Advancing Practice

The health and social care needs of the population are changing globally, highlighted most recently by the Covid-19 pandemic. The delivery of Health and Social Care supports integrated services focusing on prevention, early intervention and enablement to support people to live well for as long as possible in their own homes and communities. Health and social care professionals working in integrated teams, play a critical part in realising this vision. These roles have developed and expanded to meet new challenges and this Masters course has therefore been designed to support you to gain skills, confidence and knowledge to work effectively at an advanced level.

Working in partnership with clinical experts, patients and health care providers, this course is designed for any health professional working in a clinical, education, management or research role who is keen to challenge their thinking, gain new skills and make a difference to their practice.

We welcome applications from those about to complete pre-registration degree courses, those post-registration health care professionals working in practice, or those studying as part of other post-graduate level courses.

The course offers two different pathways:

Pathway A: Advancing Practice This is suitable for all registered health care professionals within and outside of the UK, who are keen to gain advanced knowledge and expertise in contemporary healthcare issues to lead and influence within their role. The modules for this award are delivered entirely online which means this can be completed by professionals practising anywhere in the world.

Pathway B: Advancing Practice (Clinical Practice) This is only suitable for health professionals practising in the UK who are working towards an advanced practice role or who require advanced skills to meet the demands of their current role and whose work is primarily clinically focused.

To gain this award, you are required to undertake two compulsory clinical modules:

Advanced Clinical Assessment and Examination Prescribing for Healthcare Professionals These compulsory modules require face-to-face attendance for teaching and assessment to take place. In addition, the Prescribing for Healthcare Professionals module leads to a qualification with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) or the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC), therefore you must be practising and registered within the UK to undertake this.

Teaching at Stirling is practice-focused, with an emphasis on employability and transforming careers.