MSc Adult Nursing

Core units

• Applied Health Care Sciences 2: During this unit you will analyse the impact of challenges to physical and mental health and wellbeing in individuals and groups across their lifespan. You’ll also examine biological, psychological, sociological and social factors that impact on diseases that affect both physical and mental health, applying this to the assessment, management and evaluation of care for individuals and groups.
• Clinical Pharmacology and Medicines Management: You’ll learn how to apply your understanding of clinical pharmacology and medicines management as part of health care management, in the context of relevant regulatory frameworks.
• Foundations of Nursing: This unit will introduce you to the theoretical foundations of nursing by examining philosophical, methodological and political and legislative processes that inform the practice of nursing. You’ll gain knowledge of the core values that underpin the different fields of nursing and to discuss how those core values can be used to promote person-centred care through the process of care planning and professional evidence-based practice. 
• Meeting Acute and Long Term Health Challenges: This unit will develop your knowledge and understanding of the nursing management and co-ordination of health care which is necessary for managing patients with acute and long term health challenges.
• Making Improvements of Safety and Quality of Care: You’ll gain the knowledge and understanding required to promote and contribute to maintaining service user/patient safety and engage in risk management in clinical practice. You’ll also explore strategies for quality improvement and awareness of legislation, national and international frameworks to promote quality of care.
• Principles of Enquiry and Evidence-Based Practice in Health and Social Care: Research is increasingly regarded as essential for practitioners in health and social care professions as a source of evidence to support practice. In this unit you’ll be introduced to approaches to enquiry and knowledge production, to demonstrate how different assumptions shape research process and claims to knowledge. You’ll develop the skills to be able to research your own practice in order to critically evaluate the work of others and make judgements about the credibility and applicability in your own practice context.
• Nursing Practice and Nursing Skills 2: This professional practice unit will provide you with the range of experiences you’ll need to develop your proficiency in-line with the requirements set out by the Nursing & Midwifery Council (NMC).

Core units

• Team Working for Service Improvement: During this unit, you will develop skills for working in inter-professional teams to design and develop service improvements for the people who use services and their carers.
• Making Change Through Clinical Leadership Management: This unit will prepare you to lead and manage yourself and others in the healthcare setting. You’ll evaluate management and leadership theories and how they inform managing change in the workplace, and will critically analyse health care policy and public health strategy.
• Critical Health Care Sciences: You’ll critically analyse biopsychosocial concepts that underpin complex health needs and the challenges that individuals and groups face across their lives. This unit builds upon developing competence in the knowledge and application of pharmacology.
• Advanced Therapeutic Communications and Interpersonal Skills for Nursing Practice: This unit prepares you for the clinical and therapeutic conversations you will have with patients/service users in the healthcare setting and provide you with the skills to support individuals and their families to make informed decisions about their health and health care.
• Critical Analysis of Caring for People with Complex Health Care Needs: This unit will develop your critical understanding of and clinical decision-making skills for undertaking nursing assessments and risk assessments, leading to planning and prioritising care for individuals and their families who experience critical and complex health care needs, their potential for deterioration and either recovery or death. 
• Advanced Principles of Enquiry and Evidence-Based Practice in Health & Social Care: This unit will prepare you to develop a proposal for a research study/ practice development/comprehensive review project. A range of research designs, approaches, methodologies, measurement and techniques of analysis will be introduced in order to enable you to develop an understanding of the techniques you can use in your own research and advance your own application of knowledge.
• Nursing Practice and Nursing Skills 3:  This unit will develop the personal and professional skills you’ll need as a graduate entering the world of work as a professional nurse. You will demonstrate the appropriate ability to practice safely, responsibly and professionally and be accountable for your practice in accordance with the Nursing & Midwifery Council (NMC) Standards of Proficiency for Registered Nurses.

You are required to undertake a minimum of 2300 hours' placement throughout the course, providing the opportunity to apply your acquired knowledge and skills in the workplace. Placements are co-ordinated by BU and include a range of placement providers from NHS Trusts, Private & Voluntary Sector and GP surgeries.

