MSc Advanced Clinical Practice (Adult) (Level 7)

Due to high demand, priority for our intakes for 2021/2021 will be given to Health Education England London funded applicants.  To see if you can access this funding, please speak to your NHS Trust or Training Hub (CEPN, CCG) Education lead.   From 2021/2022 HEE London have agreed to provide funding for the full MSc award. 

Please note, you can start this course in September or January, and there are three variations of this course depending on your profession and existing Non Medical Prescribing qualification.  Please see the “How to apply” section at the bottom of this page for further details before applying. 

The School of Health and Social Care at LSBU has been delivering high quality Royal College of Nursing (RCN) accredited Advanced Nurse Practitioner (ANP) education for over 20 years, with an excellent reputation and demand increasing each year. This course is now multi-professional in line with the Health Education England (HEE, 2017) Multiprofessional Framework for Advanced Clinical Practice in England.  It provides advanced clinical practice education for experienced registered nurses, midwives, allied health professionals, healthcare scientists, social workers and pharmacists working with adults in primary, secondary and tertiary health care settings.

Students can exit with 120 credits to gain the PgDip Advanced Clinical Practice (Adult). However, we anticipate that the majority will progress to complete a taught third year to gain the full MSc award in recognition of the importance of this level of award in the national context for advanced clinical practice and for future promotion.

Full details on the course are available from the University Course Prospectus. 

Applicants for the MSc Advanced Clinical (Adult) Apprenticeship need to use a different applicant process.  Please contact Katrina Maclaine via maclaik@lsbu.ac.uk for further information. 

Venue: LSBU Southwark Campus

Entry requirements

In order to be considered for entry to MSc Advanced Clinical Practice (Adult) course applicants will be required to have all of the following:

PROFESSIONAL:

Current professional registration with the Nursing & Midwifery Council (NMC) or Health Care Professions Council (HCPC) or The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) 

•  A minimum of 3 years’ post-registration experience on entry to the course

ACADEMIC QUALIFICATIONS:

• Evidence of a minimum of 90 undergraduate degree level healthcare related credits

PRACTICE EXPERIENCE & ACCESS TO SUPERVISION:

•  Be employed at minimum of Band 6 or equivalent
• Employed* for a minimum of 30 hours per week in one relevant clinical environment, with access to appropriate clinical support and supervision for the development of knowledge and skills to an advanced level. *This excludes students who are working in a locum or agency basis.  

All applicants (including those who are self-funding) must also be able to demonstrate employer support for all of the following:

• For the applicant to undertake this course at LSBU
• Support for development of the applicant to an advanced level within the workplace while on the course, to enable evolution of the scope of practice and responsibilities
• Willingness to release the student to enable them to dedicate the equivalent of 3 hours minimum per week throughout the calendar year (in addition to the study days in university) as protected learning time to enable the student to work in a 'supernumerary capacity' to focus on their clinical/professional development evidenced by completion of the Practice Based Learning activity requirements and the Practice Based Learning records.
• For the student to organise for a Doctor/qualified Advanced Practitioner to act as their designated "Practice Facilitator" to supervise and support the applicants overall clinical development and facilitate completion of specified practice-based learning activities. Sign off for specific aspects of learning is required during the course (this responsibility can be shared with other senior experienced clinical colleagues however nomination of an overall Practice Facilitator is required).
• Provision of day-to-day supervision and support by an experienced clinical team to enable the development of the knowledge, skills, behaviours, competence and confidence commensurate with this level of practice

Selection process:

If your employing organisation has put you forward to HEE London in their request for funding, please contact the Course Leader BEFORE you complete an application form.  You will be asked for preliminary information to ensure you meet the entry criteria before you progress to submit an online application.  

Advanced level clinical practice is by its very nature challenging and demanding. It is therefore important that appropriate students are selected who have the determination, professional attitudes and calibre that is needed for academic success and maximum impact in practice. Students are therefore selected for the course using the following strategies:

• Submission of an online application form including the personal statement, academic credit and level, professional registration and current role and duration of experience.
•  An interview with representatives from the course team and a service-user.  This will assess motivation, understanding of the course requirements and potential challenges, and appreciation of the potential benefits offered by the course for personal and professional development and to the patient care on an individual and organisational basis.
• The following are also reviewed: 

o   A supportive reference from the student’s current line manager.

o   Provision of a completed Practice Facilitators nomination and acceptance form

o   Completion of a Clinical Practice Learning Environment profile which evaluates capacity of the student’s work environment (and other clinical opportunities) to meet the learning requirements for the course and includes an Action Plan to redress any issues.  This is signed by the student’s Line Manager and the Practice Facilitator. 

o   Submission of a 1,000 word referenced essay, which critically analyses the opportunities for advanced clinical practice within their work setting

Where students are unsuccessful, advice will be offered on alternative study or development opportunities.

Recognition of prior learning:

This is considered on an individual basis, in accordance with the University Academic Regulations.  Credit awarded by another university may under certain circumstances contribute to the credit required for a London South Bank University award. For example, increasing numbers of applicants are already Independent Prescribers, having completed Non Medical Prescribing (NMP) courses at Level 6 or 7 so will be able to APEL this aspect if they can verify that they continue to prescribe in their current role.

