MSc Advanced Clinical Practice

Programme specification

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.

Download the programme specification (PDF)

The course will facilitate the development of your critical appraisal, analytical and reflective skills, and enable you to integrate new advanced clinical skills and knowledge with your existing experience within your practice setting, in order to support the provision of high quality care and service delivery in an Advanced Clinical Practice or Advanced Nurse Practitioner role within a multi-disciplinary healthcare team.

You can download a diagram (pdf 94kb) with a flowchart of the various pathways for different professionals. 

Core units

Advanced Practice: Contextual Issues and Professional Development:The aim of this unit is to enable you to explore the contextual aspects surrounding the development of your advanced clinical practice role and provides an opportunity to analyse and debate recent developments relevant to your clinical practice.

History Taking and Physical Examination for Advancing Practice:This unit advances your skills, knowledge and competence, for you to be able to proficiently conduct safe and effective, evidence-based, holistic patient assessments. You will develop knowledge and skills to enable you to competently elicit comprehensive patient histories through a structured consultation process and using high level therapeutic communication and consultation skills. 

Assessment, Critical Reasoning and Decision Making for Advancing Practice:This unit will enable you to develop the knowledge and skills necessary to identify problems, formulate differential diagnoses and develop action plans, in respect of your own patient caseload within the clinical practice setting. It will develop your critical thinking, clinical and diagnostic reasoning and decision-making skills, aimed at meeting patients’ health care needs and managing complex presentations and conditions. A prerequisite for undertaking this unit is successful completion of History Taking and Physical Examination for Advancing Practice.

Optional units

Independent and Supplementary Prescribing: This unit is to prepare you to prescribe safely, appropriately, and competently. In doing so you will be required to evaluate the evidence underlining the practice of prescribing, critically reflect on your competency in respect of prescribing and evidence knowledge of the products you will prescribe. For NMC or HCPC registrants who are permitted to be independent and supplementary prescribers.

OR
Supplementary Prescribing: To prepare you to prescribe safely, appropriately, and competently. In doing so you will be required to evaluate the evidence underlining the practice of prescribing, critically reflect on your competency in respect of prescribing and evidence knowledge of the products you will prescribe. For HCPC registrants who are permitted to be supplementary prescribers.

OR
Evidencing Professional Learning 1 and Evidencing Professional Learning 2: All health professionals are required to continuously engage in professional development with a feature of this being whether you are able to identify and meet learning needs and apply the learning to practice. The professional development can be achieved either through work related courses or activities, attendance at conferences/masterclasses, courses outside the university, sessions within the university or self-study. The aim of this unit is to provide a structure through which the learning gained can be acknowledged and you can critically reflect on the impact of the learning on both you and your workplace.

Core units

Preparing for your Service Improvement Project: In this unit you will explore a range of relevant knowledge, skills, and attributes to enable the preparation of a Service Improvement Project (SIP).

Core units

Service Improvement Project (SIP): The project embraces both traditional and non-traditional forms of intellectual inquiry and relevant and effective practical management. It demonstrates your autonomous and independent ability, within a complex professional context, to create knowledge which expands or redefines existing knowledge and/or develops new approaches to service improvement. A prerequisite for undertaking this unit is successful completion of Preparing for your Service Improvement Project.

Advanced Clinical Practice Portfolio (across years 1 – 3 of study): This final unit of the MSc represents a culmination of learning and professional development, through critical exploration, reflection and demonstration of knowledge, understanding and skills for the Advanced Clinical Practitioner role. This is enabled by parallel progression of the Advanced Clinical Practice portfolio, alongside all other units of the MSc culminating in production of your own personal portfolio of evidence of academic and professional development mapped against the four pillars of advanced practice.

