UNIVERSITY OF KENT
Annex C: Programme Specifications Template
Please note: This specification provides a concise summary of the main features of the programme and the learning outcomes that a typical student might reasonably be expected to achieve and demonstrate if he/she passes the programme.More detailed information on the learning outcomes, content and teaching, learning and assessment methods of each module can be found [either by following the links provided or in the programme handbook delete as applicable]. The accuracy of the information contained in this specification is reviewed by the University and may be checked by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education.Degree and Programme Title
PG Cert/PG Dip/MSc in Advanced and Specialist Healthcare (Supportive and Palliative Care)
PG Cert/PG Dip/MSc in Advanced and Specialist Healthcare (Applied Dental Professional Practice)
- Awarding Institution/Body
- Teaching Institution
Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust
- Teaching Site
4. Programme accredited by
5. Final Award / PG Cert/PG Dip/MSc in Advanced and Specialist Healthcare (Relevant Subject Specialty)
- Programme
PG Cert/PG Dip/MSc in Advanced and Specialist Healthcare (Applied Dental Professional Practice)
- UCAS Code (or other code)
- Relevant QAA subject benchmarking group(s)
Health Care Phase 1 & 2 benchmarks -
Dentistry (Undergraduate) - The Dentistry Subject Benchmark Statements have been taken into consideration in the writing of this programme to inform learning outcomes on the understanding that they strictly apply to Undergraduate programmes only.
- Date of production/revision
- Applicable cohort(s)
- Educational Aims of the Programme
The programmes aims to address the following in relation to each specialty:
- Foster the intellectual and professional development of experienced healthcare practitioners to extend and deepen the analytical and critical reasoning powers which underpin practice (e.g.in organisational leadership and change, health and welfare systems, organisations and services and advanced technical procedures and practices).
- Enhance the skills of experienced practitioners in multidisciplinary decision-making as well as leadership in teams and deepen understanding of the dynamics of multidisciplinary working.
- Provide supervision for advanced practitioner centred research that builds a culture of evaluation and enquiry into the practice environment.
- Equip experienced practitioners for their role in challenging, questioning and realigning strategies for specialist practice.
- Develop confident senior practitioners who are able to participate in the development of practice, work effectively with organisational interests, evidence-based processes, and within complex multidisciplinary teams.
- Enable practitioners to critically evaluate their own area of practice informed by evidence-based research and grounded in self-reflection
- Provide a culture of lifelong learning that values and respects practice as the context for building and testing theory to enhance services for patients /clients/ consumers/customers and their families.
- Enable experienced practitioners from a diverse range of educational backgrounds to access and participate in a multidisciplinary working environment.
- Support a programme of personal development that underpins practice development and personal planning.
- Programme Outcomes
Knowledge and Understanding / Teaching/learning and assessment methods and strategies used to enable outcomes to be achieved and demonstrated
A. Knowledge and Understanding of:
- Theories of reflective practice which will equip the learner in delivering quality services in health and social care settings.
Teaching and Learning will be selected from the following modes and methods:
Lecture series supported activities such as student led seminars; problem-based scenarios; role play, one to one tutorials, workshops, practical and clinical sessions, distance learning through the use of Moodle.
Leadership styles inventories and planning tools; multi-agency visits.
An action learning set where problem solving approaches are used including casework and co-consultancy. Students will work to relevant professional interest/issues, being client, task or work-based, using the experience to lead to greater mutual understanding of their role within the organisation.
Where applicable students will be encouraged to identify workplace mentors, line management support, and peer-support to identify relevant professional interests/issues, being subject and client or task setting based, using profession-specific knowledge to lead to greater mutual understanding of role and function of specialist area of practice.
Assessment:
Assessments will be made in the following ways: written assignments; project plan submission; oral presentations; course work assignments; seminar contribution;dissertation, contribution to online activity i.e. via Moodle, student forums
- Leadership styles to develop theory and skills appropriate to specialist areas of practice.
- Strategic decision-making in healthcare services and other health and social care and organisational settings.
- A specialist area of practice with emphasis on developing both the clinical skills and skills to evaluate quality and assess clinical or general practice.
- Critical analysis of models of care of patients, clients, service users, customers and consumers through evidence-based practice.
- The learning process of collaborative working in an area of specialist practice.
- Practice-based research and enquiry underpinned by concepts of patient/client assessment, such as critical analysis of medical, health and social care factors.
- Theory-building and theory-testing in professional practice including holistic factors such as health or disease, treatment and sociologic economic factors.
- Data Management and the main statistical principles and methods used in area of practice.
- The key ethical and legal principles governing area of practice.
Where applicable the individual programmes have the following additional Programme Learning outcomes:
PG Cert/PG Dip/MSc in Advanced and Specialist Healthcare (Supportive and Palliative Care):
- 1. A critical understanding of the concepts
- and models of supportive and palliative
- care and an ability to connect these to work place practice.
