The Specialist Practitioner role
This role requires skills in negotiating, teaching and supporting patients and their carers’ whilst effectively collaborating with other agencies and services involved in enabling patient safety. The programme reflects the contemporary and future requirements for the Specialist Practitioner to ensure flexibility to respond to future strategic developments in community health.
The course is for qualified nurses who want to gain a professional qualification in district nursing or general practice nursing. For those who hold either a Diploma or Advanced Diploma in nursing studies, it will enable you to top up your qualification to degree level. If you already have a nursing degree then you can progress onto our MSc Community Specialist Practice.
Within primary care the role of the district nurse and general practice nurse is changing to reflect the needs of communities. There is a lot more emphasis on bringing care to patients so it is closer to their home environment. This means you will be keeping your professional development in line with latest health care guidelines.
By completing this course you'll be able to demonstrate a critical understanding of clinical practice, care and programme management, clinical practice leadership, and clinical practice development. Programme content around diagnostic reasoning in clinical practice supports the development of autonomy and safe practice for non-medical prescribing. We'll teach you in a variety of ways including lectures, workshops, seminars and group discussions. You'll be assessed through assignments, exams, presentations and the production of a practice portfolio. You'll also be assessed on your placement by your practice teacher.
Practice assessment will encompass clinical care, facilitation of learning, leadership and management, Evidence, research and development.
In order to study this course you'll need to apply for a place through a sponsoring organisation so they can support you throughout your practice placements and provide you with a practice teacher. Without this, unfortunately we won't be able to offer you a place.
We’re proud to say that our courses are closely mapped against the health and social care sector. This ensures that our curriculum is up-to-date, providing you with the assurance that your learning is current and relevant. This does mean that we do have to respond to national changes such as government policy. As a result, some of the information about our courses may change. Please check the website for the latest information.
You'll complete a practice based project, work within a District Nursing Team and be taught by a range of lecturers with specialist qualifications and clinical practitioners from local employing organisations.
By completing this course you’ll be able to demonstrate a critical understanding of clinical practice, care and caseload management, clinical practice leadership and clinical practice development. Within the Specialist Practice Module you will undertake the V100 Community Nurse Prescribing qualification to enable you to become an independent prescriber. Whilst studying on this course you’ll spend equal amounts of time in clinical practice on placement and in the learning environment on campus. This means that you’ll gain a mixture of theory and practical experience, supporting you to provide effective patient care when you graduate.
You'll study modules such as:
Stage one
- Principles of Practice Assessment
- Public Health and Health Promotion
- Evidence Based Project
- Leading for Quality
- Applied V100 prescribing
- Symptom Management in palliative
- Principles of Long Term Conditions management
- Palliative Care
- End of Life Care
- Educating Health and Social Care
- Tissue Viability.
Please note that our modules are subject to change - we review the content of our courses regularly, making changes where necessary to improve your experience and graduate prospects.
We’ll teach you in a variety of ways including lectures, workshops, seminars and group discussions. You'll spend half of your time on practice placement. Your placement is a key element of your learning and you will gain vital skills and experience working within primary care settings. Placement hours are subject to change.
You will complete a practice based project, work within a District Nursing Team and be taught by a range of lecturers with specialist qualifications and clinical practitioners from local employing organisations.
How you're assessed
You will be assessed through assignments, exams and presentations, You will also be assessed in your placement by your mentor/practice teacher against the NMC (2001) Specialist Education and Practice Standards through the use of case based discussions, observation and evaluation of clinical practice.
How to apply
Please look at our before you apply.
This Programme will encourage you to reflect on your practice and develop the knowledge and skills you’ll need to keep your career moving forward. When you have completed this Programme you’ll have the relevant skills to autonomously practice in your own area of expertise and become a confident Specialist Practitioner.
When you've completed this course you could continue your professional development by studying a masters such as our MSc Advanced Practice and take your career to the next level. Alternatively you could study towards being a Practice Teacher by studying your Post-graduate certificate in Inter professional Practice Education.
If you already have a bachelors degree in nursing then you should study our MSc Community Specialist Practice which will help you to become an advanced practitioner in your own area of expertise.
If you need any more information from us, eg on courses, accommodation, applying, car parking, fees or funding, please contact us and we will do everything we can to help you.
Contact us Contact us Teaching hours
Like most universities, we operate extended teaching hours at the University of Derby, so contact time with your lecturers and tutors could be anytime between 9am and 9pm. Your timetable will usually be available on the website 24 hours after enrolment on to your course.
Course updates
The information provided on this page is correct at the time of publication but course content, costs and other individual course details do change from time to time and are updated as often as possible, so please do check these pages again when making your final decision to apply for a course. Any updated course details will also be confirmed to you at application, enrolment and in your offer letter.
If you are thinking about transferring onto this course (into the second year for example), you should contact the programme leader for the relevant course information as modules may vary from those shown on this page.
Minimum numbers
Please note that this course is subject to minimum numbers in order to run.
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