Advanced Nurse Practitioner

Course details

Nurses are required to take on advanced practice roles to meet the challenges and developments within the health service.  Advanced Nurse Practitioners (ANP) are registered with An Bord Altranais having gained the clinical competence to practice autonomously in a specific practice area at an advanced level.  This Masters in Nursing programme will prepare experienced nurses for registration as ANP.  The programme is delivered part-time over two years with a choice of two pathways:

Pathway 1           Advanced Nursing Practice

Pathway 2           Advanced Nursing Practice with Nurse/Midwife Prescribing

With the potential alternative exit award:

Postgraduate Certificate in Nurse/Midwife prescribing (30 credits)

The programme provides a broad range of modules (subject to availability) in specialist areas of nursing from which students can choose modules particular to their own area of practice.  In this programme emphasis is placed on the clinical practice element.  Each student will require support and mentorship by advanced practitioners and medical mentors in clinical areas and students will only be accepted on the programme if supported by their employer.

Course Details

The programme has been developed with two pathways.  Most ANP are required to be Nurse Prescribers and to also have a specialist qualification.  For the nurses who are not currently nurse prescribers, Pathway 1 will provide them with this qualification in addition to the MSc and ANP requirements.  For candidates who already have this qualification then Pathway 2 will provide a range of modules in specialist areas of practice.

Pathway 2

MSc Nursing (Advanced Nursing Practice) with Nurse/Midwife Prescribing (50 credits)

Year 1.

• NU6124 Global Perspectives on Advanced Practitioner Roles in Nursing (10 credits)
• NU6005 Research Methods (10 credits)
• GP6002 Systematic Approach to Assessing and Evaluating Patients (10 credits)
• NU6108 Professional, Legal, Ethical and Communication Principles of Prescribing Practices (5 credits) 
• PF6011 Drug Action and Prescribing (10 credits)

Clinical Practice/Practicum module:

NU6110 Prescribing in Nurse/Midwife Clinical Practice 1 (5 credits)

Year 2                   (40 credits) both pathways

• NU6015 Advanced Research Methods (10 credits)
• NU6073 Dissertation (20 credits)
• NU6116 Advanced Practice in Nursing (10 credits)

Detailed Entry Requirements

Entry to Year 1

Applicants for the MSc in Nursing (Advanced Nursing Practice) are required to:

• (a) have a minimum of an honours primary degree in Nursing,
• (b)hold active registration on a pision of the professional register maintained by An Bord Altranais or be eligible for such registration as required for inpidual pathways.
• (c) non EU Applicants who require to do their clinical placement in Ireland and who will be registered with An Bord Altranais will be required to demonstrate fluency (IELTS 7 or higher) in English if English is not the first language,
• (d) have of a minimum of 7 years post-registration experience.  This must have been gained within the past 8 years with at least 5 years in the area in which advanced nursing practice is being pursued 
• (f) provide evidence of support from an employer and a completed Site Declaration Form, signed by the Director of Nursing/Public Health/ authorised Nurse Manager containing confirmation of a designated medical practitioner mentor/and or Advanced Nurse Practitioner mentor who will provide supervision, support and learning opportunities, including opportunities to practice under supervision to gain the required competencies and clinical competence to practice at an advanced level in nursing.

For Pathway 2, (In addition to the above entry requirements) applicants are required  to:

(g) provide nomination and confirmation of a designated medical practitioner mentor (completed Site Self-Declaration Form, signed by the Medical Practitioner/Mentor) who will provide the student with supervision, support and opportunities including shadowing opportunities to gain the required competencies for nurse prescribing in his/her practice area/organisation.  Applicants must contact their Director of Nursing/Public Health to discuss the identified need for nurse prescribing in his/her practice area/organisation.

Direct Entry to Year 2

Applicants who have completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Nursing Year 1 or a relevant Higher Diploma programme may be considered for entry into Year 2 on a case by case basis.  These applicants will be will be required to undertake NU6116 in addition to the 2nd year modules

Assessment

Assessments for each module are outlined in the module descriptor.  There are a number of types of assessment used to examine the theoretical elements on this programme.  In Year 1 these include academic papers, presentations, and case studies depending on the learning outcomes of the module.  In year 2 students complete similar assessments but also complete a research proposal and research dissertation.  Each module learning outcomes will be assessed independently.  The clinical modules will be assessed through the achievement of competencies that are recorded and supervised by mentors in the clinical area.