Programme specifications provide definitive records of the University's taught degrees in line with Quality Assurance Agency requirements. Every taught course leading to a BU Award has a programme specification which describes its aims, structure, content and learning outcomes, plus the teaching, learning and assessment methods used.

Whilst every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the programme specification, the information is liable to change to take advantage of exciting new approaches to teaching and learning as well as developments in industry. If you have been unable to locate the programme specification for the course you are interested in, it will be available as soon as the latest version is ready. Alternatively please contact us for assistance.

The health economy is rapidly changing and future nurses are likely to be located in a broader range of workplaces. Your placement opportunities will therefore be in a diverse range of settings which include the growing independent sector and care within the community. This will prepare you to work effectively and meet the healthcare needs of an ageing population.

After graduating you'll have met the standards and competencies set by the NMC to register as an adult nurse.

On this course, you will usually be taught by a range of staff with relevant expertise and knowledge appropriate to the content of the unit. This will include senior academic staff, qualified professional practitioners, demonstrators, technicians and research students. 

With practical learning being integral to your degree, we provide practice simulation suites to mirror both clinical and community workplace settings and provide a safe environment.

We’re continuing to enhance our state-of-the-art facilities too – with the purpose-built Bournemouth Gateway Building housing our Health & Social Care courses.

Visit our facilities page to find out more.

When on placement you will follow the shift pattern of your allocated practice supervisor. It is expected you will experience the full 24 hour / 7 day a week shift pattern during the course. This will include following the placement shift patterns (which may include 12-hour shift patterns used in some placement areas) and include weekend working and night duty.

Clinical placements are organised by placement locality. This will be discussed at interview and confirmed in your offer letter prior to the beginning of the programme.  

Your placement locality (this is name of the geographical area of your practice placements e.g. Salisbury locality, West Dorset locality, Bournemouth and Poole locality, or Somerset locality) is allocated and confirmed at the time of your offer. You will not be able to change your placement locality once you start your course. This means that once you have been allocated and accepted your placement locality this will remain the same for the remainder of your time on the course.  

Please note: your clinical placements will be organised in a variety of settings according to your placement locality in order to provide you with the necessary breadth of practice experience as required by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC).  

Please think carefully when choosing your placement locality. Your placement locality is different to your place of academic study which is Lansdowne Campus in Bournemouth where you will attend for lectures, seminars, skills labs sessions, student managed learning, etc. You will need to consider the realities of attending practice placements in the geographical area of your placement locality. Be realistic, about whether the placement locality you choose will be manageable and suitable for you before confirming you accept this, as being unrealistic will lead to challenges. You should also consider where you choose accommodation during your studies. 

Consider, for example, what you would do if you choose to live in accommodation in Bournemouth, but you have confirmed and accepted your placement locality area as West Dorset? You would need to be certain that you would be able to get to your placements in the geographical area covered by West Dorset.  

Below are some examples of the specialities of some of the hospitals we work with. Your placements will involve both clinical and community placements throughout your study. 

Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals

• Royal Bournemouth Hospital came in the top 10 in the first ever assessment of NHS hospital quality in England, based on what matters to people e.g. waiting time, infection control rates
• Radiology – the cutting edge of technology. Toshiba has chosen Royal Bournemouth Hospital as the first site for installation of its latest CT scanner – the first of its type in the world
• Pathology – Royal Bournemouth Hospital is the regional haemophilia centre for Bournemouth, Poole and Dorchester
• Colorectal surgery – Royal Bournemouth Hospital is one of the best performing trusts nationally for 30-day post operative mortality after major colorectal surgery
• Orthopaedics – third-largest joint replacement unit in the UK
• Bournemouth Diabetes and Endocrine Centre - National and international reputation in the field of clinical diabetes
• Cardiology – Cardiologists here have the lowest levels of major adverse cardiac events in the country.

Salisbury District Hospital

• Cancer patients at Salisbury District Hospital have rated their care highly with 94% of those asked saying it was excellent or very good
• Salisbury is the Regional Centre for Genetics, Burns and Plastics and a supra-Regional Centre for spinal injuries
• New 3D printing service enabling surgeons to plan their operations and become more cost effective
• Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust has been awarded £115,000 for the Salisbury District Hospital Stroke Unit to improve the technology that enable staff to access electronic patient records in the community and on hospital wards
• Specialist services include – Plastic Surgery Department, Spinal Treatment Centre and Rehabilitation Services.

