Advanced Clinical Practice (named speciality) MSc



Are you a registered nurse or healthcare professional with an aspiration to develop your career in Advanced Clinical Practice?

Overview

The MSc Advanced Clinical Practice (named speciality) provides a contemporary pathway to your career development. As a practitioner in the public domain of health and social care services, you are expected to be innovative, provide leadership and make an advanced contribution in your professional clinical role.

The philosophy of this course is to use a professional work approach integrated with an understanding of practical application to create a high employability focus and impact on your practice. At all stages, you will be encouraged to take an independent self-learning approach to developing a deep knowledge of your subject area. 

There are five ‘core’ named specialities available which align to the Transforming Roles, Clinical Core Competencies (Phase 2 Paper): 

  • Acute Care
  • Paediatric
  • Neonatal
  • Primary & Community Care
  • Mental Health

In order to achieve all clinical competencies and speciality skills for this qualification, you will need to have a clinical supervisor and be employed by a UK healthcare organisation.

Typical entry point to this course is in January. Please enquire for more information.

Student nurses attend the beside of a neo natal mannequin

Mode of Study:

Part-time

Duration:

3 years

Start date:

Jan

Why Join Edinburgh Napier University?

Edinburgh Napier University is committed to delivering an excellent personalised student experience. You will be given the opportunity to acquire and develop many valuable intellectual, cognitive, and practical skills. These include the ability to collect, analyse, interpret, and understand data and information in the health and social care workplace and academic environment. On completing this programme, you will have been given opportunities to gain an appreciation of the value of education to society and to you as an individual.

Course details

This course is designed to be flexible and dynamic, allowing learning to be tailored to individual career aspirations. You will have the opportunity for inter-professional learning which can be contextualised to your health and/or care environment.

If you choose not to complete the full master’s degree, you can exit at various points during the course and achieve an award commensurate to the credits accrued.

On completion of this course you will be able to:

  • Demonstrate a critical awareness of the main features, boundaries, terminology and conventions associated with advanced clinical practice.
  • Apply and use a significant range of the principal professional skills, techniques and practices, which are at the forefront of advanced clinical practice.
  • Apply critical analysis, evaluation and synthesis skills to explore and solve complex problems in advanced clinical practice.
  • Communicate, using appropriate methods, to a range of audiences with different levels of knowledge in advanced clinical practice.
  • Demonstrate effective leadership and make an identifiable contribution to change and development in the context of advanced clinical practice.
  • Plan and execute a significant project of research, investigation or development to inform and enhance health and care practice.

What we offer:

  • Access to an experienced clinical academic teaching team, many of whom are qualified Advanced Practitioners and/or Medical Practitioners.
  • Access to specialist education in neonates, children and young people and mental health, adult acute care, and primary and community care health.
  • Excellent facilities with an award winning Simulation and Clinical Education suite.  Excellent Student Satisfaction – Top Modern University in Scotland for Research Impact (REF, 2021)
  • Excellent opportunities to network, access inter-professional education and share learning
  • A flexible course with opportunities to exit with an award that aligns to your speciality and service level needs, supported by a portfolio of practice learning.
  • Opportunity to acquire and develop many valuable transferrable intellectual, cognitive and practical skills for your role.

There are 4 distinct exit points from the program. Exit with a Certificate of Credit (40 credits), Postgraduate Certificate in Enhanced Practice (80 credits), Post-graduate Diploma in Advanced Clinical Practice (named speciality) (120 credits) and MSc Advanced Clinical Practice (named speciality) (180 credits). 

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    How you’ll be taught

     This course is offered part-time over 3-5 years and all modules are available as stand-alone modules.
     

    The course is delivered by academic, clinical, and professional experts from medicine, nursing, midwifery and professions allied to health. A principal team of clinical academics, aligned to your field of specialty, will support you with your journey through the course. It is inter-professional, flexible and student centred with opportunities to learn together, share experiences, and build networks. 

    Knowledge and understanding will be developed through a blend of learning and teaching methods and approaches. This includes student-directed learning, peer support, self-assessment, and practice based assessment and feedback as well as the use of the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE).

    You must have an identified practice supervisor, who will oversee the planning and development of practice learning experience related to your field of speciality.

