Option for Placement Year
Option for Study Abroad
Advanced Clinical Practitioners (ACPs) are recognised as autonomous specialists who manage complete episodes of care, working across what are deemed traditional professional boundaries to enhance the patient journey and develop clinical practice. Driven by the NHS Long Term Plan (2019) and the NHS People Plan (2020), advanced clinical practice is considered the cornerstone of healthcare service redesign and delivery.
The Advanced Clinical Practitioner (Advanced Critical Care Practitioner) Master’s award is reflective of the Health Education England (HEE) Multi-professional framework for advanced clinical practice in England (2017) and has been designed following the Health Education England Centre for Advancing Practice (CfAP) Standards for Education and Training (SETS) (2020).
This programme is designed for those wishing to enhance their clinical leadership, advanced clinical practice skills, and engagement in the research and education pillars as set out by HEE Framework. It is suitable for a variety of clinical backgrounds, and available to a range of professional backgrounds including nurses, pharmacists and allied health professionals to help meet the changing needs of healthcare provision. Engaging in this programme provides opportunities to develop understanding of advanced clinical practice and capitalise on opportunities for applied learning within the context of the workplace. Students will be part of a shared approach to learning that is tripartite between the student, the employer, and the university.
Students will therefore combine academic studies with work-based development of specialist skills and reflection including personal practices and behaviours. Upon completion of the programme, students will gain an MSc Advanced Clinical Practitioner (Advanced Critical Care Practitioner) qualification, enabling recognition as an ACP working within a wider health and social care environment. Students will graduate with the skills and knowledge to help drive service improvements, analyse and interpret clinical data to help make a diagnosis, and improve patient care. This will equip students for such influential roles and support longer-term career aspirations working in advanced clinical practice.
Level of Study
Postgraduate
Mode of Study
3 years Part Time
Location
City Campus, Northumbria University
City
Newcastle
Start
March 2026
Fees
Fee Information
Modules
Module Information
In addition to the MSc Advanced Clinical Practitioner (Advanced Critical Care Practitioner) Master’s degree, the following specialist awards are available:
Applicants should normally have:
A minimum of a 2:2 honours degree in a relevant subject.
Registration with the Health and Care Professionals Council / Nursing and Midwifery Council (or other appropriate Allied Health Professional registrant) and employed in a relevant clinical setting.
Employed as or working towards an Advanced Clinical Practice role.
International qualifications:
If you have studied a non UK qualification, you can see how your qualifications compare to the standard entry criteria, by selecting the country that you received the qualification in, from our country pages. Visit www.northumbria.ac.uk/yourcountry
English language requirements:
International applicants are required to have a minimum overall IELTS (Academic) score of 6.5 with 6 in each component (or approved equivalent*).
*The university accepts a large number of UK and International Qualifications in place of IELTS. You can find details of acceptable tests and the required grades you will need in our English Language section. Visit www.northumbria.ac.uk/englishqualifications
Full UK Fee: TBC
Full International Fee: TBC
Scholarships and Discounts
ADDITIONAL COSTS
There are no Additional Costs
* At Northumbria we are strongly committed to protecting the privacy of personal data. To view the University’s Privacy Notice please click here
Module information is indicative and is reviewed annually therefore may be subject to change. Applicants will be informed if there are any changes.
AC7047 -
Health History and Examination (20 Credits)
You will learn knowledge and skills for undertaking a general approach to health history and clinical examination of patients that will help you to achieve capability in the Clinical Practice pillar of Advanced Clinical Practice. You will cover biological systems to provide a systematic approach to history and clinical examination. The systems covered in your learning are as follows:
• Cardiovascular system
• Respiratory System
• Gastrointestinal system
• Neurological system
• Examination of the ear
• Examination of the eyes
• Endocrine system
• Genitourinary system
You will learn how to review clinical data in order to make (differential) diagnoses, produce patient management plans and evaluate patient outcomes contributing to the Leadership and Management pillar.
