Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences

SCHOOL OF HEALTH SCIENCES

FACULTY OF MEDICINE AND HEALTH SCIENCES

VOLUME A

STUDENT HANDBOOK

CURRICULUM FRAMEWORK

Contents

SECTION 1 - introduction

1.1Structure of the Documents

1.2Background and context to approval and validation

1.3Curriculum Development Process

Section 2

2.1 Core Curriculum Beliefs and Values

2.2 Aims of the Programme

2.3 Learning Outcomes of the Programme

section 3

3.1 Admission Processes

Entry Requirements

Students for whom English is a Foreign language

Special Entry Requirements : APL

Interviews

3.2 Accreditation of Prior Learning (APL)

section 4

4.1Curriculum Framework

Table 1: Distribution of Study Themes over the 4 Modules

Diagram 1: Bronfenbrenner’s Bio-Ecological Model

Worked Example: Masters Module 1 - Promoting Community Health and Well Being

Table 2: Module Overview of the Programme

Table 3: Distribution of Curriculum Hours

Table 4: Module Outlines

Table 5: Example of Working Weeks in Theory for Each Year of the Programme

4.2Teaching and Learning Strategy

4.3 Inter-professional Learning

4.4Practice Learning Opportunities within the Programme

4.5 Preparation of Mentors for the Teaching, Learning and Assessment in Practice

SECTION 5 – OVERVIEW OF PROGRAMME ASSESSMENT STRATEGY

5.1 Principles

5.2 The Use of Formative Assessment

Table 6 - Summary of MSc Adult Nursing Summative Assessment Scheme

Worked Example of Integration of Formative and Summative Assessment – Medicines Management

5.3 Summative Assessment

5.4 Grading of Assessment Components and Classification of the Final Award

5.5 The MSc Summative Assessment Weighting

5.6 Progression

section 6 – student support and guidance

Section 7 – learning resources

section 8

8.1 Quality Management and Enhancement

8.2Evaluation Strategy

section 9 - references

SECTION 1 - introduction

1.1Structure of the Documents

Volume A: Outlines the educational principles and rationale that underpin the programme. In addition, it presents an overview of the programme, in the form of a curriculum framework.

Volume B:The curriculum is offered as one programme with four modulesthat must be undertaken by students, and the details of these are contained within the programme specification.

Volume C: Mapping of NMC competencies, curriculum learning outcomes and QAA benchmark statements.

Volume D: Student handbook for theMSc Adult Nursing programme

Volume E:Student guidelines for summative assessment and appendices, which include portfolio requirements, and practice assessment documents.

Volume F: Skill Development Profile.

Volume G: Core Handbook for Pre-Registration Nursing, Midwifery, Operating Department Practitioners and Paramedics.

Volume H: Provides information related to School strategies and polices along with key documents used within the pre-registration nursing programmes. This document aims to illustrate the wider School structures which support these programmes.

Volume I: Curriculum vitae of key personnel involved in the programme.

Volume J: APL. These documents provide details of the processes and procedures linked to the Accreditation of Prior Learning for entry to the MSc Adult Nursing- pre-registration programme.

1.2Background and context to approval and validation

BACKGROUND

The proposed MSc Adult Nursing programme is designed to be a derivative of the current BSc (Hons) Nursing – Adult programme(which was validated by the UEA and approved by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) in 2011), with revised module learning outcomes and assessments appropriate to level 7 (Masters) study. In line with the current BSc programme, the MSc pathway will continue to meet the NMC Standard for Pre-Registration Nursing Education.

RATIONALE

The proposed programme is the result of on-going discussions between the School of Health Sciences at UEA (formerly the Schools of Nursing Sciences, and Rehabilitation Sciences) with Health Education East of England (HEEoE). As part of their education strategy for the eastern region, HEEoE want to ensure ‘the right numbers of registered nurses with the right skills, knowledge, confidence and competence to provide high quality nursing in a range of settings’. By offering an accelerated, 2 year, Master’s level, pre-registration route we will be providing the adult nursing workforce with additional graduates who not only meet all the requirements for the NMC Standards for Pre-Registration Nursing Education but, by virtue of completing a level 7 programme of study, will also have enhanced research and leadership capabilities, as well as increased employability potential to enable them to take lead roles in new health care services and organisations.

PROPOSAL

The proposed modification aims to make most efficient and effective use of our existing pre-registration provision by providing an accelerated, 2 year Masters route as a derivative of the existing BSc (Hons) Adult Nursing programme. Currently the BSc programme has an intake in September and in January each year. We propose that students enrolled on the MSc pathway will begin alongside the BSc (Hons) Adult Nursing year two cohort in January. This will allow MSc students to benefit from shared learning events with the BSc students: lectures, clinical skills teaching, and seminars. In addition the MSc students will have bespoke Enquiry Based Learning (EBL) sessions and additional workshops to ensure level 7 outcomes are met. In order to fulfil the NMC requirement that on completion of the programme of study students must be able to evidence 4,600 hours of theory and practice learning (with 2,300 hours are allocated to ‘theory’ and 2,300 hours to practice), the proposed MSc will use the School’s current APL mechanisms to recognise achievement of existing BSc (Hons) Nursing, year 1outcomes.

