Advanced Clinical Practice (Pelvic Health) PgCert, PgDip and MSc

Are you a physiotherapist, midwife, nurse specialist or doctor working within pelvic health? If so, this advanced clinical practice pathway in pelvic health, is designed to provide you with the solid academic foundation that you’ll need to progress as an advanced clinician in the management of pelvic floor dysfunction.

On this course, you’ll learn to understand the relationship between the musculoskeletal support systems of the pelvis and pelvic part of the body and related areas of practice. You’ll study antenatal and postnatal management of pelvic floor dysfunction, male and female urinary incontinence, pelvic organ prolapse, the management of defecatory dysfunction, faecal incontinence and pelvic pain. The aim is to improve your understanding of pain science and management and help to better embed this knowledge into everyday practice. The programme integrates theory with practice and you’ll learn skills such as advanced abdominal, vaginal, and anorectal examination.

This course will challenge your diagnostic capabilities to ensure you’re able to competently work at an advanced practice level. As you progress to the final stages of the MSc, this degree will further integrate healthcare leadership and research within the pelvic health area.

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. 

This course is designed to develop your skills and understanding of pelvic health. In particular, you’ll learn to assess and manage continence and pelvic floor dysfunction in men, women and children. Through critical appraisal of research and clinical evidence you’ll develop an evidence-based approach to clinical assessment skills needed for the pelvic health patient.

As well as studying key modules in advanced clinical practice, leadership, evidence-based practice and research, you’ll be able to select modules to define your specialist pathway in pelvic health. You’ll learn practical skills such as abdominal, vaginal, and anorectal examination, exercise prescription and biofeedback of the pelvic floor muscles, manual therapy, catheterisation, perineal wound care management, biofeedback, vaginal pessary application, and electrotherapies. This is a developing area of medicine and you'll be provided with support to investigate the evidence behind your specific area of working in pelvic health. 

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 Occupational Therapy.

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.

The advanced clinical practice and understanding of pelvic health learnt on this course will help you to improve the quality of care you deliver to your patients.

The course is ideal for physiotherapists, nurses, midwives specialising in postnatal care, and health practitioners who treat pelvic floor dysfunction in urogynaecology, colorectal and urology.

All applicants must have a pre-registration degree in relevant allied health profession and the following of relevant experience as a minimum:

1. Students currently working in the UK - At least 1 year of post qualification clinical work experience in the specialism they have applied for. Typically this should be work experience from a ‘Band 6’ level role.
2. Students currently working outside of the UK – At least 2 years post qualification clinical work experience, ideally including at least 1 year in the specialism you have applied for.

All applicants must have met the minimum work experience requirement at the point they apply for the programme. This is to make sure that they will definitely have enough experience when they join the course. This does not include internships as they are supervised and therefore technically still part of their training.

• IELTS: 7 (min 6.5 in all areas)
• Pearson: 64 (59 in all subscores)
• BrunELT: 68% (63% in all areas)
• TOEFL: 98 (min 23 in all areas) 

UK Staged Master £3,500 per stage.

International Staged Master £7,155 per stage.

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.