Nursing

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Nursing

Overview
The Master's in Nursing is a challenging postgraduate qualification for nurses (all fields), midwives or health visitors.

Summary
The Masters in Nursing is a challenging post graduate qualification for nurses (all fields), midwives or health visitors. This course will assist the student to develop personally and professionally and covers a wide range of issues from communication, leadership, person-centered practice and research. In the full-time mode, it is typically completed over a year, September to September.

About
The MSc Nursing will allow students to build upon their existing knowledge, skills and values. This course will challenge students about their practice and offer different opportunities to enhance that practice.

Teaching and learning assessment
Teaching, learning and assessment take a variety of forms across the suite of modules. The strategies used are based on principles of adult learning such as self-direction and a capacity to draw upon experience.

The course assumes that students have experience in practice or are currently situated in practice and thus uses teaching, learning and assessment practices that foster student engagement. The rationale behind this is based upon andragogical principles and respects students as individuals and professionals. Teaching strategies are selected by the nature of the intended learning outcomes. The learning experience is designed to encourage students to become active and motivated learners, who can seek information, question and analyse its validity and draw appropriate and logical conclusions. Students are encouraged to make connections between theoretical content and professional experiences thus facilitating an ability to move from understanding practice and applying skills taught to questioning and critiquing practice and proposing possible research or innovation that would contribute to developments or enhancements in practice. This serves to help students understand the symbiotic link between theory and practice.

Teaching methods on the course include:
• Lectures that provide students with the necessary knowledge base to develop their insight into practice and thus inform skill development. Lectures also provide an excellent opportunity for experts to teach students about current practice and developments in their field
• Seminars encourage students to take responsibility for leading discussions on practice based issues and reviewing the current literature in their field
• Tutorial sessions facilitate small group work to be carried out that has a specific focus
• Small group working is encouraged throughout the course to enable students to engage with problem based learning
• Creativity is encouraged to enable students to develop a flexibility of approach.

Entry requirements

Entry conditions
We recognise a range of qualifications for admission to our courses. In addition to the specific entry conditions for this course you must also meet the University's General Entrance Requirements. For general entrance requirements go to:
https://www.ulster.ac.uk/apply/entrance-requirements

Entry Requirements
Applicants will usually be a qualified nurse, midwife or health visitor with registration or licensure in their country of practice and who have a first degree. For those who do not have English as a first language they will need to have IELTs at 6.5 with no band score less than 6.5 (or equivalent).

English Language Requirements
English language requirements for international applicants

The minimum requirement for this course is Academic IELTS 6.5 with no band score less than 6.5.

Ulster recognises a number of other English language tests and comparable IELTS equivalent scores.

Exemptions and transferability
Students who have already undertaken post graduate study can apply to the School of Nursing for Accreditation for Prior Learning and this process will determine what will be permitable.

Duration

Attendance
Attendance will be face to face on either the Jordanstown or Magee campus depending on numbers.

Careers or further progression

Career options
The Masters in Nursing encourages qualified nurses, midwives and heath visitors to develop high levels of reflection, decision-making and criticality in nursing theory and research. This is particularly useful for nurses working who wish to work at more advanced levels of practice, and for those aspiring to research and management roles.

Further enquiries

Faculty contact regarding admissions and application process:
Karen McCarroll
T:+44 (0)28 9036 8983
E: kl.mccarroll@ulster.ac.uk

Course Director regarding content of course: Dr Helen McGarvey
T: +44 (0)28 7176 5749
E: he.mcgarvey@ulster.ac.uk

Subjects taught

Modules
Here is a guide to the subjects studied on this course.
Courses are continually reviewed to take advantage of new teaching approaches and developments in research, industry and the professions. Please be aware that modules may change for your year of entry. The exact modules available and their order may vary depending on course updates, staff availability, timetabling and student demand. Please contact the course team for the most up to date module list.

Year one
Person-centered Practice
Year: 1
Status: C
This module focuses on person-centered nursing as a form of practice that holds central the personhood of everyone involved in health and social care ? staff, service users and care partners. This module focuses on how person-centered concepts and theories are applied in nursing, public health and palliative care contexts. The module will be underpinned by the Person-centered nursing Framework of McCormack & McCance (2010), a theoretical framework that will enhance understanding of person-centeredness and its translation into practice.

