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    MMedSci
    2025 start September 

    Advanced Clinical Practice (Neonatal)

    School of Allied Health Professions, Nursing and Midwifery, Faculty of Health

    Play a leading role in caring for newborn babies, and expand your clinical knowledge and practical skills in neonatal care as an advanced clinical practitioner.
    Postgraduate on the Advanced Neonatal Nurse Practitioner course

    Course description

    Expand the role you play in neonatal care and the support you provide for newborn babies. This course is designed for registered nurses, midwives and related healthcare professionals within neonatal care who want to build on their experience to become an advanced clinical practitioner. The course can be taken as a standard degree programme or apprenticeship.

    View the apprenticeship page

    Our programme covers all four pillars of advanced clinical practice: You will gain advanced skills in anatomy, history taking and clinical examination, develop your understanding of evidence-based practice and learn how to deal with complex clinical situations and improve patient services. You’ll also cover the training necessary to become an independent prescriber.

    You’ll be taught by a multidisciplinary team of academics and practitioners, who are experienced in supporting mature and distance learners. You will combine your university studies with work-based learning under the supervision of a local mentor who can support and assess your knowledge, skills and capabilities.

    Applying

    It can take up to six weeks for an offer to be made. Please do not contact us for a decision before this time has passed.

    Before you complete your application, please ensure you have been interviewed and secured a trainee ACP post as this will ensure you have the correct funding and supervision in place.

    After this, you will receive a link to a University of Sheffield online application form and be asked to . Your completed checklist and all required information should then be uploaded to the application form for your programme. Failure to do this will mean your application can not be considered.

    HCPC registrants can also apply if they already hold the independent prescriber qualification.

    Do you have a question? Talk to us

    Book a 15-minute online meeting with our programme lead to find out more information and ask further questions.

     or email the ACP team at ahpnm-acpcourse@sheffield.ac.uk.

    Accreditation

    This programme is accredited by the .

    Health Education England’s Centre for Advancing Practice has been established to standardise post-registration education by accrediting advanced practice courses that achieve the standards outlined in the multi-professional Advanced Practice Framework.

    Practitioners who have completed accredited education programmes will be eligible to be listed on the Centre’s Advanced Practice Directory.

    Modules

    A selection of modules is available each year - some examples are below. There may be changes before you start your course. From May of the year of entry, formal programme regulations will be available in our Programme Regulations Finder.

    CPD modules

    If you are not ready to apply for the three-year MMedSci programme, most of the modules on this programme can be taken as a standalone CPD module. Find out more on our continuing professional development web pages. 

    Neonatal Episode Management

    The clinical focus of this module is designed to enable students to integrate the knowledge gained through completion of the Advanced Neonatal Practitioner Foundation module into their clinical practice. This will enable the trainee to develop capability as a neonatal practitioner and provide a robust base for transition to an advanced level of practice.
    The module is designed to enable trainees to integrate knowledge gained through completion of the Evidence Based Practice and Advanced Neonatal Practitioner Foundation modules into clinical practice. Trainees will be working at neonatal practitioner level, but will start to develop advanced skills and knowledge which will be developed further in successive modules.

    15 credits
    Advanced Neonatal Clinical Assessment

    This module is designed to provide qualified healthcare professionals working with neonates with the theoretical knowledge and core skills underpinning advanced neonatal practice. It will provide students with the relevant underpinning anatomy, physiology and pathophysiology knowledge to gain mastery in their role. The module focuses on the acquisition of in depth bioscience knowledge and how this relates to the clinical conditions frequently seen in newborn infants and the development of core clinical skills.

    30 credits
    Evidence Based Practice (Online)

    This unit is designed to enable the student to consider sources of knowledge that impact on the development of health and social care practices. The nature of evidence and the skills of searching, retrieval, appraisal, utilisation, dissemination and implementation of evidence will be conceded in the light of health and social care service efficacy. A variety of teaching and learning strategies will be offered to facilitate the development of the knowledge and skills required for evaluation of evidence in practice, culminating in the development of a defensible proposal to support practice/service enhancement.

