Postgraduate Programme

All of the following modules can also be taken as "Stand-Alone".

Requirements

Students undertaking a Postgraduate Certificate must complete courses to earn a total of 60 SCOTCAT credits. These must include at least 2 of the 3 core courses listed below.

Students undertaking a Postgraduate Diploma must complete courses to earn a total of 120 SCOTCAT credits. These must include the 3 core courses listed below and a further 60 SCOTCAT credits which may be made up from the list of optional courses.

Students undertaking the MSc must complete taught courses as indicated above for a Postgraduate Diploma (120 SCOTCAT credits). In addition, students will be required to submit a 12,500 word thesis relevant to their area of professional practice (60 SCOTCAT credits).

Students taking this MSc Alternative Mode complete the three core courses (60 SCOTCAT credits) and a 25,000 word thesis relevant to their area of professional practice (120 SCOTCAT credits).

Individual courses from the programme may also be taken for credit for continuing professional development.

Core Courses

There are three core courses each worth 20 SCOTCAT credits:

Advanced Professional Practice begins by addressing the concept of "reflective practice". With the course tutor, students individually select specific topics of interest within their own areas of clinical / professional practice and throughout the rest of the course they pursue these topics through readings, visits, meetings with other professionals and other activities. In class meetings, students present aspects of their topics to the class group and discussion encourages deeper reflection.
One 2 hour seminar style class per week at 4.30pm for a 12-week period.
Course co-ordinators: Joanne Grant and Karen Wares (Infection Prevention and Control Nurses, Aberdeen Royal Hospital)

Using Evidence in Practice explores sources of clinical knowledge and examines the use of evidence as a basis for practice. Students individually select topics or aspects of clinical practice within their own professional area. Under the guidance of the course tutor, they develop strategies for finding, appraising and using evidence in relation to their individual topics. Students are encouraged to identify potential barriers to using evidence in practice and explore strategies to deal with these barriers. The course introduce issues relating to change management.
One 2 hour seminar style class per week at 4.30pm for a 12-week period.

Research Methods for Health Care Professionals begins by exploring different research paradigms, and relating current debates about prevailing research perspectives to nursing/midwifery and other relevant health care practice. With the use of modified lectures, seminars and guided reading, students examine the process involved in planning and carrying out research projects. Attention is paid to helping students identify the most suitable research methods to answer particular questions, and to ensuring ethical and methodological rigour in a variety of research settings and styles.

Optional Courses

Our courses are worth 20 SCOTCAT credits each. These courses will only run when there is a sufficient number of students wishing to pursue them.

Ethics in Practice introduces the basic ethical principles and theoretical/philosophical perspectives. The course consists of in-depth consideration of real-life ethical questions related to professional practice; both 'grand issues' (eg, euthanasia, genetic engineering) and everyday problems (eg, informed consent, patient/client choice) are discussed. Attention is focused on enabling students to identify the ethical components of their work and enhancing their awareness of the ethical issues embedded in the professional judgements they make.
Course co-ordinator: Dr Alice Kiger

Effective Teaching in Clinical/Practice Settings enables students to enhance their knowledge and skills in the teaching of students of medical / health care professions in clinical and other practice placements. It addresses the planning and provision of learning experiences suited to the educational purpose in such settings. It includes a consideration of assessment of learning in experiential settings. It explores the nature of student-teacher relationships and professional-patient/client relationships, and the interplay between the two in the educational context.

Palliative Care aims to enable students to develop their understanding of palliative care. Consequently, students will be able to reflect upon their practice and make informed choices regarding the provision of palliative care. The following key principals will be addressed: Principles and philosophy of palliative care, malignant and non-malignant palliative care, quality of life and quality of death, pain in palliative care, gastro-intestinal symptoms, respiratory symptoms, neurological/psychiatric symptoms, para-neoplastic syndromes, ethical issues in palliative care, communication issues.
Course Co-ordinators: Dr Sally Lawton/Dr Gordon Linklater

Combined Study Options

Other postgraduate modular courses available within Aberdeen University may be appropriate, depending on individual students' backgrounds and needs. These include:

From the MSc/Diploma/Certificate in Health Services and Public Health Research:

  • Public Health (5 credits)
  • Health Economics (10 credits)
  • Managing for Health (10 credits)
  • Epidemiology and Demography (10 credits)
  • Applied Statistics (10 credits)

From the Masters of Theology

  • Spirituality, Health and Healing (30 credits)

From the MSc in International Health and Management

  • International Health

From the Pg Certificate in Health Economics

  • Introduction to Economics and Health Economics
  • Health Care Systems and Policy

From the MSc in Human Nutrition

Note that the availability of spaces in the above courses will depend on student numbers.

From the MSc Programme in Leadership in Professional Settings, School of Education

  • Exploring leadership

Thesis (60 or 120 credits)

With the guidance of a supervisor, each student will plan and carry out an investigation of a topic relevant to his/her area of practice and write it up as a thesis.This will normally take the form of an empirical research project, but it may be an in-depth theoretical or philosophical exploration of an appropriate topic, as approved by the Course Co-ordinator. Students' research topics will be in Nursing, Midwifery or another Healthcare area according to which MSc they are pursuing. The length (12,500 or 25,000 words) will depend on whether a student is doing the standard or alternative mode MSc programme. As appropriate, and in collabortion with their designated supervisors, students will be encouraged to prepare an article suitable for submission to a relevant journal.