Nurses play a vital role in healthcare. This course in independent and supplementary prescribing is designed to support your progress in nursing or midwifery. It reflects the specific needs of nurses and employers and aims to educate students in prescribing practices that meet local or national guidelines.

Key information

Award:

AdvDip(CPD)

Mode of Study:

Part-time

Duration:

26 weeks

Location:

The University of Bolton

Start date:

25/01/2021, 20/09/2021

Course Details

Prescribing medicines is a key area of practice for many nurses and midwives looking to progress professionally and develop a broader skillset. Our Non-Medical Independent and Supplementary Prescribing for Nurses and Midwives professional development course at the University of Bolton covers all the relevant theoretical areas of independent and supplementary prescribing, including clinical pharmacology, legal policy and ethics, as well as opportunities to build skills in practice.

Suitable for first level nurses, midwives or health visitors on the Professional Register maintained by the Nursing and Midwifery Council, this course aims to provide you with a comprehensive introduction to independent and supplementary prescribing, split across theoretical learning and practice.

At the end of the course, you’ll be expected to have achieved a variety of outcomes, including an understanding of legal and professional frameworks, enhanced pharmacological knowledge and the ability to prescribe safely, appropriately and cost-effectively for all age groups.

Highlights

We’ve been offering high-quality courses designed to meet the needs of the health and social care sector for more than 30 years.
Our passionate academic team has a wealth of experience working in NHS settings and engaging in relevant research.
This course is developed with the aim of covering both theory and practice, giving you the opportunity to develop your prescribing consultation skills and apply your growing knowledge of pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics in practice.
On successful completion of the course, you’ll be eligible to register your qualification as a Nurse Independent/Supplementary Prescriber with the Nursing and Midwifery Council. You’ll also possess 40 credits at Level HE6 that can be used to contribute to a larger award in the University of Bolton’s professional development framework.

Key Features

Our programme has been developed to reflect the requirements of the NHS Knowledge and Skills Framework.
As you study this course you’ll be encouraged to develop employability skills, values and behaviours, such as action planning, self-awareness, social and ethical responsibility, respect and commitment to quality.
You’ll explore how to communicate effectively with patients and carers and assess patients’ needs for medicines, taking account of their wishes, values, ethnicity and choices in their treatment.
The course curriculum is regularly reviewed to ensure that current contemporary theories are covered.
This course is designed to help you achieve your potential and encourage you to take charge of your own development to advance your career in healthcare.

Professional recognition

This course is validated and approved by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC).

On successful completion of the course, you’ll be eligible to register your qualification as a Nurse Independent/Supplementary Prescriber with the NMC.

You must be registered with the appropriate professional body in the UK and practicing within the UK in order to be eligible to join the course. This means that we’re unable to consider most international applicants.
You must be currently registered as a first level nurse, midwife or health visitor on the Professional Register maintained by the Nursing and Midwifery Council.
You should also have a minimum of 3 years appropriate post registration experience, with the last 12 months specifically in the area of practice where there is an identified need for you to regularly use independent and supplementary prescribing.
You’ll become part of a tripartite learning agreement – the other parties are the Trust Prescribing Lead and a Designated Medical Supervisor.
You’ll need to arrange to have the support of a Designated Medical Supervisor in practice who’ll be able to provide guidance and supervision of your practice-based learning whilst you’re on the course. The mentor may be a doctor with whom you normally work and they must meet specific criteria as outlined on the Nomination Form. Your mentor will be supplied with full documentation in support of their role.
You’ll also need to show 80% achievement via the online numeracy test arranged by Prescribing Lead and that you possess basic computer literacy skills.
District nurses, health visitors and V150 Nurse Prescribers (from the Nurse Prescribers’ Formulary), and who, with local agreement, will extend their prescribing responsibilities under new arrangements from 2002, must complete this programme of preparation and meet the assessment requirements. There will be recognition of prior learning and experience. However, all assessment must be completed satisfactorily.
This course involves regulated activity so you must gain an Enhanced Disclosure certificate from the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) before starting your studies. Charges are payable to cover the cost of the DBS Enhanced Disclosure application and annual registration with the online (Normally your sponsoring organisation will organise this.) Please note that your DBS must have been completed within three years of the course start date.Update Service.
You may be required to attend an interview and/or provide a portfolio of work.
If English isn't your first language you'll also need IELTS 6.0 with no less than 5.5 in any band (or equivalent).

Want some reassurance or advice? Speak to one of our advisors. Email us at enquiries@bolton.ac.uk or call us on +44 (0)1204 903 903.

