About this program

The Master of Advanced Practice program allows the opportunity for one nursing postgraduate program to incorporate a number of specialty strands. These strands include:

• Acute Care Nursing
• Community and Primary Health Care
• Critical Care Nursing
• Emergency Nursing
• Gerontological Nursing
• Health Care Research
• Infection Control and Prevention
• Mental Health Nursing
• Palliative Care
• Sexual Health
• Unspecialised Strand

This program title and structure takes into account the current national and international trend for postgraduate nursing programs to be titled as programs of advanced practice and for such programs to develop nursing competence, skills and knowledge in assessment, planning, implementation, diagnosis and evaluation of care from a specialist or generalist capacity. The specialty undertaken will be indicated in parenthesis. This takes into account industrial agreements which require that nursing qualifications be listed on the official testamur for nurses to receive an additional certificate allowance.

This program has been designed to meet the core skill requirements of the advanced nurse practitioner and allows the opportunity for professional competencies as developed by the specialist groups to be used to assess competence and commitment of students.

The following exit points (from the masters program) will be available upon successful completion of prescribed specialty strand courses:

• Graduate Certificate in Acute Care Nursing
• Graduate Certificate in Community and Primary Health Care
• Graduate Certificate in Critical Care Nursing
• Graduate Certificate in Emergency Nursing
• Graduate Certificate in Gerontological Nursing
• Graduate Certificate in Infection Control and Prevention
• Graduate Certificate in Mental Health Nursing
• Graduate Certificate in Palliative Care
• Graduate Certificate in Sexual Health

Attendance

This program is offered full-time and part-time, on-campus and off-campus. For part-time, on-campus students, sufficient classes are timetabled in the evening to allow students in full-time employment to undertake the program on a part-time basis. Students undertaking the program by full-time study may be required to attend some evening classes.

Program resources may be available via the internet.

Professional recognition

The Master of Advanced Practice (Mental Health Nursing) receives endorsement with the Queensland Nursing Council (QNC). Council accreditation for this program is currently being sought.

The specialty course 8914NRS [Sexual Health Practice] is the new title for an accredited course with the Queensland Nursing Council. Registered nurses who successfully complete this speciality course are eligible to apply for Drug Therapy Protocol - Sexual and Reproductive Health endorsement with the QNC.

At this point, no other strands within the Master of Advanced Practice require QNC accreditation.

Career opportunities

On successful completion of this program, graduates will be recognised for their expertise and ability to apply multi-disciplinary knowledge and skills in nursing and/or health, and will have the ability to analyse, critique and synthesise advanced practice in nursing and/or health. They will possess high levels of skill in the following:

• Oral and written communication, developed through essays, debates and presentations
• Problem-solving, analysis and critical evaluation developed through literature analyses, case studies, clinical challenges and examinations
• Information literacy developed through reviews of the literature, research and web quests, application of IT software
• Leadership, team work and decision making developed through a core course
• Ethical standards developed through tutorials, clinical challenges and examinations, and exploration of the research process
• In addition students will possess advanced skills in their clinical specialisation, skills of engagement and awareness-raising

Graduates undertaking the research pathway will have a well-founded research skills training. In addition, through their research dissertation, they will demonstrate an ability to identify, structure and undertake research that expands the body of knowledge about a particular aspect of nursing or health.