Advanced Clinical Practice (Occupational Therapy) PgCert, PgDip and MSc

Are you an experienced occupational therapist? Do you want to take your career to the next level, perhaps in academic research or a leadership role? This course will provide you with the practical skills and the knowledge to really make a difference in a holistic, multidisciplinary team.

You’ll advance your clinical expertise, enabling you to become an effective leader and practitioner. You’ll graduate with the skills to lead a team, helping to improve the lives of patients through rehabilitation in healthcare settings or in the community.

The full master's course can be studied 1 year full-time or 3 years part-time starting in September. If you don’t want to commit to full or part-time study of the entire master's, you can develop your educational portfolio over a longer period of time by undertaking staged study that leads to the award of Postgraduate Certificate (PgCert), Postgraduate Diploma (PgDip) and MSc in separate stages. Each stage can be studied 1 year part-time starting in September. You can also study the combined PgDip (PgCert and PgDip) as a 2 year part-time course starting in January. The MSc stage (dissertation) can also be studied 1 year part-time starting in May.

You’ll benefit from a course designed to incorporate a multidisciplinary perspective that fulfils the Advanced Clinical Practice framework as set out by Health Education England. You’ll study key modules in advanced clinical practice, clinical leadership, evidence-based practice and research. Alongside this, your specialist modules will cover areas specific to occupational therapy. You'll explore the unique and individual client-centred dynamic of ‘person-environment-occupation-wellbeing’ to help you understand the changing needs of the lifecycle from premature neonates to older adults with physical, mental, behavioural, emotional and end-of-life health issues.

The specialised modules will support you to understand people as occupational beings, develop complex decision-making skills, apply evidence-based practice and develop innovative solutions that will enhance patient, family and carer experience and improve clinical outcomes.

You'll also be able to support your study learning portfolio by choosing from a range of optional modules from our Advanced Clinical Practice named specialist pathways; Cardiovascular Health, Critical Care, Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation, Neurological Rehabilitation and Pelvic Health.

At Brunel, we understand the challenges of fitting study around work and family life. For this reason, we have designed this course to be flexible, so that it can fit around your current commitments. You can study full-time, part-time or even just take one or more CPPD modules for your professional development and return to complete your course at a later date.

This course can be studied 1 year full-time, 3 years part-time or 1 year (staged study) part-time, starting in September. Or this course can be studied 2 years (PgCert + PgDip) part-time, starting in January. Or this course can be studied 1 year (staged study) part-time, starting in May.

On this course you'll extend your knowledge base and skills. You'll develop personally and professionally, enabling you to manage and lead clinical services for children, adults and older adults. This course is also ideal if you're looking to progress into an academic research role.

Must have a pre-registration degree in a relevant allied health profession with at least one year of specialist clinical work experience.

UK Staged Master £2,825 per stage.

International Staged Master £6,615 per stage.

You’ll benefit from the expertise of academics across our well established health sciences department, giving you a truly interdisciplinary perspective on important topics. Many of our academics currently work in hospitals and other clinical settings, so they will be teaching you up-to-date scientific knowledge and patient-assessment skills.

Our lecturers are active in research and often contribute to the development of professional guidelines, so you know you’re being taught by practising healthcare professionals with a high profile in the sector. You’ll also be able to benefit from studying alongside other healthcare professionals in similar fields, giving you the opportunity to network and share ideas.

Our teaching approaches are diverse and you’ll benefit from lectures, tutorials, seminars and workshops.

The course uses a range of flexible and engaging approaches to assessment. You'll be assessed through exams, critical essays, portfolios, oral presentations and your dissertation.

The choice of the specific type of assessment will be appropriate to the intended learning outcomes of the taught modules. The assessment strategies will balance the need to demonstrate knowledge and competencies with more in-depth and critical approaches to learning. Such assessment approaches will include examinations, presentations of relevant clinical case scenarios, and coursework, which will take the form of critical assessment of literature and research, critical essays, and the development of the selected portfolio of learning.

Finally, the dissertation provides demonstration of an ability to synthesise and critically evaluate current research underpinning clinical practice, and to develop and undertake relevant research as well as its dissemination.