MSc Advanced Professional Practice (Clinical Practitioner)

• Gain the knowledge and skills to work in any sector of the health service (e.g. pre-hospital, primary care and secondary care settings).
  
• Develop your skills and knowledge in relation to assessment, clinical reasoning and formulation of appropriate differential diagnosis, diagnostic decision making and initiation or delivery of appropriate, timely care evidence-based care.
  
• Embed independent and supplementary prescribing into your masters degree (subject to profession).  
• Undertake assessments linked to your own practice to ensure that your learning needs are met within your specific practice area.
  
• Opportunities to study in an inter-professional setting with inter-professional core and optional modules delivered by an academic team with extensive experience as well as a close relationship with clinicians contributing to teaching.
  
• Research informed teaching is embedded throughout the curriculum and you will be given the chance to design and undertake your own research to enhance and develop patient care and/or service provision.
  
• Be equipped to take on lead roles in management, clinical practice and/or education
  
• Part time programme offering flexible delivery and exit points to support a learner centred approach.
  

• Year 1

• Exit award postgraduate certificate – to achieve a postgraduate certificate, you will need to earn 60 credits. This must include the core modules: ‘Advancing Practice in Context’ (20 credits), ‘Advanced Assessment for Clinical Practice’ (20 credits), and ‘Research Methodology and Application’ (20 credits). Please refer to the below programme specification for further information on modules to be studied.
  

  Core modules

  • APP712 Professional Portfolio 1

    This module is a 0 credit module which confirms the completion of the Skills and Competencies and is aligned to meet RCN Advanced Practice standards and the Scottish Advanced Practice toolkit.

  Optional modules

  • APP701 Advancing Practice in Context

    This module will enable the student to develop their professional understanding within Advancing Practice, allowing them to consider the legal and ethical boundaries, the working environment and the complexities of their practice.

  • APP710 Advanced Assessment for Clinical Practice

    "This module will enable experienced practitioners to undertake a systematic and structured history taking assessment alongside a physical examination in order to integrate advanced assessment findings into clinical decision making. Emphasis will be on developing an understanding of systems and patho-physiology when seeing and managing patients with undiagnosed and undifferentiated presentations across healthcare settings."

  • APP745 Research Methodology and Application

    This module develops an understanding of research designs and methods, enables the critically appraisal of evidence and research and introduces the principles of data collection and analysis. This module is delivered via a distance learning approach.

• Year 2

• Exit award postgraduate diploma – to achieve a postgraduate diploma, you will have first completed the PgCert and will need to earn 120 credits. Please refer to the below programme specification for further information on modules to be studied.
  

  Examples of the optional modules available
  HEAD709 – Non-medical prescribing: Independent and supplementary prescribing for designated allied health professionals (physiotherapists and podiatrists)
  NMP702 – Non-medical prescribing: Independent and supplementary prescribing for nurses and midwives
  APP716 – Clinical skills in community and primary care
  APP717 – The fundamentals of health assessment

  Core modules

  • APP711 Managing Clinical Complexity

    Practitioners will develop capacity to synthesize practice and theory in order to underpin discernibly higher levels of judgment in complex decision making skills; focusing on the comprehensive health assessment and clinical reasoning and decision making skills across a range of disease processes and conditions.

  • APP713 Professional Portfolio 2

    This module is a 0 credit module which confirms the completion of the Skills and Competencies and is aligned to meet RCN Advanced Practice standards and the Scottish Advanced Practice toolkit.

• Final year

• Exit award master of science – for a full master degree, you will have first completed the PgDip and will need to earn a total of 180 credits. Please refer to the below programme specification for further information on modules to be studied.
  

  Core modules
  SPP701 – Substantive professional project

  Please note: you will also need to complete two 0 credit rated modules over two years to gain this qualification, i.e. ‘APP712 – Professional Practice 1’ and ‘APP713 – Professional Practice 2’.

  For further information on the modules that make up this programme please visit MSc Advanced Professional Practice modules for the School of Nursing and Midwifery page.
  

Every postgraduate taught course has a detailed programme specification document describing the programme aims, the programme structure, the teaching and learning methods, the learning outcomes and the rules of assessment.

The following programme specification represents the latest programme structure and may be subject to change:

MSc APP Clinical Practitioner pathway specification 6131

You will normally have a first degree (BSc (Hons) at 2:2 or above or European first cycle equivalent plus a professional qualification in health or social care). You will be assessed individually for your ability to study at this level and therefore an interview may be necessary.

If you do not have a first degree at 2:2 or above (or the European first equivalent) but have appropriate practice-related experience relevant to the programme you may still be eligible to apply. In these cases, you would also be required to submit a short piece of writing as part of the admissions process.

You will also need to be working in an environment that will enable you to meet the programme learning outcomes and have a clinical mentor in practice (e.g. a Doctor or Advanced Clinical/Nurse Practitioner with a masters degree) who has agreed to supervise your clinical learning.

Applicants whose first language is not English must also provide evidence of competence in written and spoken English in accordance with the University’s Admissions Code of Practice - IELTS of 6.5 overall with a minimum of 5.5 in each category.

AP(E)L:

Claims for credit for prior learning, whether certificated or experiential are accepted and will be assessed following University regulations and faculty procedures.

European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS):

This programme is equivalent to 90 ECTS credits (second cycle) with 30 ECTS credits at postgraduate certificate, 60 credits at postgraduate diploma and 90 credits at masters degree. Each 20 credit module has the equivalent of 10 ECTS credits and assumes a notional student effort of between 200-300 hours.

When to apply

Applications for this programme can usually be made throughout the year. Please check the closing date and apply as early as possible as our programmes are popular.

Apply for this programme

Applications should be made by using the relevant PDF or Word application form.

Postgraduate application form DOC – A DOC application form for postgraduate students to print, fill in and mail to the University

Postgraduate application form PDF – A PDF application form for postgraduate students to print, fill in and mail to the University

Printed application forms are also available and can be obtained from the Professional Development Unit. Please send your completed application form to the address or email listed below:

Professional Development Unit
4th floor, Rolle Building
University of Plymouth
Drake Circus
Plymouth, PL4 8AA

Email: pduadmissions@plymouth.ac.uk

Tel: +44 1752 586951

What happens after I apply?

You will normally receive a decision on your application within four weeks of us receiving your application. You may be asked to provide additional information, to take part in an interview (which in the case if you are an overseas student may be by telephone or video conference) or you will be sent a decision by letter or email.

If you have a disability and would like further information about the support provided by University of Plymouth, please visit our Disability Services website.

Please note that when you enrol on this programme, you always enrol to study the master degree but we offer three exit awards: PgCert, PgDip and MSc.