Specialist Community Public Health Nursing - Health Visiting MSc

Program Overview

This Master's program in Health and Social Care Practice provides practical support for professionals undertaking quality improvement or service evaluations. It combines theoretical knowledge with hands-on practice, integrating real-world case studies and presentations from experienced practitioners. The program emphasizes engagement and collaboration, fostering a supportive learning environment where students can share knowledge and challenge each other's improvement efforts.

Program Outline

Degree Overview:

This Master’s degree offers practical support to health and social care practitioners undertaking quality improvement or service evaluations. The course is designed to support ‘live’ improvement projects and service evaluations. It appreciates the dynamic and complex environment of contemporary service provision, and includes real case studies and presentations from experienced people with a track record of delivery in quality improvement and service evaluation. The underpinning philosophy is that of engagement – ‘all share, all learn’ – and therefore the course provides opportunities for students to learn, support and challenge each other in their improvement efforts. The course is 50% theory and 50% practice and this is integrated across the duration of the course. You will undertake the theoretical component in the University, and undertake the practice component in a community setting under the supervision of a qualified Practice Assessor and Practice Supervisor from the defined area of practice.

Outline:

Year 1

Compulsory Modules:

• Dissertation: Includes literature review, knowledge of databases and other sources, searching, locating, reading, summarizing, critically appraising, organizing and synthesizing themes, identification of potential issues/problems, finding connections, formulation and testing of hypotheses, research designs, research methods, sampling, reliability and validity, philosophical and methodological underpinnings, critical thinking, problem solving, logical development, data analysis, research design, strengths and limitations, ethical frameworks, constraints, data protection, ethical approval, human rights, Helsinki declaration, logical structure, research process, project planning with time frames, alignment of research design and processes to research question, interpretation of data, developing insights, validity and reliability, limitations of study, critical reflection on process, critical thinking skills, project management and review, knowledge transfer, justification of recommendations and conclusions based on findings, strengths and limitations of study, dissemination e.g.
seminars, workshops, conferences. Writing for publication.
• Leadership, Innovation and Enterprise in Public Health: Includes frameworks of analysis, values, beliefs, attitudes, self-awareness, personal motivation, mind mapping and personal action planning, and developing a vision for future direction, reflective practice, sources of expertise in practice, action learning techniques, NHS Leadership academy, 360° leadership assessment, theories and models of leadership and management, including situational, transformational and transactional leadership styles, the impact of reorganisation of health and social care services, including the influences of policy and organisational culture, change management theory, tools for analysing change e.g.
force field analysis, drivers and levers of change, project management skills designed, for example, to achieve specific developments innovations and improvements in organisational systems, or in the health and wellbeing of the population, working across organisational boundaries, formulating bids for service development, and economic influences on service provision including commissioning and the development of social enterprise, patient/client/service user participation models, advocacy, empowerment and partnership working, leadership at the point of care, team analysis across agencies and disciplines including team development, team leadership, team participation, and implementation of change relative to partnership working and health and wellbeing, Belbin’s team role analysis, business planning, managing conflict in teams, development of specific roles and responsibilities in practice including accountability, delegation and conflict resolution techniques, time management, influencing and negotiating skills and conflict resolution with key stakeholders and agencies, budget management, staff discipline issues, investigating and managing complaints.
• Advanced SCPHN Practice Learning Skills Portfolio: Includes reflection, continuous assessment and evaluation, academic writing and presentation skills, personal awareness, professionalism, confidence and competence, advanced communication skills, relationships and social networks, measuring impact and enhancing the client experience, brief interventions and behaviour management/ early intervention, and health promoting strategies in line with pathway specific for specialist community public health nursing, completion and assessment of the practice learning portfolio to demonstrate application of theory to practice by addressing specialist community public health nursing health domains and principles, demonstrating achievement of competence and professional development through formative and summative assessment.
