Please note, there are three variations of this course depending on your profession/other requirements 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 Institute 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 will allow experienced qualified registered nurses, allied health professionals and pharmacists to develop their abilities in advanced clinical practice. Skills in assessment, diagnostic, managing complexity and prescribing are core to the programme; alongside critical analysis, leadership and research.
This course is one of the few of its kind in the UK. Students come from all over the world to be taught by some of the world leading experts in their clinical specialities. LSBU is leading in teaching Non Medical Prescribing, and has launched the UK's only Paediatric Non Medical Prescribing course.
Students can exit with 120 credits to gain the PgDip Advanced Clinical Practice (Child). 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.
This programme is accredited by Health Education England’s Centre for Advancing Practice. https://advanced-practice.hee.nhs.uk/
Entry requirements
In order to be considered for entry to MSc Advanced Clinical Practice (Child) course applicants will be required to have the following:
PROFESSIONAL:
ACADEMIC QUALIFICATIONS:
PRACTICE EXPERIENCE & ACCESS TO SUPERVISION:
Applicants must also be able to demonstrate employer support for all of the following (even where individuals are self-funding):
Selection process:
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:
Where students are unsuccessful, advice will be offered on alternative study or development opportunities.
Recognition of prior learning:
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 six 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 modules are taught together and some separately depending on when the student starts and any recognition of prior learning.
The set order of modules is as follows:
Students can exit at this point with the PgDip Advanced Clinical Practice (Child) or progress to undertake the final taught part to gain the full MSc Advanced Clinical Practice (Child) award:
Applicants will be given the timing and sequence of 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 January
There are three options for this course:
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 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 year 3 (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).