MSc Mental Health Nursing

at Bournemouth University

Year 1

Core units:
 

• Applied Health Care Sciences 2: During this unit you will analyse the impact of challenges to physical and mental health and wellbeing in individuals and groups across their lifespan. You’ll also examine biological, psychological, sociological and social factors that impact on diseases that affect both physical and mental health, applying this to the assessment, management and evaluation of care for individuals and groups.

• Clinical Pharmacology and Medicines Management: You’ll learn how to apply your understanding of clinical pharmacology and medicines management as part of health care management, in the context of relevant regulatory frameworks.

• Foundations of Nursing: This unit will introduce you to the theoretical foundations of nursing by examining philosophical, methodological and political and legislative processes that inform the practice of nursing. You’ll gain knowledge of the core values that underpin the different fields of nursing and to discuss how those core values can be used to promote person-centred care through the process of care planning and professional evidence-based practice. 

• Meeting Acute and Long Term Health Challenges: This unit will develop your knowledge and understanding of the nursing management and co-ordination of health care which is necessary for managing patients with acute and long term health challenges.

• Making Improvements of Safety and Quality of Care: You’ll gain the knowledge and understanding required to promote and contribute to maintaining service user/patient safety and engage in risk management in clinical practice. You’ll also explore strategies for quality improvement and awareness of legislation, national and international frameworks to promote quality of care.

• Principles of Enquiry and Evidence-Based Practice in Health and Social Care: Research is increasingly regarded as essential for practitioners in health and social care professions as a source of evidence to support practice. In this unit you’ll be introduced to approaches to enquiry and knowledge production, to demonstrate how different assumptions shape research process and claims to knowledge. You’ll develop the skills to be able to research your own practice in order to critically evaluate the work of others and make judgements about the credibility and applicability in your own practice context.

• Nursing Practice and Nursing Skills 2: This professional practice unit will provide you with the range of experiences you’ll need to develop your proficiency in-line with the requirements set out by the Nursing & Midwifery Council (NMC).

Year 2

Core units:
 

• Team Working for Service Improvement: During this unit you will develop skills for working in inter-professional teams to design and develop service improvements for the people who use services and their carers.

• Making Change Through Clinical Leadership Management: This unit will prepare you to lead and manage yourself and others in the healthcare setting. You’ll evaluate management and leadership theories and how they inform managing change in the workplace, and will critically analyse health care policy and public health strategy.

• Critical Health Care Sciences: You’ll critically analyse biopsychosocial concepts that underpin complex health needs and the challenges that individuals and groups face across their lives. This unit builds upon developing competence in the knowledge and application of pharmacology.

• Advanced Therapeutic Communications and Interpersonal Skills for Nursing Practice: This unit prepares you for the clinical and therapeutic conversations you will have with patients/service users in the healthcare setting and provide you with the skills to support individuals and their families to make informed decisions about their health and health care.

• Critical Analysis of Caring for People with Complex Health Care Needs: This unit will develop your critical understanding of and clinical decision-making skills for undertaking nursing assessments and risk assessments, leading to planning and prioritising care for individuals and their families who experience critical and complex health care needs, their potential for deterioration and either recovery or death. 

• Advanced Principles of Enquiry and Evidence-Based Practice in Health & Social Care: This unit will prepare you to develop a proposal for a research study/ practice development/comprehensive review project. A range of research designs, approaches, methodologies, measurement and techniques of analysis will be introduced in order to enable you to develop an understanding of the techniques you can use in your own research and advance your own application of knowledge.

• Nursing Practice and Nursing Skills 3:  This unit will develop the personal and professional skills you’ll need as a graduate entering the world of work as a professional nurse. You will demonstrate the appropriate ability to practice safely, responsibly and professionally and be accountable for your practice in accordance with the Nursing & Midwifery Council (NMC) Standards of Proficiency for Registered Nurses.

Programme specification

Programme specifications provide definitive records of the university's taught degrees in line with Quality Assurance Agency requirements. Every taught course leading to a BU Award has a programme specification which describes its aims, structure, content and learning outcomes, plus the teaching, learning and assessment methods used.

Whilst every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the programme specification, the information is liable to change to take advantage of exciting new approaches to teaching and learning as well as developments in industry. If you have been unable to locate the programme specification for the course you are interested in, it will be available as soon as the latest version is ready. 

General entry requirements

The normal requirements for embarking upon a postgraduate taught degree are:
 

• A Bachelors Honours degree with 2:2 in any subject, or equivalent

• GCSE English/Maths: C/4

• In addition, an entry portfolio that demonstrates the relevant previous experience and learning is required for entry to this postgraduate pre-registration nursing course.

Entry portfolio requirements

After a successful interview, you are required to submit a portfolio of evidence to demonstrate you have the relevant experience and prior learning to meet the entry requirements for MSc Mental Health Nursing. 

If your portfolio does not sufficiently evidence all the entry requirements, your application may be unsuccessful.