The programme meets the UEA and HSC strategic objectives to work in partnership to improve the quality of health care through our education and research via curricula that are research informed, challenging and innovative and are at the forefront of practice. Health Education East of England approached us to provide this course, and have thus commissioned this programme. The rationale is:

1. To work in partnership and to respond to the request for this course from NHS commissioners- an opportunity which we have influenced prompted by our reputation as a quality provider
2. To provide graduate nurses into the workforce in two years (compared with a BSc programme of 3 years), to support the need for more nurses in a more timely time frame. There is currently a shortage of adult nurses to meet planned workforce requirements in the UK and the East of England.
3. To expand MSc preregistration provision in the school in keeping with a leading School of Health Sciences and the school’s aspirant Key Performance Indicators
4. To generate educational provision diversity to the current contracts in place
5. To capitalise on existing infrastructure ( existing BSc pre-registration programme) and expertise by offering a quality local postgraduate provision for nursing (see below)
6. To align with competitor institutions who already have or will be providing similar two year programmes.

Programme design will explicitly incorporate leadership and entrepreneurial abilities over and above the QAA/NMC requirements – this will enable graduates of this programme to not only be successful as registered nurses but to provide the highest quality of care and be future leaders within their profession.

The curriculum will offer a range of educational methods including enquiry-based learning (EBL), workshop simulations/scenario work, teaching of essential clinical skills, decision-making, evidence-based practice, research and leadership skills, student led learning and workshops, lectures/flipped lectures, workbooks and flexible learning together with a range of inter-professional learning experiences. The programme will run over 2 years, each comprising a 45 week year arranged over 2 semesters with placement learning experiences integrated across the whole programme.

Enhanced Employability Options:

The programme is aimed at highly motivated graduates who wish to change careers or who are now considering nursing as a career and have leadership and research capability.

The programme specifically includes leadership and management, service improvement, research consumerism, entrepreneurship and public health and addresses key population and demographic requirements (older people with frailty, contemporary care for people with long-term conditions and complex morbidities) to enhance employability and employment options beyond the traditional acute hospital graduate employment. The adult nursing workforce will profit from graduates who are professional and have research and leadership capabilities to enhance the professionalisation of nursing to work in specialist primary and secondary care settings as well as other settings in social care, education, prisons, the armed forces, school nursing, charities in the UK and abroad and to take lead roles in new health care services and organisations.

As well as employment opportunities within acute and community NHS Trusts, nurses can be employed within private, charitable and voluntary sector services, industry, education, management and leadership, research, armed forces, school nursing, prisons and public health. This course will enable graduates of the programme to be employed in a range of areas and to gain further experience and specialism according to their interests and in line with some of the key population health needs – including supporting older people with frailty and complex needs, public health and primary care and as early career clinical researchers This innovative accelerated programme enables graduates to develop their personal, professional and interpersonal skills and values as well as providing a robust legal, ethical and science foundation for future practice.

We already have BSc programmes in nursing: all fields (adult nursing, mental health nursing, children’s nursing and learning disabilities nursing) as well as other healthcare programmes in occupational therapy, physiotherapy, speech and language therapy, midwifery, paramedics and ODP (DipHE). There are already two year preregistration programmes in occupational therapy and physiotherapy and thus we have expertise in the school for developing and running MScs in preregistration programmes and can thereby design in some economies of scale and engineer some important and valued inter-professional elements.

There is already a great deal of expertise and experience of APL on the preregistration BSc programmes in nursing, which will be required for this proposed MSc programme.

Healthcare is becoming increasingly complex and challenging and registered nursesneed to exercise advancedclinical reasoning, to work more autonomouslyand in a range of nurse-led settings demonstrating compassionate and technical competence as well as the ability to continuously improve and develop their practice. ‘High Quality Care for All’ (DH, 2008), ‘Transforming Community Services’, (DH, 2009), ‘Equity and Excellence: Liberating the NHS’ (DH, 2010a; 2010c) and ‘Healthy Lives, Healthy People’ (DH, 2010b) set key vision and direction for the challenging ambition of putting quality, effectiveness and the patient experience at the heart of health care delivery, balancing meeting the needs of people with complex and long-term needs with a preventative and public health agenda. Registered nurses will be working within a healthcare economy where flexibility, lean, effective working and innovative solutions to support providing high quality care which is good value for money are crucial.

Government initiatives such as Quality Innovation Productivity and Prevention make it clear that the nurse needs to be highly skilled, interpersonally effective and to exercise leadership. The curriculum detailed in the following documents reflects the key priorities and direction of healthcare service delivery and being responsive to the challenges and complexities of contemporary health care practice. It is acknowledged that currently there is a shortage of nurses with the right skills and competences and this is a challenge facing the NHS. Therefore the proposed MSc Adult Nursing programme aims/seeks to address these shortages by expanding our courses to offer a fast track 2 year graduate entry nursing programme.We recognise the continuing importance of attracting and retaining applications from potential students from diverse backgrounds with existing degrees and relevant prior experience who will be able to transfer this skill set and added value to nursing. This is an exciting opportunity for HSC to develop their profile of nursing courses that has the potential to enhance the professionalism of nursing and produce high calibre nurses who will ‘be fit for purpose and fit for practice’.