• Health Improvement and Wellbeing for Public Health: Includes theoretical definitions and concepts of public health, health improvement and wellbeing, emerging public health themes, key policies and strategies in place that influence the health improvement and wellbeing agenda, including global and national policies and research, understanding epidemiology, application of epidemiological evidence at national and local policy levels, to include utilisation of data in the assessment and identification of need, how health inequalities and challenges to health and wellbeing of populations, communities and individuals are determined, measured and evaluated, the concept of social justice, commissioning processes and impact on health improvement and wellbeing, knowledge of the commissioning cycle, the short- and long-term challenges to improving health and wellbeing, and reducing health and social inequalities, the commissioning cycle including the identification and assessment of need, planning, and implementing and evaluating health and wellbeing strategies and outcomes in terms of health gain and the effective use of resources, utilisation of health impact assessment strategies, stakeholders and partnership roles, understanding the complex roles that stakeholders play in relation to strategic planning in partnership with service users, statutory and voluntary agencies, and the private sector in improving health and wellbeing, understanding how communities are developed and sustained in relation to individuals and populations, and their role in reducing inequalities within a diverse and multicultural society, knowledge of engagement, empowerment and advocacy approaches in relation to community development will be explored, skills in health improvement and wellbeing, assessing, planning, implementing and evaluating public health, health promoting and prevention programmes at strategic and local levels, includes lifespan approaches, working with the media.
• Research in Community Practice: Includes research and professional practice, evidence-based practice, benchmarking, audit, evaluation, practice development and research, research methodologies, key concepts and issues in social and behavioural research, research topics and research questions, answering questions with data, validity and reliability of data, qualitative and quantitative data, description, exploration, finding connections, formulating and testing hypotheses, populations and sampling, phenomenology and positivism, research traditions and designs, ethnography, survey, experiment, mixed method, research process, gathering and analysing data, observation, questionnaires, interviews, psycho-bio-metrics, data analysis and drawing conclusions, literature review, searching, locating, reading and summarising, reviewing and critiquing, organising, synthesising, and using the literature, preparing the research proposal, identifying research questions for chosen topic, designing a study to address the questions, data gathering and recording, data analysis, considering alternative approaches, critical analysis of alternative methods of research to the chosen approach, ethical frameworks, constraints, data protection, confidentiality, human rights, Helsinki declaration.
• Therapeutic Practice and Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups: Includes theories of therapeutic practice, definitions and concepts of safeguarding and vulnerability within international, national and local policy frameworks, impact of social exclusion on diversity and equity, tackling stigma and promoting social inclusion, including sexuality, gender, disability, ageism and race, the interpretation and impact of diversity and inequality, and their relation to vulnerability, decision-making skills, developing communication strategies with a range of vulnerable groups across diverse populations, promoting social inclusion, engagement with vulnerable groups including early identification and solution-focused intervention, effective prevention strategies, empowerment and evaluation, mechanisms and strategies for the appropriate escalation of concerns.
• Advanced Work Related Professional Skills: Includes negotiation of tripartite agreement of learning experience(s) based on in-service staff development activities cited in the agreement, specific content will relate to area of practice stated within the tripartite agreement, generic content areas will include critical analysis and interpretation, critical reflection, evaluation and assessment, critical self evaluation and personal awareness, strategy and policy development, multi-disciplinary working, professional accountability.

Assessment:

Examples of assessment methods include written assignments, exams, presentations and portfolios.

Teaching:

Teaching methods include classroom contact, seminars and tutorial sessions, which can be individually led or within group context. Placement clusters feature as part of the course, as does study time.

Careers:

This course prepares you to work as a registered nurse in the field of Adult Nursing and allows you to register with the NMC (an internationally recognised regulator for nursing). You will be able to work in a range of healthcare settings as a Band 5 nurse.

Other:

It is essential that you have a clean driving licence, and that you have access to a car for travelling and work purposes within practice. Health Education England provide financial support for travel to clinical placements.