MSc Adult Nursing

Why study this subject?

As an adult nurse, you can make a real difference to people’s lives. You’ll work with adults across all ages with one or more long or short-term physical health conditions, such as injuries from an accident, heart disease, cancer or diabetes. You’ll need to plan and deliver the most appropriate care and be their advocate in order to get the best possible results for your patients.

You can choose to work in a variety of settings, including hospital wards in NHS Trusts, patient homes and private clinics. You’ll join a dedicated and hardworking team, and work with other professionals across a variety of teams, from occupational therapists, healthcare assistants to pharmacists and radiographers.

As an adult nurse, you won’t just be caring for the patient, you’ll need to work closely with, and support, family members and carers.

Why study at Buckinghamshire New University?

Our MSc in pre-registration Adult Nursing is designed for high achieving graduates, recognising that you’ll bring transferable academic skills, healthcare experience and valuable life experience to your studies.

This fast-track two-year degree programme integrates postgraduate academic study alongside practice-based learning. It is underpinned by a strong collaboration between the University, service users (experts by experience) and our NHS practice partners, helping you to gain the knowledge and skills you need for your future career in adult nursing.

We will support and nurture you throughout the programme, so you can become compassionate, proficient, confident, and digitally-able registered adult nurses. We will also prepare you for future leadership and specialist roles within the integrated care system. 

As professional nurses and educators, staff bring a wealth of clinical expertise and research activity. An existing and expanding portfolio of health and social care courses, including midwifery, physiotherapy, operating department practitioner, social worker, physician associate as well as specialist community and public health nurses, provide opportunities for inter-professional learning.

What facilities can I use?

At our Uxbridge Campus, in West London, we have impressive facilities with state-of-the-art equipment. You’ll get to recreate real scenarios in realistic ‘wards’ so when you’re out on placement you’ll be familiar with your surroundings and be confident in your adult nursing skills.

With our simulation facilities, you’ll be able to learn and practice with equipment that is as close to the real thing as possible, enabling you to build your skills and knowledge in a safe and supportive environment.

The simulation areas are equipped to a national standard of excellence. Our facilities offer a high-fidelity environment, which includes the use of NHS approved consumables, genuine functioning equipment and a combination of actors and technology enhanced manikins. The essential element of de-brief in simulation is undisputed; audio/visual technology is available and widely used by the teaching teams to enhance feedback to learners.

What will I study?

During your time on the programme, you'll be working alongside experienced health care professionals who will help you to become a caring, confident and practice-ready adult nurse.

We will help give you the skills and knowledge you need so you will be able to identify the priorities and requirements for evidence-based, person-centred nursing interventions and support, evaluating mental, physical, cognitive, behavioural, spiritual, and social needs.

We will also enable you to master a diverse range of culturally sensitive communication and relationship management skills to ensure that individuals, families, and their carers are actively involved in, and understand, care decisions.

To complement the theoretical study, you will spend time out on practice. The main NHS Trusts we are currently working with include:

• Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust
• The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
• London North West Healthcare NHS Trust
• Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust
• Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust.

We also have a range of non-home-base placements in different fields, such as:

• BMI Clementine Churchill
• BUPA Bushey
• Nursing homes
• Medihome
• Learning disabilities facilities

How will I be taught and assessed?

To help you develop the skills and knowledge you need for your future career as an adult nurse, we adopt a range of teaching methods, such as:

• seminar-based teaching
• lectures
• authentic scenarios and case studies
• presentations
• simulation scenarios in the simulation suites facilities on campus.

You will also benefit from online teaching and learning, such as discussion boards and interactive web-based response system. We will also expect you to undertake independent study, utilising a range of e-resources and e-tools including:

• the University’s Virtual Learning Environment (VLE)
• professional websites
• online numeracy assessment and education
• online assignment submission
• academic databases
• library e-resources.

You will also be introduced to social media alongside e-professionalism, as a tool for online networking and learning, supporting a community of practice. 

Simulation, utilising our impressive facilities at our Uxbridge Campus, will help build your expertise and develop the behaviours you’ll need in your future career as an adult nurse.

Nursing simulation incorporates the use of human patient simulators in virtual ‘real-life’ healthcare environments and situations. Within this learning environment, real-time evolving clinical situations can be simulated, repeated and evaluated, using reflection and debriefing, reducing the risk of patient harm. This will help build your confidence as well as develop your critical thinking and problem-solving skills and help you gain proficiency in essential adult nursing skills.

The use of simulation to assist in the development and assessment of clinical skills ensures that you are better prepared for practice learning and is not counted as practice hours. It allows you to use time in the practice learning environment more effectively for application and refinement of your skills. Simulation activities also help to develop your interpersonal, communication and decision-making skills.

You will be able to apply your academic knowledge to your practice experiences, supported by practice supervisors, assessors, practitioners, and link lecturers. You will also be allocated to a range of placement learning experiences to meet NMC requirements and reflect the demand for integrated health and social care workforce planning.

With BNU, you are supported every step of your journey towards becoming a proficient and caring adult nurse. There’s a range of support services you can access across the University. You’ll also be able to turn to personal tutors, module leaders and course leaders for advice and guidance. In practice,  you will remain supported by personal tutors and course leaders, in addition to practice supervisors, practice assessors and academic assessors.

Assessment will include:

• reflective writing 
• reports
• essays  
• oral assessment and presentations  
• numeracy exams  
• short answer question exam 
• OSCE (Observed structured Clinical Examination)  
• practice assessments  
• research proposal.

We ensure that the assessments are varied and relevant to the practical elements of the course and your future profession, helping to give you the skills and knowledge for your future career as an adult nurse.

The MSc in Adult Nursing is a full-time course, based on 40 hours of learner activity each week over 90 weeks. The 180-credit programme is made up of 1,800 theory hours and 1,800 clinical practice hours. As per NMC regulatory standards (NMC, 2018) with the addition of RPL the course meets the required minimum total hours of 4,600.