About Course
Course Overview
Are you ready to take your nursing career to the next stage? This master’s level course will build on your skills and experience in district nursing, to deepen your practice, and give you the leadership capabilities you need to excel in this field.
Deepen your knowledge and skills
Approved by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), the course covers all the key areas of contemporary district nursing practice, from mental health across the lifespan and long-term conditions, to effective caseload management and self care. Honing your critical thinking and leadership skills, you will learn to make better decisions, and be well equipped to lead large teams of nurses effectively in caring for patients in their own homes. You will also learn to take a more strategic view of community healthcare provision, drawing on the latest research, ideas and policy – as well as carrying out your own piece of research.
One of the few places to study this
Highly regarded by students and practice partners for our teaching in this area, Bucks has a strong reputation for its district nurse training. You will work with highly skilled academics, who have worked in the community – and spend 50% of your time in practice yourself, consolidating and deepening your understanding and skills.
Who is it for?
This course is for qualified nurses with a postgraduate diploma in nursing. You will be sponsored by a health organisation or trust and achieve a master’s, while gaining advanced skills and knowledge in an area of community nursing you want to specialise in.
Course Details
This course covers all the areas needed to meet the NMC professional requirements for district nurses. By the end of the course, you will be able to:
- Understand the complexities of working in a community setting
- Better appreciate strategic influences on policy
- Take a critical approach to nursing care in the community, with a strong emphasis on providing holistic, evidence-based care to patients in their homes
- Analyse how decisions about care are made, drawing on relevant research
- Work at the forefront of caring for patients with a range of healthcare needs.
Flexible, practice-based learning
The course makes use of a range of flexible learning and assessment approaches, to ensure you learn in the way that suits you best. We will be looking, in particular, at how well you apply the theory to your own nursing and leadership practice. You will benefit from strong support throughout, with personal and link tutors at the university, and a practice teacher supporting you to learn in your trust.
As well as spending half your time in practice, case study-type simulations will allow you to explore the kind of issues you will face as a district nurse. You will also work closely with students from other community nursing courses at Bucks, building your experience of working in a multi-professional way. We will give you the support you need to complete your dissertation while you work in the field. The course will cover the whole research process from ethics approval to writing your final report – and you will investigate a topic important to your workplace.
By the end of the course, you will have developed the higher level of skills and knowledge you need to become a leader in this specialist field of nursing. Your e-portfolio will provide evidence of this, to validate your learning with the NMC