final dissertation is a major piece of work and an opportunity for you to fully investigate a subject you are interested in. The dissertation can be via literature-based research, small-scale empirical research or analysis of existing data. You will be supported by your tutors to develop a dissertation proposal and then allocated a dissertation supervisor to guide you through your research work. You will be encouraged to write up your dissertation research as draft publication-ready papers, so that you can more readily publish high-quality work after completion of your MSc.

• Managing Complexity in Advanced Clinical Practice

  In this module you will demonstrate your critical engagement with the complexities of advanced clinical practice. You will need to successfully map your advancing practice to the current Advanced Clinical Practice framework. These capabilities will be achieved in the workplace and through course-related activity under the guidance of a named supervisor and personal tutor.

• Advancing Competency in Specialism through Work-based Learning

  In this module, which allows you to manage your own work-based learning, you will explore an area of specialist clinical practice, shape your learning experiences and provide evidence. You will advance your evidenced-based practice by proactively working with other staff, initiating critical reflection, team education and self-evaluation. You will also evaluate and synthesise literature and theory to analyse your experiences.

• Advanced Physical Assessment, Pathophysiology and Clinical Decision-Making (Adult) (Level 7)

  Healthcare professionals are increasingly required to carry out in-depth physical assessments for their roles in clinical practice. This module aims to increase your knowledge and skills in conducting a holistic health history and advanced physical assessment of adults for a range of different body systems. You’ll also develop the ability to formulate differential diagnoses based upon abnormal health history and physical assessment findings of adults and plan clinical decisions.

• Advanced Therapeutic Interventions through Work-based Learning

  This module enables you to manage and advance your practice in relation to therapeutic interventions in complex contexts and critically evaluate the outcomes. This approach will encourage advancement of evidence-based practice by working effectively with other multi-professional staff, initiating decision-making, critical reflection and self-evaluation. You will evaluate and synthesise literature and theories to explore your experiences.

Facilities

Clinical Skills and Simulation Suite
Our clinical skills and simulation rooms provide an invaluable tool for assessment and monitoring students’ progress throughout the course.

You will benefit from practising a range of skills in an environment  simulating real-life professional experiences. Learning by simulation with our mannequins enables you to practice in a safe environment under supervision, so you can apply your knowledge and skills in professional practice with confidence.

Community flat

The community flat is a replica home environment where you’ll be able to practice skills and learn from other students while taking part in realistic training scenarios.

Every room is fitted with cameras and microphones, so that you can be directed and monitored from the control room, while the observation room provides the opportunity to review, playback and debrief.

Course fees

Scholarships, bursaries and loans

We offer a range of scholarships for postgraduate students. Bursaries and loans may also be available to you.

Find out more about postgraduate fees and funding.

The fees listed here are for the first year of full-time study if you start your course in the academic year 2025–26.

You will pay fees for each year of your course. Some fees may increase each year.

UK undergraduate and some postgraduate fees are regulated by the UK government and increases will not be more than the maximum amount allowed. Course fees that are not regulated may increase each year by up to 5% or RPI (whichever is higher).

If you are studying part-time your fee will usually be calculated based on the number of modules that you take.

Find out more

• Fees, bursaries, scholarships and government funding info for UK and international postgraduate students
• Student finance and budgeting while studying
• About the university’s fees by checking our student contract and tuition fee policy (pdf).

Campus where this course is taught

Accommodation

Local area

Maps

Support and wellbeing

Sport at Brighton