For credit to be transferred, the learning must be relevant to the module for which the claim for credit is being made. The learning must also have been at a comparable academic level and must have been assessed. The amount of credit transferred must be equal to or less than the amount of credit awarded by the university at which the learning took place.  For learning other than NMP, the learning activity must have taken place less than 4 years prior to entry to the MSc Advanced Clinical Practice (Adult) course. At least half of the credit required for an award of the University must normally be accumulated as a result of learning undertaken and assessed at London South Bank University.  The use of the same allocation of credit in order to meet the requirements of more than one academic award at the same level (“double counting”) is not permitted and students should not receive more than one allocation of credit for a single learning activity.

The university also has a process for accreditation of prior experiential learning, with the details and submission requirements for each claim considered individually. 

Career benefits

Yearly Graduate Surveys have demonstrated that all graduates have benefited from studying Advanced Clinical Practice with London South Bank University.  The majority have gained substantive posts as Advanced Practitioners. Some have subsequently become Leads for Advanced Practice, Consultant Practitioners, and Partners in General Practice. 

Course structure and delivery

This course comprises a set series of modules that build in a specific order to form the final award. This provides a cohesive framework for development of the knowledge, skills and behaviours across the four pillars of advanced clinical practice: Clinical, Leadership/Management, Education and Research (HEE, 2017).

The full MSc comprises seven 20 credit modules plus either the Non Medical Prescribing module (40 credits) or the alternative of a Core 20 credit module and a 20 credit Option module.

Each 20 credit module accounts for 200 hours of total student effort.  This typically comprises 36-42 classroom contact hours, 14 blended learning activity hours and practice-based learning hours (equivalent to a minimum of 3 hours per week).  Students should undertake private study for a minimum of 11 hours per module per week.

The academic year at LSBU is organised into two semesters.  Each module is normally run over a semester comprising 15 weeks where the final week is focused on completion of assessments.  All teaching takes place on the Southwark Campus. 

The course starts with a compulsory two-day Induction. Teaching follows with attendance for modules on a one day a week basis across two semesters per year.  Attendance of additional study days for skills and professional development is also required. Teaching sessions are delivered in the morning or afternoon according to the module timetable.  There are no evening or weekend teaching sessions.  Assessments normally take place in January for semester 1 modules and May/June for semester 2 modules.

Some of the modules are taken together and some separately depending on when a student starts and any recognition of prior learning. 

The order of modules across the MSc award is as follows:

YEAR ONE

• ACP_7_009 - Physiology for Advanced Clinical Practice
• ACP_7_010 - Advanced Clinical Assessment Skills
• NMP_7_040 Non Medical Prescribing (40 credits) OR for those unable to undertake the NMP module due to current legislation restrictions they will under the alternative pairing of WBL_7_001 Enhancing Practice through Work Based Learning and a 20 credit Level 7 Option module of their choice 

YEAR TWO

• ACP_7_011 - Clinical Reasoning and Diagnostic Skills
• ACP_7_007 - Leadership, Research and Education for Advanced Clinical Practice

YEAR THREE

• ACP_7_008 Professional Development for Advanced Clinical Practice
• A 20 credit Level 7 optional module of choice

      The final module is a choice from the following to enable greater focus on preparation for advanced level practice in specific areas

• ACP_7_012 Clinical Complexity in Advanced Practice (Primary and Urgent Care)
• ACP_7_013 Clinical Complexity in Advanced Practice (Emergency Care)
• ACP_7_014 Clinical Complexity in Advanced Practice (Acute and Critical Care)

Applicants will be given the timing and dates for the modules within the choices listed under “APPLY”.

Practice Based Learning

A key aspect of this course is the expectation for students to apply their new knowledge and skills within their workplace.  All students are required to dedicate the equivalent of 3 hours minimum per week throughout the calendar year (in addition to the study days in university) as protected learning time.  During these hours the student should work in a 'supernumerary capacity' to focus on their clinical/professional development.  Evidence of this aspect is required through completion of a series of Practice Based Learning records.  The selection criteria include identification of a designated "Practice Facilitator" to supervise and support the applicants overall clinical development and facilitate completion of specified practice-based learning activities.  Alongside this, students need day-to-day supervision and support by an experienced clinical team to enable the development of the knowledge, skills, behaviours, competence and confidence commensurate with this level of practice.

How to apply

Before selecting the 'Apply' button on the right-hand side of this page, please read the following carefully:

You can start this course in September or January - the options are clearly labelled in the application form

There are three options for this course:

•  With Non Medical Prescribing (NMP) - for professionals who are allowed to prescribe.
•  With an alternative to Non Medical Prescribing (NMP) - for professionals who are not allowed to prescribe.
•  for existing Non Medical Prescribers (existing NMP) - for professionals who are already Non Medical Prescribers.

You can only apply for one academic year of study at a time to allow for demonstration of the source of funding on a yearly basis

For September starters, they follow the standard academic year (September through to June), therefore, they will do three applications throughout the course, which will be one application per academic year. 

NOTE: For students who start their course in January, their structure of the course will straddle academic years, this will be; year 1 (first half), year 1 (second half) and year 2 (first half), year 2 (second half) and year3 (first half), year 3 (second half) and they will need to do a total of four applications, but one application per academic year (September through to June).