Where changes are made to material information contained in this course description or a decision is taken to suspend a course between the offer of admissions and enrolment, we will inform applicants at the earliest possible opportunity and will outline the various options available to the applicant.

Course fees

Home students starting this course in the first year will be required to pay a Home fee of £1,600 for the academic year 2020/21.

The fees for a student’s course of study will be set for the normal duration of that course subject only to inflationary increases – measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) recorded in March each year to take effect for subsequent start dates.

The university is currently awaiting government guidelines as to EU fee charges for students commencing study in 2021/2022.

Bursaries

Click here for more information about the scholarships and bursaries available to University of Bolton undergraduate students.

For details of how to apply for this course, please choose your status from the options below:

You may apply directly to the University using the University's online application form. Please select your chosen start date from the list below:

You should have to hand:

Details of the educational establishments you attended and dates
Your certificates for the qualifications you are using to gain entry to the course – you will need to enter the completion date and upload copies
Details of any employment history including name, address, dates and role
Personal statement – this can be either input into the relevant field or uploaded separately
Details including e-mail addresses of two referees, at least one of which should be someone who can provide an academic reference

Please make sure any documents you wish to upload in support of your application are in pdf or jpeg format. Personal statements may be word documents.

Please ensure your data is correct at each stage of the application before you proceed to the next page. If you use the back button at any time during the application, you should check the validity of the data you have already input.

If you experience difficulties during the application process, contact the Admissions Team on 01204 903394 or admissions@bolton.ac.uk

Apply online: University of Bolton Non-Medical Independent and Supplementary Prescribing for Nurses - 25 January 2021
Apply online: Bolton NHS Foundation Trust Non-Medical Independent and Supplementary Prescribing for Nurses - 20 September 2021

International applications are not possible for this course

As an international student you are not allowed to study this course because of the restrictions on your visa.

We offer a wide range of full-time courses in lots of different subjects, many of our courses start in September and January. If you would like to see what courses are available please visit our Course Search.

University of Bolton Group Partners

Bolton College
University Technical College
University of Bolton

The University welcomes applications from our group partners and progressing students so we try to make our application process as simple and as fast as possible. By selecting the link for your chosen course from the list shown below you will be taken directly to our online application form. Please read the user guidance before completing this and ensure you upload all supporting documents such as certificates and your personal statement when you apply.

Please ensure when you are asked to add a contact email address you add your college/university email account address as well as your personal address. If you do not add your college address as your contact address we will be unable to identify you as a partner and you will be referred to apply via UCAS, which incurs a cost.

Apply online: University of Bolton Non-Medical Independent and Supplementary Prescribing for Nurses - 25 January 2021
Apply online: Bolton NHS Foundation Trust Non-Medical Independent and Supplementary Prescribing for Nurses - 20 September 2021

We look forward to receiving your application and you continuing your academic journey with us!

Students on our independent and supplementary prescribing course are taught through a blended approach, combining classroom sessions, group work and e-learning via the virtual learning environment. You’ll also have the opportunity to take part in lectures, workshops, tutorials, role-play activities and discussions to further explore the issues relating to prescribing practice.

Working under a Trust-prescribing lead and a designated medical supervisor, you’ll be expected to complete 12 days of practice-based learning and demonstrate competence in prescribing within your area of clinical practice. Support will be provided throughout the course and students usually have at least two face-to-face sessions with their tutor each trimester, as well as being encouraged to develop resources for independent learning.

Assessment is conducted through both theoretical and practical exercises, including the creation of a portfolio and tests of module learning outcomes. You’ll be required to keep a reflective learning log relevant to prescribing practice within your own clinical setting, and undergo assessment in practice by your designated medical practitioner, taking into account issues of safe prescribing and patient confidentiality.

Modules

Non-Medical Independent and Supplementary Prescribing for Nurses and Midwives HE6 (26 weeks)

Assessment methods

Level	Assesment method
Level one	Coursework 50%, Written exams 50%

Learning activities

Level	Learning activity
Level one	Guided independent study 25%, Placement/study abroad 50%, Scheduled learning and teaching activities 25%

Disclaimer

The university will use all reasonable endeavours to deliver your course as described in its published material and the programme specification for the academic year in which you begin your course. The university considers changes to courses very carefully and the university will minimise any changes. Please be aware that our courses are subject to review on an ongoing basis and changes may be necessary due to legitimate staffing, financial, regulatory and academic reasons. The content of course modules and mode of associated assessments may be updated on an annual basis. This is to ensure that all modules are up-to-date and responsive to employment and sector needs. The published course material and the programme specification contain indicative ‘optional modules’ that may be subject to change due to circumstances outside of our control. For this reason, we cannot guarantee to run any specific optional module.