Master of Nurse Practitioner - From 1 July 2018

Admission requirements

In accordance with the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Council Standards and Criteria for the accreditation of nursing and midwifery courses leading to registration, enrolment, and authorisation in Australia - with evidence guide, applicants must:

have current registration as a nurse in Australia;
have a minimum of five years full-time equivalent (FTE) experience as a registered nurse, including three years FTE as a registered nurse in a specialty and one year FTE at an advanced practice level in the relevant specialty area of practice;
hold a Bachelor of Nursing or equivalent and a postgraduate qualification in a specialty field that has prepared the student for advanced practice;
demonstrate professional activity in professional organisations and contribution to the ongoing development of the profession;
provide a Professional Experience Placement (PEP) Support form demonstrating employer willingness to facilitate the extended professional experience practice components of the course within their workplace or related agencies.

However, the Dean (Education) may, under certain circumstances and subject to specific conditions, admit others who can show evidence of fitness for candidature.

Course aims

This course aims to meet the needs of extended practice nurses working in a range of health care settings, by developing skills and knowledge that prepare them for their advanced practice role, within their scope of practice and the context of that practice.

Learning outcomes

Graduates of this course are expected to be able to:

have developed extended nursing knowledge and clinical practice skills necessary for the management and provision of effective comprehensive health care to particular populations of health consumer;
integrate and apply the interdisciplinary skills and knowledge that are required to participate effectively in the planning, implementation and management of health care programs and service;
have developed an advanced level of understanding of the legal, ethical and political dimensions of practice within the discipline and specialty area of practice;
apply research skills to the resolution and improvement of health outcomes for consumers of clinical and community nursing practice.

Nurse practitioners will integrate their learning with the Nursing and Midwifery Board's requirements for endorsed nurse practitioners by meeting the required national competency standards for practice.

Program of study

To qualify for the Master of Nurse Practitioner, a student must complete 54 units with a grade of Pass or NGP or better in each topic, according to the program of study below.

Except with the permission of the Dean (Education):

no topic may be attempted more than twice
a student may not include a topic that repeats work previously undertaken
the program must be completed full-time in three consecutive semesters or part-time in six consecutive semesters.

Not all topics are necessarily available in any given year.

The award of a grade of Fail (F) in the same topic on more than one occasion or in 9 units or more, or failure to complete the course within three consecutive years, may constitute prima facie evidence of unsatisfactory progress for the purposes of the University’s Policy on Student Progress.

Core - Year 1 & 2 topics

54 units comprising:

MMED9110 Principles of Pharmacology and Therapeutics (4.5 units)
MMED9111 Pharmacology for Advanced Professional Practice (4.5 units)
NURS9017 Extended Nursing Practice (PEP) (9 units)
NURS9027 Diagnostics for Nurse Practitioners (9 units)
NURS9028 Transition to Nurse Practitioner (9 units)
NURS9123 Epidemiology and Population Studies for Health Care Practice (4.5 units)
NURS9219 Introduction to Research (4.5 units)
NURS9222 Capstone: Advancing Research Knowledge to Inform Professional Practice (9 units)

Upon completion of the course, graduates are eligible to apply to nursing regulatory authority to practise as a nurse practitioner.