Specialist Community Public Health Nursing (PG Diploma entry) MSc

Buckinghamshire New University

Are you ready to take the next steps in your nursing career? Do you want to increase your expertise? As a nurse it is good practice to keep building on your skills, so you can consistently deliver high quality, evidence-based care. This course will expand your knowledge, help you make decisions more effectively, and enhance your existing qualifications and experience in either health visiting or school nursing.

This course is for qualified nurses with a postgraduate diploma in nursing. You will be sponsored by a health organisation or trust and achieve a master’s, while gaining advanced skills and knowledge in the area of public health nursing you want to specialise in.

You will benefit from an excellent standard of teaching provided by staff from the University and practice, in partnership with our NHS Trust partners. As well as this you will be taught by lecturers who have a wide expertise in the field. Our lecturers also maintain close links with practice, ensuring that the programme is up-to-date with modern practice.

We offer continuous support throughout the programme, and you will receive personal tutoring and benefit from a high level of research within the teaching team. Your personal tutor will help guide you through your studies, support you with your academic development and give advice when needed.

Highly regarded by students and practice partners for our teaching in this area, BNU has a strong reputation for its health visitor and school nurse training. You will work with highly skilled academics, who have worked in the community – and spend 50% of your time in practice yourself, consolidating and deepening your understanding and skills.

Honing your critical thinking and leadership capabilities, you will build the capabilities needed to become highly successful at leading large teams of nurses in your chosen area of practice. You will also learn to take a more strategic view of community healthcare provision, drawing on the latest research, ideas and policy – as well as carrying out your own piece of research.

This course covers all the areas needed to meet the NMC professional requirements for specialist community public health nurses.

As well as spending half your time in practice, learning opportunities at the University such as case study-type simulations will enable you to develop your skills in a safe environment. You will also work closely with students from other community nursing courses at BNU, building your experience of working in a multi-professional way.

We will give you the support you need to complete your dissertation on a topic important to your workplace while you work in the field. The course will cover the whole research process from ethics approval to writing your final report.

By the end of the course, you will have developed the higher level of skills and knowledge you need to become a leader in this specialist field of nursing. Your e-portfolio will provide evidence of this, to validate your learning with the NMC.