The Somerset Partnership

• 13 Community Hospitals across the county of Somerset specialising in Stroke Care to Ambulatory care
• A range of 30 nursing disciplines at all levels in the Community Health, Mental Health and Learning Disability Services
• Clinical skills teams who provide on-site clinical skills training and support and advice when it is needed.

Our geographical footprint for placement is vast – covering four counties in the South; Dorset, Somerset, Wiltshire and Hampshire. This ensures we are able to provide you with a wealth of clinical experience across a variety of areas of the healthcare service, including opportunities to experience placements in both urban and rural communities.

Although your term-time address and method of transport are taken into consideration when allocating your placements there is an expectation that all students will have to travel across large areas including some of a more rural nature to reach their placements, in some cases this can be more than 40miles away from Bournemouth, and some travel will be outside normal working hours due to the nature of shift work. You must ensure that you have means to travel to your placement location at unsociable hours and this may require you to use short-term accommodation options in order to participate in your placement. To help with this, the NHS learning support fund can help eligible students with placement travel expenses and dual accommodation costs if required.

The normal requirements for embarking upon a postgraduate taught degree are:

• A Bachelors Honours degree with 2:2 in any subject, or equivalent
• GCSE English/Maths: C/4
• In addition, an entry portfolio that demonstrates the relevant previous experience and learning is required for entry to this postgraduate pre-registration nursing course.

If you lack the formal academic qualifications needed to enter a postgraduate or post-experience degree, there are several alternative routes to follow - some based on experience. Contact the Future Students Enquiry Team for more information.

After a successful interview, you are required to submit a portfolio of evidence to demonstrate you have the relevant experience and prior learning to meet the entry requirements for MSc Adult Nursing. 

A portfolio template is available here. 

If your portfolio does not sufficiently evidence all the entry requirements, your application may be unsuccessful.

Your portfolio will include demonstrating that you have undertaken 720 hours of practice experience in a health or care environment to show you have good skills, knowledge and understanding of the profession; ideally this will be paid experience. This experience is equivalent to 4-5 months of full-time work but may be achieved through part-time work over a longer period. It may be possible for some applicants to gain the required experiences in a voluntary capacity. Personal/family caring responsibilities will not be considered.

Your practice experience must be within two years of commencement of the course. For example, if the course starts in September 2022, your experience should have been gained after September 2020.

For examples of practice experience that meet the requirements, please view the Entry Portfolio Guidance. If you remain unsure if your practice experience meets our requirements please do email the Course Leader, Dr Sue Baron for advice.

Assessment of your entry portfolio

Your portfolio will be assessed by the course leader or a delegate, who will decide whether or not it satisfies the requirements to be made an offer for the course.

If the course leader feels minor amendments are required, your portfolio will be returned to you with feedback advising on the changes required. If your changes do not meet the expected standard then your application may be unsuccessful as applicants will normally only be given one opportunity for resubmission. Satisfactory portfolios are managed through the university’s Recognition of Prior Learning process so that the hours of theory and practice evidenced might be formally recognised. The portfolios are also available for audit by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC).

Graduates who obtained their degree more than five years ago may be considered for the course provided they can demonstrate evidence of successful recent and relevant study, at an appropriate level.  For example, the Open University provides several highly relevant courses of study at degree level. Guidance for recent study is provided on an individual basis and entry to the course would be conditional on successfully completing such study.  

Unsuccessful applicants may be eligible to be considered for the three year BSc (Hons) Adult Nursing course.

You can find details of the international qualifications we accept, and what level of study they apply to, on our entry requirements for non-UK students' page.

