An exploration into the curricular development of a master's programme designed to support advanced nurse practitioner education

摘要

With such fluidity within the NHS, the need to provide provision for health care to the general population is a challenge for government, professionals and the structures that support that development. This has necessitated a need to consider the current workforce and how it can be expanded and adapted to meet these expectations without compromise to patient safety and satisfaction. As nursing is one of the largest professions within the NHS this has meant that advanced nurse practice has grown to meet that demand, but without a consistent and clear framework for the underpinning educational development. Whilst this is certainly under current review and there is much local and national activity to address this issue, debate continues as to what educational provision should be in place. - The development of competencies by professional and governmental bodies is offering a national perspective on the skills and knowledge required by advanced practitioners. However, these competencies are left to be interpreted at a local level whilst trying to map to the proposed national view. The development of an educational programme is influenced by these external forces, with the additional need to accommodate the students’ professional standards of practice and acquisition of characteristics conducive with academic study at master’s level. - Agreeing what an educational curricular should entail in light of the fore mentioned complexities may prove problematic and result in a plethora of titles with differing underpinning knowledge and skills and as such a worrying lack of consistency. - Aim - To develop a programme which meets the academic requirement offering a systematic understanding of knowledge and critical awareness within the field of advanced practice. - Objectives - Establish the knowledge and skills required to support advanced practice - To constructively align the students’ acquisition of knowledge and skill development within the curricular design - To support the development of a practitioner who can demonstrate safe, autonomous practice and problem solving skills in complex and unpredictable situations.