    Note: If you are being sponsored by your employer, you will need to provide a Purchase Order Document prior to starting the course.  Please email this document to the Programme administrator: s.malone@napier.ac.uk
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    Assessments

     Your progress through the course will be monitored through both formative and summative assessments. Examples include: compulsory tripartite reflection points, self-and peer assessment, case studies, projects, posters, online examinations, portfolios, seminar presentations, dissertation, briefing reports, and impact evaluations.
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    Facilities

     Edinburgh Napier University, Sighthill Campus is a large modern facility with an extensive range of facilities that include a modern 5-floor library as well as a nationally renowned Simulation and Clinical Skills Centre.

Disclaimer

Study modules mentioned above are indicative only. Some changes may occur between now and the time that you study.

Full information is available in our disclaimer.

Entry requirements

What are the entry requirements for Advanced Clinical Practice?

This course is designed for qualified health and/or social care practitioners. To be considered for this course, you must have successfully completed at least one of the following:

  • A Bachelor degree and other qualifications or experience, which demonstrates that you have appropriate knowledge and skills at SCQF level 10 e.g. a Clinical Decision Making Module or;
  • Two taught modules equivalent to 40 credits at SCQF level 11 as a student of the University through our Affiliate student scheme.

For Advanced Practice (Midwifery), please note that you must have an appropriate midwifery/obstetric nurse qualification with supporting evidence.

In addition, applicants are also required to have:

  • Employer approval to study for a clinical qualification in Advanced Practice. It should be recognised that this course requires the development of clinical assessment skills, case management and prescribing (where appropriate).
  • An experienced supervisor who has agreed to oversee the development of practice based competence and learning. This supervisor must have extensive knowledge and skills aligned to the field of speciality the practitioner will be working in. This person(s) must be an Advanced Practitioner and/or Medical Practitioner ST3 or above and/or Consultant and/or GP. The practice supervisor must be able to commit to two sessions per month of supervision. 

The University does not sponsor students to study on part-time programmes in the UK under the Student Visa route. International Applicants must therefore have other valid immigration leave to study on this programme.

Can I make an appointment with an advisor to discuss further about the admission process?

If you want to get more information on the admission process, please get in touch with the Postgraduate admissions team by submitting an enquiry form above.

If your first language isn't English, you'll normally need to undertake an approved English language test and our minimum English language requirements will apply.

This may not apply if you have completed all your school qualifications in English. Check our country pages to find out if this applies to you.

We welcome applications from students studying a wide range of international qualifications.
Entry requirements by country

Please note that international students are unable to enrol onto the following courses:
  • BM Midwifery/MM Midwifery
  • All Graduate Apprenticeship courses.

See who can apply for more information on Graduate Apprenticeship courses.

We’re committed to admitting students who have the potential to succeed and benefit from our programmes of study. 

Our admissions policies will help you understand our admissions procedures, and how we use the information you provide us in your application to inform the decisions we make.

Undergraduate admissions policies
Postgraduate admissions policies

Fees & funding

The course fees you'll pay and the funding available to you will depend on a number of factors including your nationality, location, personal circumstances and the course you are studying. We also have a number of bursaries and scholarships available to our students.

Tuition fees
Rates per 40 credit module 2024/25 2025/26
Scotland, England, Wales, Northern Ireland, and Republic of Ireland-Taught modules *£2,210 *£2,320
Module NMS11196 £1,580 £1,660
Scotland, England, Wales, Northern Ireland, and Republic of Ireland-60credit Dissertation module £650 £690


This program is for national students only, UK based, and you will need permission and support from your board to embark on it.
Tuition fees are subject to an annual review and may increase from one year to the next. For more information on this and other tuition fee matters, please see our Fees and Funding links above.
The University offers a 20% discount on Postgraduate Taught Masters programmes to its alumni. The discount applies to all full-time, part-time and online programmes. The discount can only be applied to year one of a full-time Postgraduate degree, any additional years are exempt from the discount. For part time Postgraduate degrees the discount will apply to years one, two and three only and any additional years will be exempt from the discount. Please read our full T&C here


Please note:

The discount for Edinburgh Napier alumni can only be applied to year one of a full-time Postgraduate degree, any additional years are exempt from the discount.

For part time Postgraduate degrees the discount will apply to years one, two and three only and any additional years will be exempt from the discount.

Please read our full T&C here

Careers

Graduates from this course can find opportunities in:

  • Nursing / Midwifery 
  • Critical Care
  • Primary Care
  • Children and Young People’s Health
  • Neonatal Health
  • Learning disabilities
  • Mental Health
Student nurses working on a bloody mannequin in the Clinical Skills room