Your portfolio will include demonstrating that you have undertaken 720 hours of practice experience as a nursing assistant or equivalent, and will display insight into mental health practice to show you have good skills, knowledge and understanding of the profession; ideally this will be paid experience. This experience is equivalent to 4-5 months of full-time work but may be achieved through part-time work over a longer period. It may be possible for some applicants to gain the required experiences in a voluntary capacity. Personal/family caring responsibilities will not be considered.

Your practice experience must be within two years of commencement of the course. For example, if the course starts in September 2022, your experience should have been gained after September 2020.

Assessment of your entry portfolio

Your portfolio will be assessed by the course leader or a delegate, who will decide whether or not it satisfies the requirements to be made an offer for the course.

If the course leader feels minor amendments are required, your portfolio will be returned to you with feedback advising on the changes required. If your changes do not meet the expected standard then your application may be unsuccessful as applicants will normally only be given one opportunity for resubmission. Satisfactory portfolios are managed through the university’s Recognition of Prior Learning process so that the hours of theory and practice evidenced might be formally recognised. The portfolios are also available for audit by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC).

Further Information

Graduates who obtained their degree more than five years ago may be considered for the course provided they can demonstrate evidence of successful recent and relevant study, at an appropriate level.  For example, the Open University provides several highly relevant courses of study at degree level. Guidance for recent study is provided on an individual basis and entry to the course would be conditional on successfully completing such study.  

International entry requirements

Please see below some examples of the qualifications for entry:
 

• India: Bachelor’s degree (4 years) from a recognised HE institution with a minimum overall result of 55%

• Nigeria:  Bachelor's degree from a recognised institution with a minimum classification of 2:2

• Thailand:  Thai Bachelor's (Honours) degree from a recognised higher education institution with a minimum GPA of 2.5/4.0

• Turkey: Bachelor’s degree (Lisans Diplomasi - four years) with a minimum overall GPA of 2.3/4.0

• Vietnam:  Bachelor's degree/Bang tot nghiep dai hoc with an average score of 6.5/10, or a Master’s degree/Thac si.

English language requirements

If English is not your first language, you will need to provide evidence that you understand English to a satisfactory level. English language requirements for this course are normally:
 

• IELTS (Academic) 7.0 with a minimum of 6.5 in writing and a minimum of 7.0 in all other components. The NMC also accept the Occupational English Test (OET).

​Non-academic entry requirements

Occupational Health (OH) Checks

Nursing is physically and mentally demanding and you will need to be mentally and physically able to undertake your chosen course. Places are offered subject to passing an OH check, and this will be carried out by the Dorset Healthcare University NHS Foundation Trust. Health conditions need to be dealt with on an individual basis e.g. deafness, blindness, eczema (or other dermatological allergic reactions) on exposed areas, epilepsy,  back problems, or mental health conditions, eating disorders and other disabilities. These do not automatically exclude you but please ensure that you fully disclose your condition to OH. The University can then consider the recommendations made by OH and whether reasonable adjustments can be made to support you on your chosen course. If you require more guidance please contact us for more information.

You will be required to provide a record of your immunity status or be vaccinated or have the required blood tests. You may need to ask your GP or current OH department or find your childhood vaccination record for details of your past immunisation records. You should be aware that there may be charges made (for which you will be liable) relating to your gaining the appropriate immunity required prior to starting your training programme.

Refusing Immunisations

The University has an expectation that all students will comply with the vaccination programme as it is Public Health England requirement for health care workers to have certain immunisations. This ensures that you will be able to undertake the wide range of training placements that your course will require and aims to keep you, as well as the people in your care as safe as possible. Please note that at this time Covid-19 vaccinations are not a mandatory requirement for healthcare workers and so are therefore not a mandatory requirement for healthcare students either. Occasionally some vaccinations are contraindicated in certain medical conditions. Occupational Health (OH) will advise the University in these cases. The University will consider students on an individual basis. Refusal to have immunisations may result in the student not being allowed to attend practice placement and being withdrawn from the course. There is no opportunity to appeal against the requirements of the immunisation policy.

Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) Check (previously known as CRB)

All successful applicants will be subject to an Enhanced Disclosure and Barred List check; this will be a condition of offer and will need to be completed prior to commencing the course. Please see the Government website for the most up to date information.

Terms of Expectations

It is important that you understand what will be expected of you as a student studying for both an academic award and professional qualification in nursing. You must agree to adhere to the Student Nurse Terms of Expectation for studying at Bournemouth University as detailed in this document. Failure to comply with these expectations could lead to disciplinary action.

Annual tuition fees:
 

• £9,500 (UK, ROI & CI)

• £15,500 (Int'l)

Career progression may ultimately lead to you becoming a:
 

• Lecturer Practitioner

• Specialist Practitioner

• Advanced Nurse Practitioner

• Consultant Nurse

• Academic Lecturer

• Academic Researcher