    15 credits

    The content of our courses is reviewed annually to make sure it's up-to-date and relevant. Individual modules are occasionally updated or withdrawn. This is in response to discoveries through our world-leading research; funding changes; professional accreditation requirements; student or employer feedback; outcomes of reviews; and variations in staff or student numbers. In the event of any change we'll consult and inform students in good time and take reasonable steps to minimise disruption.

    Open days

    An open day gives you the best opportunity to hear first-hand from our current students and staff about our courses.

    Open days and campus tours

    Duration

    3 years, part-time

    Teaching

    You will learn through lectures, skills workshops, simulations, seminars, case-based discussions, supervised clinical practice, tripartite reviews and reflection.

    Assessment

    You will be assessed through case presentations, reports, examinations including objective structured clinical exams (OSCEs), presentations, essays and a specialist electronic portfolio.

    Your career

    Graduates from this course can work as advanced clinical practitioners, specialising in neonatal care.

    ACPs are experienced and knowledgeable healthcare professionals who have expanded their scope of practice to better meet the needs of the patients in their care. They’re an integral part of the NHS Long-Term plan, and following graduation, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to progress your career as a highly-skilled, autonomous healthcare leader.

    Past students have gone on to secure senior roles within health settings such as the NHS, The Resuscitation Council and the Department of Health. These roles include:

    • Nurse consultant
    • Research nurse
    • Matron
    • Patient transport lead

    Other students have gone on to find success in teaching roles in UK universities.

    (Health Education England)

    Student profiles

    Man in Hawaiian shirt and sunglasses with a dog

    There is nothing else I could envision myself doing

    James Taylor MMedSci Advanced Clinical Practice (Neonatal)

    James began his career as a children’s nurse, before moving into neonatal intensive care. After returning to university to complete his neonatal care Qualification in Specialty (QIS), James quickly advanced his career, working as a specialist nurse in a local Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). He's now training as an Advanced Clinical Practitioner on our Neonatal pathway.

    Entry requirements

    Minimum 2:2 undergraduate honours degree in a health discipline (such as nursing, midwifery, pharmacy, physiotherapy or paramedic science).

    Minimum of a grade 4/C in GCSE English Language and Maths or equivalent (please upload evidence of this to your application).

    We also consider a wide range of international qualifications:

    Entry requirements for international students

    We assess each application on the basis of the applicant’s preparation and achievement as a whole. We may accept applicants whose qualifications don’t meet the published entry criteria but have other experience relevant to the course.

    The lists of required degree subjects and modules are indicative only.  Sometimes we may accept subjects or modules that aren’t listed, and sometimes we may not accept subjects or modules that are listed, depending on the content studied.

    English language requirements

    IELTS 7 (with 6.5 in writing and 7 in each other component).

    Other requirements

    You must be a healthcare professional registered with an appropriate professional body like the NMC or HPC. You should upload evidence of this to your application.

    You must have been working in the pathway-specific area for a minimum of three years. You must hold a current relevant employment contract in the pathway-specific setting for the duration of the programme for a minimum of 30 hours per week.

    If you have any questions about entry requirements, please contact the school/department.

    Alumni discount

    Save up to £2,500 on your course fees

    Are you a Sheffield graduate? You could save up to £2,500 on your postgraduate taught course fees, subject to eligibility.

    Apply

    To apply for this course, you must have been interviewed for and secured a trainee advanced clinical practitioner post. After this, you will receive a link to a University of Sheffield online application form and further instructions to complete your application.

    Contact

    ahpnm-acpcourse@sheffield.ac.uk 

    +44 114 222 2030

    Any supervisors and research areas listed are indicative and may change before the start of the course.

    Our student protection plan

    Recognition of professional qualifications: from 1 January 2021, in order to have any UK professional qualifications recognised for work in an EU country across a number of regulated and other professions you need to apply to the host country for recognition. Read and the .