Please see below some examples of the qualifications for entry:

• India: Bachelor’s degree (three years) from a recognised HE institution with a minimum overall result of 55%  
• Nigeria: Bachelor's degree from a recognised institution with a minimum classification of 2:4  
• China: Chinese Bachelor's (Honours) degree from a recognised higher education institution with 65% or above  
• Turkey: Bachelor’s degree (Lisans Diplomasi - four years) with a minimum overall GPA of 2.3/4.0  
• Ghana: Bachelor's degrees from University of Ghana or Legon with a grade of 2.00 or above, or from Cape Coast with a grade 2.5 or above  
• USA: US Bachelor’s degree (four years), with a 2.5 GPA or above  

If English is not your first language, you will need to provide evidence that you understand English to a satisfactory level. English language requirements for this course are normally:

For September 2025 entry: IELTS (Academic) 6.5 with a minimum of 6.0 in writing and a minimum of 6.5 in all other components. The NMC also accept the Occupational English Test (OET).

View further information about our English language requirements.

Bournemouth University International College offers a number of pre-sessional English and preparatory programmes to prepare international students for postgraduate study at BU. Admission to the degree is guaranteed on successful completion of your course to the required level. 

Occupational Health (OH) Checks

Nursing is physically and mentally demanding and you will  need to be mentally and physically able to undertake your chosen course. Places are offered subject to passing an OH check, and this will be carried out by the Dorset Healthcare University NHS Foundation Trust. Health conditions  need to be dealt with on an individual basis e.g. deafness, blindness, eczema (or other dermatological allergic reactions) on exposed areas, epilepsy,  back problems, or mental health conditions, eating disorders and other disabilities. These do not automatically exclude you but please ensure that you fully disclose your condition  to OH. The University can then consider the recommendations made by OH and whether reasonable adjustments can be made to support you on your chosen course. If you require more guidance please contact us for more information.

You will be required to provide a record of your immunity status or be vaccinated or have the required blood tests. You may need to ask your GP or current OH department or find your childhood vaccination record for details of your past immunisation records. You should be aware that there may be charges made (for which you will be liable) relating to your gaining the appropriate immunity required prior to starting your training programme.

Refusing Immunisations

The University has an expectation that all students will comply with the vaccination programme as it is Public Health England requirement for health care workers to have certain immunisations. This ensures that you will be able to undertake the wide range of training placements that your course will require and aims to keep you, as well as the people in your care as safe as possible. Please note that at this time Covid-19 vaccinations are not a mandatory requirement for healthcare workers and so are therefore not a mandatory requirement for healthcare students either. Occasionally some vaccinations are contraindicated in certain medical conditions. Occupational Health (OH) will advise the University in these cases. The University will consider students on an individual basis. Refusal to have immunisations may result in the student not being allowed to attend practice placement and being withdrawn from the course. There is no opportunity to appeal against the requirements of the immunisation policy.

Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) Check (previously known as CRB)

All successful applicants will be subject to an Enhanced Disclosure and Barred List check; this will be a condition of offer and will need to be completed prior to commencing the course. Please see the Government website for the most up to date information.

Terms of Expectations

It is important that you understand what will be expected of you as a student studying for both an academic award and professional qualification in nursing. You must agree to adhere to the Student Nurse Terms of Expectation for studying at Bournemouth University as detailed in this document. Failure to comply with these expectations could lead to disciplinary action.

IT skills are increasingly important in almost all professions. In the healthcare sector, IT is now a vital tool for accessing and maintaining patient records, accessing literature to client care and conducting clinically-related research. As a student, you will receive an introduction to IT near the beginning of your course and you will be provided with computer access and your own email address.

During the course you will be expected to use your developing IT skills to produce assignments, to conduct literature searches, and to use client-related record systems in the clinical setting. Following instruction, some of your study will be undertaken through web-based learning tools, for example by participating in online discussions.

We select candidates for this course by looking at your application. For that reason, make sure your application really stands out from the crowd, and leave us in no doubt as to why you should be joining BU. View our flowchart for information on how we process applications for courses with additional selection measures. 
 
For our health and social care courses our admissions team use the DRIVE criteria to assess your application and evidence of this must be show in your personal statement. You can also find some handy hints about filling in your UCAS form on our how to apply web pages. 
 
Please note that interviews are part of our selection process and you must be able to demonstrate at interview that you show the necessary insight into nursing, as well as the motivation and commitment to become a nurse. 