- 2. Critical understanding of the models of psychosocial care of people who are dying or facing progressive disease and an ability to apply these to work place practice.
PG Cert/PG Dip/MSc in Advanced and Specialist Healthcare (Applied Dental Professional Practice):
- A critical understanding of the principles and models of dental care provision and an ability to connect these to individual work place practice. (AD1 in Mapping)
- A critical understanding of the professional aspects of the dental professional practice and the importance of continuous education, training and development. (AD2 in Mapping)
Skills and Other Attributes
B. Intellectual Skills:
- Demonstrate critical and analytical reasoning to review and analyse contemporary practice.
Teaching and Learning will be selected from the following modes and methods:
Analysis of problem-based scenarios; presentation of seminar papers; critical group debate; work-based learning contract with agreed outcomes; supervision, portfolio formation with individualised personal planning (i.e. production of a personal and professional portfolio of learning goals and within this personal planning linking theory to practice); lectures and guidance on research project design; data collection and analysis; group work on research ethics and professional practical issues; practice symposium, allowing students from across pathways to demonstrate how they have put theory into practice.
Assessment:
Assessments will be made in the following ways: written assignment; project plan submission; oral presentations; course work assignments; seminar contribution; dissertation.
- Prepare and present clearly reasoned and justified argument in securing practice change and development.
- Apply work-based learning to demonstrably enhance services.
- Develop a comprehensive professional portfolio that identifies the utility of intellectual skills in practice.
- Design and implement a programme of practice-based enquiry.
- Collect and analyse data from practice to inform evidence-based enquiry including the statistical analysis of data.
- Undertake and report ethical analysis of practice research project-plans.
- Understand the importance to professionalism of positive critique, response to feedback and reflective practice.
C. Subject-specific Skills:
- Demonstrate effective engagement in team working appropriate to workplace.
- Demonstrate an in-depth understanding of change management in healthcare services/ practice.
- Develop new roles that support the interface between the strategic aims of service and practice.
- Present and argue an evidence based case for service change and development.
Where applicable the individual programmes have the following additional subject specific skills:
PG Cert/PG Dip/MSc in Advanced and Specialist Healthcare (Supportive and Palliative Care):
- An ability to identify ethical issues in support of the care of patients and the support of their families/carers and work towards resolution of ethical dilemmas employing inter-professional resources, including personnel
- An ability to communicate effectively and an awareness of the issues in communication with people with complex and advanced disease.
PG Cert/PG Dip/MSc in Advanced and Specialist Healthcare (Applied Dental Professional Practice):
- The ability to carry out ethical professional practice within a dental workplace setting. (CD1 in Mapping)
- To maintain professional practice and support the development of those who are less experienced. (CD 2 in Mapping)
D. Transferable Skills:
1. Enable acquisition of skills of evaluation and enquiry that support the practitioner in making a contribution to professional knowledge in their subject field. / Teaching and Learning:
IT and training will be provided by library staff; study skills (delivered through UELT).
Assessment:
Assessments will be made by oral presentations; coursework; seminar contribution.
2. Ability to design and implementation of a research programme with a clear analysis of the outcomes and recommendations for future action.
3. Clear and detailed reporting and accounting for the implementation and outcomes of an applied development project.
4. Skilled utilisation of action learning set approaches to solve problems and identify solutions.
5. Effective use of work-based learning to establish a future personal plan within the context of lifelong professional development.
6. Use of supervision to inform and enhance learning approaches in the workplace.
7. To communicate with clarity in academic settings and in professional / work place settings.
8. Show evidence of critical self-reflection and the ability to enhance professional competence on the basis of feedback.
For more information on which modules provide which skills, see the module mapping
- Programme Structures and Requirements, Levels, Modules, Credits and Awards
This PG Cert/PG Diploma/MSc in Advanced and Specialist Healthcare provides clinical and non-clinical healthcare staff with a flexible postgraduate qualification designed to meet their personal and professional needs. It will enable professionals to augment and evaluate the evidence base for their practice in order to improve practice and raise standards generally.
The principles that inform the programme are as follows:
- An action-based, problem-solving approach to learning, combined with the reality of practice, which will provide the appropriate stimulus and framework for learning.
- The key to learning is through inquiry, reflection, evaluation and research.
- An emphasis on the integration of theory and practice in order that learners structure concepts when thinking and making professional judgements in their practice.
Programme Structure
The PG Cert/PGDiploma/MSc in Advanced and Specialist Healthcare programme is part-time and studied over a minimum oftwo, or more usually over 3 years (one stage of 60 credits per academic year)or up to fiveacademic years (for S&P Care pathway).