HSChas been highly rated for the excellence of its provision by the HPC and NMC as well as the East of England Strategic Health Authority (EoESHA), particularly in the areas of partnership working, inter-professional learning and quality processes. The School is pleased also to have shown a high ranking by being top 5 in the UK for Nursing( Complete University Guide 2016) The UEA has been rated as 6th for overall student satisfaction (Times Higher Education Student Experience Survey 2014) and is a World Top 100 University ( Leiden Ranking 2014)

HSC, alongside the Norwich Medical School,, forms part of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences. As well as being evaluated as a leading provider of high quality pre- and post-registration education, the School and Faculty have a proven track record in making a significant contribution to improving the evidence base to support health care delivery, service improvement, leadership and innovation through engagement, enterprise, research and consultancy.

The Faculty reflects an ethos of inter-and intra-professional working and there are robust and active partnerships with local service partners in the areas of student recruitment, teaching, learning and evidence-based developments. It is within this collaborative dynamic that this new pre-registration curriculum has been developed.

The programme described in the following documents build on curriculum development experience relating to previously validated pre-registration nursing programmes. The most recent of these in 2011 incorporated a new partnership arrangement between HSC within the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (UEA).

1.3Curriculum Development Process

1The modified curriculum development process has been led by the MSc Course Director in conjunction with the following:

• Module Leads;
• Academic Lead (Practice Education);
• Academic Lead (Assessment);
• Associate Dean for Admissions;
• HSC Teaching Director;
• Learning and Teaching Service Co-ordinator;
• HSC Service User Group.

2The curriculum was developed from the Standards for Pre-registration nursing education (NMC 2010). The learning outcomes have been aligned with the teaching and assessment strategy and reflects the University’s Regulations for Bachelors and Integrated Masters Awards (UEA 2014)

(New Academic Model). (See Volume H)H)

3The curriculum has been developed with strong service-user engagement to encompass their vision of a rapidly changing NHS. The School has a lead for service user/carer involvement who has been consulted throughout the development.

4The developmental process was informed by a critical review of the following:

• Nursing and Midwifery Council Standards for Pre-registration nursing education (NMC 2010);
• Nursing and Midwifery Council Advice and guidance for implementing NMC standards for the Pre-registration nursing education (NMC 2010);
• Quality Code for Higher Education. Part A : Setting and Maintaining Academic Standards (QAA 2010)
• Masters Degree Characteristics (QAA 2010)
• Quality Assurance Framework (NMC 2014a);
• The NHS Constitution (DH 2013);
• Compassion in Practice: Nursing Midwifery and Care Staff. Our Strategy (DH 2012a).

The continuing evolution, implementation and management of the MSc derivative will be characterised by an inclusive partnership approach which values the views of the stakeholders, service users and carers and actively seeks to address their requirements and incorporate their visions of a rapidly changing NHS. The priorities for service user involvement are recruitment and selection, programme delivery including assessment and programme development and management.

Throughout the programme development HSC have consulted widely via:

• Stakeholder events and presentations , for example invitation of key stakeholders to present MSc adult nursing programme with them and arrange ongoing dialogue to work collaboratively with them on curriculum design and input
• Ongoing dialogue with External Examiner
• Involvement of the Staff-student liaison committee in the early stages of the proposal development
• Dialogue with Directors of Nursing and senior nursing groups
• Feedback on draft curriculum documents from critical readers.
• Dialogue with mentorship lead HSC and feedbackfrom mentor update sessions.

The above have informed the development of this programme. In addition, the programme team’s experiences of developing and managing the current three year pre-registration nursing programme has led to the incorporation of a number of the successful elements into this curriculum.

The curriculum presented for desktop approval and validation is a derivative of the BSc adult nursing programme and builds on the firm foundation of this programme recognising present strengths, but recognising new opportunities and key elements needed to meet the new NMC standards and requirements of the future.

Key elements incorporated from the current BSc programme:

As a modification to the existing BSc programme the MSc programme continues to make use of key elements

• Regular practice learning opportunities from the outset of the programme to facilitate the integration of theory and practice
• Acontinued value placed on service users and carers’ input into the programme
• Inter-professional teaching and learning
• A strong and early emphasis on the acquisition ofessential nursing skills
• Assessment strategy that is valid and reliable across all nursing programmes and also consistent with other programmes within the School
• A focus on intra-assessor and inter-assessor reliability, particularly for the assessment of practice
• Retention of the student Ongoing Achievement Record via the student assessment of practice documentation and Skill Development Profile but will be modified to reflect the APL requirements to meet NMC Progression Point 1 requirements
• Practice documentation reflecting the need for a Sign-Off Mentor at the end of the programme

Features of this programme