Advanced Clinical Practice - MSc

University of Bedfordshire

If you are applying for apprenticeship through your organisation, please go to the Advanced Clinical Practitioner apprenticeship and note that contracts need to be set up with your employer, which can take up to 3 months.

This course gives practising, registered healthcare professionals the skills to become an advanced practitioner who can lead, innovate and improve healthcare across a wide range of settings. It covers all areas of your practice, and uses your current work and development needs to build on your existing skills and experience.

To be eligible for this course you must be registered with the NMC or HCPC and working as a healthcare professional in your chosen discipline (and remain so for the duration of the course).

What will you study?

Studying our Advanced Clinical Practice MSc course aims to provide you with the core knowledge and skills needed for advanced clinical practice and healthcare. In practical areas of study, you will closely examine body systems in our Work-Based Learning (Assessment and History Taking) unit. Through working under the supervision of a practice-based assessor, you will be taught to use a range of tools to assess a clients physical, mental and social health status and use this to make referrals. From collecting this data, you will then be taught to analyse this information in our Work-Based Learning 2 (Planning and Evaluation) unit. You will work under a supervisor to practise your skills safety while identifying areas for development. The aim of these units is to develop your skills as an autonomous practitioner and adopt a reflective approach to deliver safe and compassionate care.

Another key area of study in this course includes Non-Medical Prescribing, where you will develop the skills and knowledge for safe and effective prescribing practice while ensuring the protection of the public. Following the completion of this unit, you can then apply to practise as an independent prescriber. Additionally, you will play a vital role as a healthcare educator and develop the skills to deliver an innovative, informed and forward-thinking approach to learning, teaching and assessment in our Education in Healthcare unit.

As a healthcare professional, it is also important that you advance your knowledge and skills surrounding mental health. This is because psychological conditions often coexist with physical illness and can also have a negative impact on health and wellbeing. This is why our Mental Health Skills for Practitioners unit is present to equip you with core mental health skills to support patients, carers, colleagues, and even yourself.

This course also encourages you to engage in critical evaluation with our Research Methods in Healthcare unit. By examining current studies and research processes, you will gain the knowledge and skills to conduct your own research in the field of health sciences. As the healthcare field is constantly developing, you will also play a role in critically analysing issues and strategies to develop quality healthcare environments in our Service Improvement Project unit. You will account for changes in the industry, such as budgetary requirements, while also suggesting opportunities for change in future practice to ensure better and safer healthcare.

Careers

On completing this course, you should be equipped to initiate developments at both national and local level within healthcare settings and contribute specialist expertise in your area of practice to improve standards and contribute to improved outcomes in patient care. We work with the employer to ensure there is an ACP role at the end of the course.

This Masters can also lead to accreditation with Health Education England.