As an Advanced Clinical Practitioner, you will:

• Have a high level of autonomy (refers to Advanced Clinical Practitioners working to the full scope of their professional practice) and freedom to make decisions about how people should be cared for and treated and act in complex and unpredictable situations
• Use person-centred approaches to taking an individual’s detailed history and examine body systems to help you make a diagnosis
• Select, undertake or request a range of appropriate clinical tests and assessments to help you make a diagnosis
• Initiate and evaluate a range of interventions, which may include for example prescribing of medicines, therapies and care
• Apply a skillset that may have traditionally been the remit of other disciplines so that you can enhance the care and experience of individuals
• Analyse, interpret and act on the results of clinical tests and assessments and formulate a plan of care, which may include admission to a care setting such as a hospital, referral to settings for another opinion or discharge from services
• Drive service improvements, educate others and provide consultancy services within your scope of practice
• Undertake research activities to develop new knowledge and undertake audit to evaluate and further develop your area of expertise to improve care and services for the people you are treating.

• A Bachelors Honours degree with minimum 2:2 in any subject, or equivalent.
• You must have been registered with your respective statutory regulator of health and care professions (i.e. NMC, HCPC, GPhC), for a minimum of 3 years and provide proof of current registration.
• If English is not your first language, you will need to provide evidence that you can understand English to a satisfactory level. English language requirements for this course are normally IELTS (academic) 6.5 or above with minimum 6.0 in writing and 6.5 in speaking, listening, and reading. PSRB registration will normally be accepted as evidence for the English language requirement if the PSRB requirements were at or above the University requirements for postgraduate study.

International students are welcome on this course if they are currently working in practice in the UK. Unfortunately we can not accept applications from international students unless you meet this criteria, this is due to the high level of interaction with clinical practice throughout the course. If international applicants would like to study this course you would need to do a conversion course which we do not offer at Bournemouth University, you would also need three years experience as a nurse, midwife or allied health professional in the UK.  

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 2:2
• Thailand:  Thai Bachelor's (Honours) degree from a recognised higher education institution with a minimum GPA of 2.5/4.0
• Turkey: Bachelor’s degree (Lisans Diplomasi - four years) with a minimum overall GPA of 2.3/4.0
• Vietnam:  Bachelor's degree/Bang tot nghiep dai hoc with an average score of 6.5/10, or a Master’s degree/Thac si.

English language requirements 

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

• IELTS (academic) 6.5 or above with minimum 6.0 in writing and 6.5 in speaking, listening, and reading.

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.

You can also find further details of the international qualifications we accept, and what level of study they apply to, on our international entry requirements page.

• You must be employed in clinical practice for a minimum of 20 hours per week and be working to a job description that enables development in line with the occupational profile of a trainee Advanced Clinical Practitioner.
• You must have support from your employer to work enough hours each week so that you can undertake sufficient regular training. This is to ensure you are likely to successfully complete the programme.
• University learning and supervised workplace learning should be structured to enable increasing independence and autonomy as an Advanced Clinical Practitioner, as the programme progresses.  Your progress academically and in the workplace will be monitored at regular intervals.
• You must have a suitable, named supervisor / assessor, in line with NHSE Centre for Advancing Practice expectations, agreed by your employer and University, who will support you in applying, reinforcing, and demonstrating the required capabilities within the workplace.

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:

• One set of study-related consumables such as a memory stick/ DVD
• Materials for laboratory and field-based teaching activity
• Support for finding placements (UK or abroad) and 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
• IT labs (some open 24/7), wireless network, AV equipment to borrow
• Peer Assisted Learning (PAL) scheme
• Disability and additional learning support
• The BU Language Centre to help you develop/improve foreign or English language skills
• 24 hours a day, 365 days a year security team.

Additional cost

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:

• Accommodation and living costs. Our accommodation price guide can be found on our website.
• Optional fieldwork travel, outdoor wear and footwear (where applicable)
• Text books, general stationery and other supplies. Our award-winning library is stocked with a large range of text books and online resources, free of charge. The Students’ Union shops stock a wide range of stationery supplies on both campuses.

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