The programme is multidisciplinary and there are opportunities for students from across a variety of disciplines to study together and share practice through Compulsory modules. There are four pathways within the award each comprising compulsory modules and compulsory or optional modules specific to each pathway .The pathways are as follows:
- PG Cert/PG Dip/MSc in Advanced and Specialist Healthcare (Supportive and Palliative Care). This programme will usually be completed in3 yearsbut students may seek to take longer (5 years option). S&P Care students will register for the PG Certificate and then on successful completion register for the PG Diploma and on successful completion register for the MSc (all subject to availability). S&P Care students are expected to complete a minimum of 30 credits in any one academic year. Students may negotiate on an individual basis to complete the qualification over 3 years with approval from the Programme Director.
- PG Cert/PG Dip/MSc in Advanced and Specialist Healthcare (Applied Dental Professional Practice). Usually completed in 3 years including dissertation.
Core Teaching
Teaching on the generic sections of the compulsory modules will be shared between the Pathway Directors, and Centre for Professional Practice staff with appropriate experience.
The following is required with regard to the Compulsory Modules:
- To complete the MSc allfour compulsorymodules (WL 830, WL 840 (or WL 814), WL 831 (or WL 817) and WL899(or WL 816) must be completed.
- To complete the Postgraduate Diploma at least three compulsorymodules (WL 830, WL 840 (or WL 814), WL 831(or WL 817) must be completed.
- To complete the Postgraduate Certificateat least two or three compulsory modules must be completed (WL 830, WL 840 (or WL 814), WL 831 (or WL 817) depending on the pathway.
Whilst students will study together on compulsory modules, learning from the compulsorywill be contextualised to the students own specialty with subject specific teaching. In addition assignments will reflect a student’s own specialty.
Learning and Teaching
The learning and teaching strategy of the programme is one that values the students existing knowledge and experience. Students are encouraged to be independent self-managed learners who constantly apply new knowledge to their practice setting.
The programme includes a variety of learning activities depending upon the modules studied such as small group work, seminars, one-to-one tutorials, workshops, practical/clinical sessions and distance learning through the use of the University’s Moodle system. The compulsorymodules are designed to enable students from across each of the programme pathways to study together as well as in their pathway group.
Assessment
The assessment strategies for the programmes within the PG Cert/PG Dip/MSc Advanced and Specialist Healthcare framework are designed to support the development of academic and professional practice. Participants will be expected to show novel and fresh approaches in their application of knowledge to their practice. The assessment methods used are designed to show the depth and breadth of experiential knowledge and the relation this has to participant’s professional practice.
Some modules that include practical clinical skills may require practical demonstration of skills and knowledge.
Completion of the MSc
The programme has been developed to suit the individual professional needs of a variety of health care professions and as such the different pathways, and time taken to complete a particular pathway, is also reflective of professional requirements. However, it is necessary to note that University Credit Framework Section 5.1 and 5.2
which specifically details that, in order to remain eligible for an award of MSc, the maximum time a student must complete their programme of study within is: PG Certificate 4 years, PG Diploma 6 years and Masters Degree 6 years. These time limits include any periods of intermission and any period of time in which a student is repeating part of the programme of study and apply to both full time and part time students. Programme specifications specify the normal period of time over which the programme will be completed.
Any student failing to complete their programme of study within these time limits will be in eligible for an award of MSc.
Stage 1 Postgraduate Certificate: In Stage 1 students undertake compulsorymodules plus modules specific to each programme pathway totalling 60 M level credits. The compulsorymodules are designed to include general and subject specific teaching and learning.
Students who successfully complete Stage 1 of the programme and meet the credit framework requirements but exit after Stage 1 or do not successfully complete Stage 2 will be eligible for the award of PG Certificate.
Supportive and Palliative Care 5 Year Pathway - students will complete 30 credits in one academic year or periods of annual registration and take two years or two periods of annual registration to complete Stage 1 of the PG Certificate before registering to progress onto the PG Diploma (subject to availability).
Stage 2 Postgraduate Diploma: In Stage 2 students undertake compulsorymodules appropriate to the pathway plus optional modules specific to each programme pathway totalling 60 M level credits. The compulsorymodules are designed to include general and subject specific teaching and learning.
Students who successfully complete Stage 2 of the programme and meet the credit framework requirements but exit after Stage 2 or do not successfully complete Stage 3 will be eligible for the award of PG Diploma.
Supportive and Palliative Care 5 Year Pathway - students will complete 30 credits in one academic year or period of annual registration and take two years (or periods of annual registration) to successfully complete Stage 2 of the PG Diploma before registering to progress onto Stage 3 the MSc (subject to availability).
Stage 3 MSc:
In Stage 3 students undertake a compulsory module of 60 level M credits. Students who successfully complete Stage 3 of the Programme meet the requirements of the University’s credit framework, will be eligible for the award of:
- MSc in Advanced and Specialist Healthcare (Supportive and Palliative Care)
- MSc in Advanced and Specialist Healthcare (Applied Dental Professional Practice)
The combined detail of the total programme is outlined below. The specific detail for individual pathways are detailed below:
- Supportive and Palliative Care (5 years) – Fig 1
- Supportive and Palliative Care (3 years) – Fig 2
- Applied Dental Professional Practice – Fig 4
Fig 1