Assessment of your entry portfolio

Your portfolio will be assessed by the course leader or a delegate, who will decide whether or not it satisfies the requirements to be made an offer for the course.

If the course leader feels minor amendments are required, your portfolio will be returned to you with feedback advising on the changes required. If your changes do not meet the expected standard then your application may be unsuccessful as applicants will normally only be given one opportunity for resubmission. Satisfactory portfolios are managed through the university’s Recognition of Prior Learning process so that the hours of theory and practice evidenced might be formally recognised. The portfolios are also available for audit by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC).

What to expect at an interview

Your interview will take place online, on a free online video communication platform.

A member of the Admissions Team will email you with joining instructions and information about what to expect at interview.

Your individual interview is where you will have the opportunity to tell us a little more about yourself and why you would be a great candidate for the course. You will be scored using a common template and offers will be made based on these scores.

If you are invited to interview, you will also be able to access online on-demand information presentations, course talks, virtual campus tours and more which you can watch before your interview. On the day of your interview you may also be able to join a live chat-room where you can ask questions to our current student ambassadors and other members of staff.

Additional reference

In addition to the reference on your UCAS form, once we’ve received your application we may contact you to ask for a second reference; depending on the course you’ve applied for, this may be an academic reference, or from an employer or person who knows you in a professional capacity.

We look at individual applications and make a tailored offer based on your potential to succeed on the course considering a range of factors, including your academic achievements, work and other experience, reference and personal statement, and in some cases, your performance at an interview or a portfolio review. Typically, we make an offer at the bottom of the tariff range.

AccessBU gives you the chance to tell us more about you and your life experiences if you haven’t had the same educational opportunities as other applicants. If you are eligible for AccessBU, your offer could be up to 16 UCAS Tariff Points below the published tariff.

Our offer-making will typically be based on your most recent qualifications, including any required subjects where applicable. We'll consider all qualifications when assessing your application, although these may not be part of our offer.

If you do not meet the criteria of your original offer, we may still offer you a place. We will review your whole application and consider all academic qualifications (including those not in the offer) to see if you have the academic potential to succeed on the course. If we feel the answer is yes, we will confirm your place.

Career progression may ultimately lead to you becoming a:

• Lecturer Practitioner
• Specialist Practitioner
• Advanced Nurse Practitioner
• Consultant Nurse
• Academic Lecturer
• Academic Researcher

• NHS (hospital and community)
• Private and independent healthcare sectors (nursing homes and private hospitals)
• Education
• Academic research.

Once you have completed a nursing degree and perhaps following some time in clinical practice you may wish to consider returning to BU to further develop your education! There are various options including postgraduate research degrees or choose from our portfolio of continued professional development (CPD) units and courses. 

Research degrees

If you are a BU graduate you are eligible for a 20% ‘loyalty’ discount on the published fees for further programmes with us! 

Depending on your qualifications and experiences, you can choose to undertake a MRes or PhD level research degree. Bournemouth University has a strong nursing research foundation within our Department of Nursing Science and through a number of research centres, including the Nursing for Long Term Health Research Centre, which explores theory, education and professional practice.

Visit our postgraduate research courses for further details about research degree options with the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences and the funding options available.

CPD

Once you have some experience of clinical practice you may wish to consider studying a unit or course from our Continuing Professional Development (CPD) portfolio. This may be related to an area you wish to specialise in or move into, or it may be to enhance your career opportunities. We have a wide range of options to consider. We understand that fitting study in around your busy working life can be a challenge, but we have a number of flexible courses that allow you to study bite-sized units at your convenience, while working towards a bigger qualification. 

Find out more about CPD at BU.

What’s included in your tuition fee?