To help you to develop your research role in the context of the ACP role, you will learn to interpret clinical evidence to evaluate tests and investigations. This will involve understanding research methods and data applicable to clinical practice.
AC7050 -
Service Improvement and Research Methods in Advanced Clinical Practice (20 Credits)
The module is designed to meet the needs of health and care professionals working in Advanced Clinical Practice roles across a diverse range of speciality and subject-specific areas. It will equip you with the knowledge, skills, and behavioural capabilities to transform service delivery and secure continuous quality improvement. It will further enable you to identify and appraise existing knowledge or generate new knowledge in the context of uncertain and complex healthcare systems.
Designed to support you to critically engage in research and service improvement activity, it has also been closely aligned with the Multi-professional framework for advanced clinical practice in England, research capability pillar (HEE, 2017; p.10). A key focus of this module will be to identify ways in which you can critically engage in research activity, identify the need for further research or service improvements and facilitate collaborative research links. Support being provided to apply the learning within context of individual practice, disciplines, and professional interests.
Throughout the module, you will engage in a wide variety of authentic learning activities and critically examine aspects of the research process and service improvement methods. Utilising good research practice guidance and appraising a range of validated methodologies you will develop a broad understanding of how the various approaches can be used to enhance care provision, promote safety, and improve productivity.
Module tutors who are also active researchers will support you to adopt a critical and reflexive approach, bringing the research and your role in shaping it to life.
AC7082 -
Life Science for Advanced Clinical Practitioners (20 Credits)
The purpose of this module is to allow you to deepen your knowledge of life science for clinical practice, enabling development within your advanced clinical practitioner (ACP) role in relation to all four pillars of advanced clinical practice. You will critically examine the complex interaction of normal physiological processes involved in the control and regulation of metabolism. In your studies you will analyse the manifestations and consequences of altered physiology in response to disease processes, largely appropriate to your clinical specialism. You will also critically appraise the means and methods of measuring the parameters of normal and altered physiology and explore how various pathological manifestations present clinically. Each study day will be specific to a body system and discuss normal anatomy and physiology while common pathophysiology of all body systems will be critically explored. This will link to disease classification, disease processes and compensatory mechanisms involved in homeostasis.
The module will be delivered through a combination of taught, directed and self-directed study. The module will be summatively assessed through a 3,000-word essay, critically analysing a chosen organ dysfunction and discussing the manifestation of this at a cellular level. This will be commensurate with the standard required for advanced clinical practice, working towards Health Education England’s Multi-professional framework for advanced clinical practice in England (2017).
AC7066 -
Non-Medical Prescribing (V300) (40 Credits)
This module will facilitate your development of the knowledge and skills required for safe and effective prescribing from a legally specified UK formulary. Successful completion of all components of the module will lead to the achievement of a recordable prescribing qualification with your regulatory body (NMC or HCPC). The subject areas you will study include assessing the patient and considering prescribing options, pharmacology for prescribing and de-prescribing, legal and regulatory frameworks, providing information, reaching shared decisions, monitoring and reviewing treatments, prescribing safely, professionally and as part of a team and improving prescribing practice.
More informationAC7080 -
Contemporary Advanced Clinical Practice (20 Credits)
In this module you will continue to develop and build upon the concepts required of an Advanced Clinical Practitioner (ACP). Drawing on the Health Education England Multi-professional Framework for Advanced Clinical Practice, in this module you will explore the four pillars of advanced level practice (clinical practice, leadership and management, education and research) and associated capabilities. The module will enhance your knowledge and skills in each of the four pillars and enable you to analyse and synthesise these to inform the development, implementation, and evaluation of your Advanced Clinical Practitioner role. You will explore the global, political, and social context of advanced practice and the expectations of the advanced practitioner as clinician, educator, leader, and researcher. As an innovative and transformative non-medical workforce role, you will examine the legal, professional and ethical principles informing autonomous advanced level practice. Contemporary theories of leadership, management and change management will support your development as a leader of service innovation and enhanced patient care, delivering and evaluating person-centred holistic care within a multi-professional, multi-agency team, and undertaking practice development, quality assurance and enhancement of service delivery (research, audit, service evaluation, improvement/redesign), including service user/public partnership engagement. As an educator, you will develop your knowledge and application of learning, teaching, and assessment theories to create and enhance the learning environment/culture within your service/organisation and establish your ACP role as a mentor, coach, supervisor, and assessor. To achieve the level of advanced practice, you will demonstrate your ability to critically appraise contemporary sources of evidence (for example, research; local, national, and international guidelines/policy; and legal, ethical, and professional frameworks) and demonstrate utilisation of this information applied to your clinical practice.
