Across the country organisations are celebrating Advanced Practitioners Week and the contribution that these healthcare professionals make to the care that patients receive.
Advanced Practitioners are patient-centred clinicians who provide a unique combination of profession expertise and advanced clinical skills. They are registered health professionals and come from nursing, physiotherapy, paramedic, pharmacy and other allied health professional backgrounds.
The University of Liverpool is proud to deliver multi-professional Advanced Practice Programmes that support the career development of the advanced practitioners of the future.
Some of our current MSc Advanced Practice in Healthcare and MSc Advanced Clinical Practitioner students talk about their experiences on the programme;
Amy is a qualified Learning Disability Nurse working as a Senior Clinical Nurse in Liverpool. She said: “I knew that the MSc Advanced Clinical Practitioner course would help me develop my clinical skills, whilst also allowing me to straddle the boundaries across multi-professional frameworks. The programme offers educational pathways that support me on my journey to becoming an ACP and eventually Nurse Consultant.”
Mark is a Senior Musculo-Skeletal Physiotherapist. He said: “I have gained invaluable knowledge and experience from other healthcare professionals whilst on the course. I am hoping to become involved with improvements of our advanced practice service and improve my overall leadership and clinical skills, which will ultimately have improved outcomes for patients.”
Natalie is a Practice Nurse and Advanced Nurse Practitioner based in Southport. She said: “I have learnt a lot about leadership and have gained clinical skills. I am completing my non-medical prescribing module which I am really enjoying. This module is crucial in the role of an ANP in primary care so I can work autonomously and within in my competency range.”
Nerys is a Registered Nurse, currently working for Sexual Health Wirral. She said: “The course has allowed me to ‘take a step back’ from the daily work load and actually reflect on my own practice and behaviours, and given me the opportunity to recognise areas of development and improvement within my own sphere of practice and that of the service as a whole.”
More information about Advanced Practitioners Week can be found on the Association of Advanced Practice Educators UK website, or find out more about the ACP programmes at the University of Liverpool here.