Nursing is one of the most trusted and transformational professions, and 2020 showed us that the World needs nurses to lead and advocate. 2020 also highlighted that many health and social care workers are experiencing stress, mental health issues, and burnout. Modern health and social care practice is a challenging place to work, and the COVID-19 pandemic has made this even more challenging. Stress and burnout will almost certainly increase due to the exceptional pressure that many nurses are experiencing during the pandemic (Kinman et al 2020; NHS Confederation 2020; West et al 2020).
This course prepares you to become a Professional Nurse Advocate, a role poised to support and lead the nursing workforce.
The role of a Professional Nurse Advocate (PNA) and use of A-EQUIP model (advocating for education and quality improvement) is part of the solution to supporting many of these issues.
The A-EQUIP model and the professional nurse advocate role aims to:
- Provide a supportive function
- Support professional resilience
- Support nurses to provide high quality care and identify areas for improvement
- Support the advocacy role of nurses
- Include strategies which develop and invest in nurses
- Allow flexibility for local implementation
- Not to create additional financial pressures on providers
During this 10-week course, you'll gain the skills and knowledge to facilitate restorative supervision for colleagues and teams within nursing services and beyond. You will be able to lead and deliver quality improvement initiatives in response to service demands and changing patient requirements.
Students undertaking this course will study online as self-paced study, predominantly by engaging with the online materials and activities provided in the virtual learning environment. There will be weekly online lectures delivered by the course tutor and PNA’s working in practice (which will be recorded and so can be watched later should any students not be able to attend the scheduled time slot). Students will also take part in weekly activities and engage with their tutor and peers through the online discussions.
Overall, including work, study, and self-paced learning, students will spend about 6 hours per week on the course with additional time required to complete the assignment towards the end of the 10 weeks of study.
Learning outcomes
On successful completion of this course, you should be able to:
- Apply and implement the skills and knowledge to become a Professional Nursing Advocate
- Critically evaluate advocacy skills, supervision, and restorative supervision
- Synthesise and implement change, quality enhancements, and continuous improvements
- Critically evaluate leadership theories and practices as applied to your own role and area of practice
Course content
This course will cover:
- The role of the supervisor/Professional Nurse Advocate within the context of national and local governance policies
- The role supervision plays in supporting nurses to consider their practice in relation to the Code and the requirements for revalidation
- The educational principles which facilitate effective supervision
- Supervision frameworks and models which can be used for understanding and managing the supervisory relationship
- Skills which underpin the setting up and development of a successful supervisory relationship, including setting ground rules, negotiating, and working in partnership
- A range of supervisory approaches and methods including facilitation, coaching, motivational interviewing, reflection, debriefing and managing challenging conversations
- Approaches to evidence-based practice and quality improvement to ensure people experience safe, compassionate, person-centred care including the concept of advocacy. Flows of compassion and self-compassion
- Ethical issues in clinical supervision which may affect the supervisory process for example, conflict of interest and maintaining professional boundaries
- Techniques and processes to evaluate the clinical supervision process, including eliciting and utilising feedback
- The need for on-going development of supervisory skills and for further reflection and updating of knowledge
Who this course is for
This module is aimed at NMC-registered nurses and nursing associates in any field of practice who would like to develop into Professional Nurse Advocates.
Course team
Programme Leader - Melanie Gasston-Hales
Melanie is a Senior Lecturer in Mental Health. She is a Registered Nurse in Mental Health and hold a Lecturer/Practice Educator qualification recorded with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC).
Prior to joining the University of Derby, she worked clinically and in higher education in London. Her clinical experience is predominantly acute mental health care in hospital and within the community. In higher education, she has worked as a practice educator and taught pre- and post-registration nurses.
How you will learn
This module is delivered online and so you will undertake self-paced study via our virtual learning environment. This means that predominantly you will study the online learning material rather than attend a series of scheduled lectures. This provides the flexibility to manage your studies around your existing work and home commitments.
You will engage with your tutors and fellow students via online discussion boards and there will be scheduled online lectures each Thursday throughout the module. All online lectures will be recorded so that, if you are not able to attend, you will be able to catch up later.
This module takes place over 10 weeks, and you will complete academic assignments as part of your work, and these contribute to the assessment. Overall, including work, study, and learning at your own pace, you'll spend about 20 hours per week on the course.
Find out more about studying online.
Student support
Our student Wellbeing Service offers a range of support, advice and guidance for our students.
If you have an existing report in relation to specific learning needs from an educational psychologist, please indicate this in your application and you are then eligible for a support plan from the University.
Due to the length of this programme, students are not eligible for Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA) or for a support assessment to be undertaken by the University.
However, you will be eligible for support towards additional equipment via the Access to Work scheme. Please note that the process to secure this can take 12 weeks and so we recommend that you apply for this before you apply for the course.
‡2024/25 for new entrants
Starting between September 2024 and August 2025.
UK/EU fee: £1,050
2025/26 for new entrants
Starting between September 2025 and August 2026.
UK/EU fee: £1,100
About your fees
Prices are correct for the year of entry shown. These are subject to annual increase in subsequent academic years.
To undertake this course, you must:
- be a registered nurse with the Nursing & Midwifery Council (hold a current registration)
- be Band 5 or above working in a patient-facing clinical role within a healthcare setting providing NHS-commissioned care
- be able to provide evidence of previous level 6 study (Bachelor’s degree level)
- be able to evidence completion of the Professional Clinical Nursing Leadership e-learning modules on the PNA role and the A-EQUIP model*
*you will need to register at elearning for healthcare to access these modules.
You must discuss your participation with senior nurses in your organisation.
If you are currently studying a programme with us, you will not be able to study PNA as a second course as it is not possible to be enrolled onto two courses at the same time.
Apply directly to the University.
Apply now
For support with completing your application, view our guide to the application process.
If you want to find out more about studying a short course, please contact us and we will get back to you as soon as we can.
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