If you are studying for a specialist named award, you will be expected to develop your ACP role in the context of the nationally recognised standard of advanced practice associated with that award. Please refer to the programme specification document for more information about specialist named awards.
AC7083 -
Managing Clinical Complexity in Advanced Clinical Practice (20 Credits)
In this module you will continue to develop and build upon your Advanced Clinical Practitioner (ACP) development. This module will aid you in the development of the following areas of your ACP role and will be tailored to your specialist field of practice: you will be able to assess and provide on-going review of patients through the assimilation of complex clinical data; monitor and modify collaborative management plans across complex disease continuums, attain technical ability to perform required interventions to our practice; order and/or interpret clinical and diagnostics interventions to evaluate treatment plans for ongoing management, whilst providing a critical rational for actions; critically appraise the clinical progress of patients to plan care, and communicate findings to patients, relatives, and members of the multi-disciplinary team as appropriate to your practice area; critically review patients, relatives, and members of the multi-disciplinary team participation in decision making for care; explore ethical issues in relation to your advanced practice role; critically appraise contemporary sources of evidence (e.g. research, local, national, and international guidelines, and legal, ethical and professional frameworks) and demonstrate utilisation of this information in clinical decisions; and, finally, demonstrate development of management and leadership skills in the organisation of care.
The module utilises a structured core lecture and specialist applied seminar approach to enable you to tailor your learning to your specialist area. You will be encouraged to attend the seminar that is most suited to your learning needs; however, if you are completing a specialist named award you will be required to attend the seminars that are identified as being a core component of your recognised curriculum or standard. The specialist named awards and their recognised standards are as follows:
1. Emergency Care- ACPs working in Emergency Care will work towards the Royal College of Emergency Medicine Emergency Care Advanced Clinical Practitioner Curriculum.
https://rcem.ac.uk/acp-curriculum/
2. Primary Care- ACPs working in Primary Care will work towards the Royal College of General Practitioners Core Capabilities Framework for Advanced Clinical Practice (Nurses) Working in General Practice/ Primary Care in England.
https://www.skillsforhealth.org.uk/services/item/724-advanced-clinical-practice-core-capabilities-for-nurses-working-within-general-practice-settings-in-england
3. Advanced Critical Care Practitioner- ACPs working in a Critical Care setting will work towards the Faculty of Intensive Care Medicines Advanced Critical Care Practice curriculum.
https://www.ficm.ac.uk/careersworkforceaccps/accp-curriculum
4. Sexual Health- ACPs working in Sexual Health will work towards the FSRH, BASHH and NHIVNA Advanced Clinical Practitioner (ACP) Integrated Sexual Health and HIV Specialist Training Curriculum. https://www.fsrh.org/news/fsrh-bashh-and-nhivna-advanced-level-curriculum-acp-for-nurses/
5. Acute Medicine- ACPs working in Acute Medicine will work towards the Health Education England and Royal College of Physicians Advanced Clinical Practice in Acute Medicine Curriculum Framework. Accessed via https://advanced-practice.hee.nhs.uk/our-work/credentials/endorsed-credentials/.
6. Older People- ACPs working with older People will work towards the Health Education England and Royal College of Physicians Advanced Clinical Practice in Older People Curriculum Framework. Accessed via https://advanced-practice.hee.nhs.uk/our-work/credentials/endorsed-credentials/
If you are studying for a specialist named award, you will be expected to demonstrate that you have developed your knowledge and skills in the context of the nationally recognised standard of advanced practice associated with that award. Please refer to the programme specification document for more information about specialist named awards.