Leadership in Professional Practice
Year: 1
Status: C
This module will develop the capacity to critically engage with theories of leadership and to apply this knowledge to leadership in healthcare practice. It will encourage the development of effective leadership strategies, based on best evidence to meet the challenges faced by healthcare professionals and promote the development of cultures of compassionate leadership. Assessment is by presentation, discourse and coursework

Epidemiology and Statistics for Public Health
Status: O
Year: 1
This module is optional
This module will develop the capacity and capability of professionals to use demographic statistics and epidemiological data and analysis to improve public health. Through the assessment framework students are enabled to apply their learning to specific chronic diseases within population groups.

MSc research project
Status: O
Year: 1
This module is optional
This is a required component of a programme leading to a MSc. The student completes, under supervision, a research proposal with successful submission to appropriate ethics committee/s and completes a research project which makes a contribution to the knowledge base for professional practice. This is assessed by coursework.

Advanced Methods in Research and Development in Health and Social Care
Status: O
Year: 1
This module is optional
This module builds upon previous study of research methods and enables students to develop and apply theoretical and scientific knowledge and problem solving skills, extending their understanding of the philosophical and practical aspects of research, service evaluation and practice development. In particular, it examines quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods research designs for collecting, recording, analysing and interpreting data with the ultimate goal of further developing their research and development skills.

Professional Decision Making and Accountability
Status: O
Year: 1
This module is optional
This module develops students' understanding of the major components and complexities of professional decision making and accountability and the central role this plays in the design, delivery and evaluation of safe and effective compassionate care for people within services in hospital and community settings. Within the module. students will critically analyse the relationships between professional decision-making, accountability, governance and patient safety within an interdisciplinary context. Assessment is by coursework.

Therapeutic Communication Skills for Health and Social Care Professionals
Status: O
Year: 1
This module is optional
This module will develop the capacity to critically engage with theories of communication and to apply this knowledge to the development of advanced communication skills within health and social care practice. It will encourage the development of evidence-based communication strategies to promote compassionate person-centered care. Assessment is by 100% coursework.

Scientific Knowledge
Status: O
Year: 1
This module is optional
Scientific theories and research methods have a series of interconnecting ideas that underpin them. It is important to have knowledge of this in order to make coherent choices about research designs. This module serves as an introduction to the subjects that make up these frameworks. Along with this there is a long tradition of considering the role theory plays in the development of knowledge in the professions and the subsequent impact this has on decision making. This module will help students uncover the theoretical base of their profession's knowledge.
Assessment is by presentation, discourse and coursework.

Independent study module
Status: O
Year: 1
This module is optional
This postgraduate module enables students within a specialist area to build on the more general specialist modules already completed and to develop their knowledge within a more focused area of professional practice. Students work independently with the guidance of an academic tutor and prepare written work for discussion at each meeting with their tutor. Assessment by coursework.

Comment

Academic profile
All staff contributing to the programme hold or are working towards a teaching qualification.
• The School has achieved "earned autonomy" from monitoring exercises carried out by Mott MacDonald on behalf of the NMC
• The School has an active Educational and Professional Issues Research Group which links with the Centre for Higher Education Research and Practice (CHERP, formally Centre for Higher Education Practice CHEP)
• Several members of staff have received funding from CHEP/CHERP to undertake projects designed to develop and enhance teaching, learning, assessment and feedback strategies within the School and Faculty
• The School encourages all staff to seek accreditation with the Higher Education Academy either at Fellow or Senior Fellow level
• In the 2014 Research Exercise Framework (REF2014) submission, the School excelled in all three areas: Output 94.6% internationally excellent or world learing; Impact 100% internationally excellent or world leading; Environment 100% internationally excellent or world leading
• Many of the teaching staff are full or associate members of the Institute of Nursing and Health Research
• Teaching is informed by the research activities of staff

Assessment method

Student performance and progression in modules are assessed through coursework. Assessment methods in the course are designed to measure the student's achievement of the intended learning outcomes. On-going formative assessment that has a significant diagnostic function occurs throughout the course where students are encouraged to discuss their progress and actively plan to address identified learning needs. Formative assessments in all modules are compulsory.

Assessment has been constructively aligned to the learning outcomes of each of the modules and all contain a combination of formative and summative assessment. Modules have a coursework element designed to test knowledge and understanding, integrate and apply information, and encourage the development of skills. Assessments include essays, presentations and literature reviews.