Your tuition fee covers expenses associated with your course including tuition materials, access to facilities, mandatory field trips and the following:

• Materials for laboratory and field-based teaching activity.
• Support for finding placements (UK or abroad) and/or fieldwork and non-financial support whilst on placement.
• A range of student services – advisors, help desks, counsellors, placement support and careers service.
• The Library – access to a wide range of electronic resources (databases, e-journals and e-books), print and multimedia collections, subject librarians and study spaces.
• Access to Brightspace, our virtual learning environment, which offers a responsive and personalised learning experience with powerful learning analytics capabilities, integrated social media and advanced video features.
• Laptops, tablets and mobile devices.
• IT labs (some open 24/7), wireless network, AV equipment to borrow.
• Disability and additional learning support, according to individual circumstances
• 24 hours a day, 365 days a year security team
• Professional body accreditation of the course
• Occupational Health Services and checks but you will be charged if you do not attend Occupational Health appointments without giving appropriate notice
• We will provide you with one standard uniform. Additional uniform items must be ordered by students, and this will incur an additional cost. Students will need to purchase appropriate footwear. 

Additional costs

We are committed to offering you value for money and ensuring there are no hidden costs while you are studying with us, therefore we have listed below any additional costs you may incur that are not covered by your tuition fee:

• Laptops, tablets and mobile devices and any software used on personal devices. Access to a personal computer is strongly recommended for your study. If you are experiencing financial difficulty, visit our website for information regarding hardship funds.
• Textbooks, general stationery and other supplies. Our award-winning library is stocked with a large range of textbooks and online resources, free of charge. The Students’ Union shops stock a wide range of stationery supplies on both campuses
• You will need to meet the cost of an Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check as a condition of enrolment, including any Post Office verification charges.
• You may need to pay for immunisations if they are not covered by your GP.
• Accommodation and living costs. Please visit our website for more information.
• Travel costs to and from the University campus (including for occupational health referrals if required). An annual bus pass can be purchased alongside your rent if you are living in halls of residence/Unilet accommodation or may be purchased separately
• Travel costs to and from your placement which could be based at various locations across the southwest region. Eligible UK students may claim reimbursement towards travel and accommodation costs from the NHS. Please visit the NHS Business Services Authority website for more information. International students will need to cover these costs in addition to their course fee. 
• You may be able to claim reimbursement from the NHS. Please visit the NHS Business Services Authority website for more information
• There may be an additional charge for replacement uniforms.
• You may have the opportunity to study abroad as part of your programme, and there may be some additional costs attached to this.
• SportBU membership.

While all aspects of the programme, including required field trips, are included in the fee, additional, optional or extra curricula activities may be available for which a student contribution is required.

If you need to repeat one or more units during your studies (with or without attendance) the pricing will be pro-rata of the full-time fee.

International (not Rep. of Ireland) students need to pay a non-refundable deposit to secure their place on a postgraduate course. For September 2024 and January 2025 entry, a £5,000 deposit is required. You will need to pay your deposit by the date stated in your offer letter. The remainder of your fee will be payable on registration/enrolment. There are two exceptions to the non-refundable rule on the deposit:

• You fail to meet the academic or English requirements of your offer
• You are refused a visa to enter the UK, provided the reason for the refusal is not a fraudulent application.

Nursing students may be eligible for a government training grant of at least £5,000 a year which you will not need to pay back. The grant will be given to all eligible new and continuing degree-level nursing, midwifery and many allied health students.

Further funding may be available for eligible students, including:

• Parental Support allowance of £2000, on top of the £1,000 already on offer. 
• Up to £1000 specialist subject payment for subjects such as mental health nursing. 
• A regional incentive payment in areas of the country which have seen a decrease in people accepted on some nursing, midwifery and allied health courses.

Students will not need to apply for specialist subject or incentive payments as they will be automatically added to their account, if eligible. 

This means that some students could be eligible for up to £8,000 per year, with other eligible students getting at least £5,000. 

Please note that eligibility criteria applies. 

Dr Sue Baron is an NMC registered nurse and nurse teacher, and Senior Lecturer/Academic in the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences at Bournemouth University. She completed her PhD ‘Exploring the Patient Journey: a collaborative and evidence-based approach to person-centred healthcare improvement’ in 2014. Since then her research interests have continued to be focused on improving or enhancing experiences, services and, or, outcomes for service users (patients and care partners), healthcare staff and nursing students, through patient and public involvement (PPI) and learning from those with first-hand experience.