AC7084 -
Professional and Practice Development for Advanced Clinical Practice (20 Credits)
In this module, you will continue to develop and build upon the capabilities required of an Advanced Clinical Practitioner (ACP). Based on the Health Education England Multi-professional Framework for Advanced Clinical Practice, in this module you will evaluate your knowledge, capability and confidence in leading and enhancing patient care and service delivery. Focused on an area of interest and informed by a robust evidence base, this module affords you the flexibility to apply and reflect on your personal and practice development needs to develop your knowledge, skills, and abilities to enhance patient care or service delivery within your practice using systematic and rigorous approaches. You will identify your personal development needs related to service improvement, quality assurance and service enhancement approaches in clinical practice. You will also evaluate contemporary theories of leadership, management and change management to effect and evaluate improvements to patient care and service delivery, including use of Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMS) and Patient Recorded Experience Measures (PREMS) in your area of practice. As a leader within a multi-professional, multi-agency team, you will examine strategies for evaluating person-centred holistic care and undertaking practice development, quality assurance and enhancement of service delivery (research, audit, service evaluation, improvement/redesign). This will include analysis of service user/public partnership engagement. You will enhance your ability to critically appraise contemporary sources of evidence (for example, research; local, national and international guidelines/policy; and legal, ethical and professional frameworks) and demonstrate appropriate utilisation of these sources to inform developments for clinical practice.
If you are studying for a specialist named award, you will be expected to develop your ACP role in the context of the nationally recognised standard of advanced practice associated with that award. Please refer to the programme specification document for more information about specialist named awards.
AC7081 -
Dissertation Portfolio for Advanced Clinical Practitioners (60 Credits)
This module will develop you in all four pillars of advanced clinical practice, with particular emphasis on the research, leadership and management, and education pillars. In the module you will critically explore a range of approaches to research, undertake a research study as your dissertation, produce a project report, and present your findings.
For the written component of this module, emphasis will be placed on your understanding of the world view, design and meaning system that will drive your own research study that will form your dissertation. You will pick between an Empirical Project, Service Improvement or Systematic Appraisal. In the module you will revisit and deepen your understandings of a range of key topics linked to the research process; this will include discussion of world views and research paradigms; the research question, aim or hypothesis; research design; working with literature and theory; developing ethical codes; constructing the research sample, collecting robust research evidence, ensuring quality assurance within your research work; analysing both qualitative and quantitative evidence; and writing and disseminating your dissertation findings. You will be invited to attend a series of research seminars during the module, and you will have access to a named supervisor for one-to-one supervision. Both the seminars and supervision will encourage you to apply the key areas of learning within this module to your own professional context and field of expertise. This will enable you to critically examine how the research process will work best for your research interests.
The module is the culmination of your ACP studies, and you will critically reflect on your overall development as an advanced clinical practitioner, bring together your on-programme learning, and demonstrate how you now work to all four pillars of the advanced practice framework. This will be evidenced by submitting your completed advanced practice portfolios one and two, to include all module assessment components.
If you are studying for a specialist named award, you will be expected to develop your research project and portfolio to evidence that you have achieved the nationally recognised standard of advanced practice associated with that award. Please refer to the programme specification document for more information about specialist named awards.
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Full time Courses are primarily delivered via on-campus face to face learning but could include elements of online learning. Most courses run as planned and as promoted on our website and via our marketing materials, but if there are any substantial changes (as determined by the Competition and Markets Authority) to a course or there is the potential that course may be withdrawn, we will notify all affected applicants as soon as possible with advice and guidance regarding their options. It is also important to be aware that optional modules listed on course pages may be subject to change depending on uptake numbers each year.
Contact time is subject to increase or decrease in line with possible restrictions imposed by the government or the University in the interest of maintaining the health and safety and wellbeing of students, staff, and visitors if this is deemed necessary in future.
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