MA Nursing at Salford
Nursing isn’t your average ‘nine-to-five’ job and neither is life as an undergraduate student nurse. 50% of your course will be spent at the University learning essential underpinning theory and 50% will be spent in clinical locations to help you gain vital knowledge and skills to enable you to become a qualified nurse.
If you already have a degree and relevant experience*, you can apply for one of our MA Nursing programmes. This is a two-year pathway leading towards becoming a Registered Nurse. Choose from Adult, Children and Young People or Mental Health Nursing.
Places available for January 2024. Apply now or book on to our virtual open day to find out more.
Courses:
*Your degree can be in any discipline but you will be required to have 800 hours of healthcare experience. See the FAQs section for more information on this.
MA Nursing explained
All you need to know about our MA Nursing courses.
Why should you study Nursing at the University of Salford?
We have close links with clinical staff across the Greater Manchester area
You'll learn in our purpose-built facilities including our state-of-the-art simulation suites
50% of your studies will be spent in hospital and community settings, within the NHS and independent sector
Our Facilities
Clinical Practice Wards
Our Clinical Practice Wards are located in the Mary Seacole Building. There are four rooms designed to give the look and feel of a hospital environment. The rooms are furnished with patient's beds, lockers, chairs, sinks and curtains as well as audio-visual equipment, internet and a teaching area.
We also have a number of clinical skills rooms that enhance student learning from taking blood pressure, to giving CPR and more complicated procedures. Along with nursing skills rooms where you can practice in a ward situation, there are basic skills rooms for sessions such as moving and handling.
Patient Simulation Suites
The patient simulation laboratory provides you with the opportunity to tackle real-life scenarios in a safe and supported environment. Set up like a hospital ward, the lab contains hi-tech patient simulators that can mimic everything from the common cold to a major heart condition. The lab will help you develop the clinical skills you need but also the high-level communication skills that will make a real difference to your patients.
The equipment includes:
- Emergency Care Patient Simulators: Anatomically correct, feature-rich mannequins, which can be used for the physical demonstration of various clinical signs including bleeding, breathing, blinking eyes and convulsions.
- iStan Patient Simulators: A step up from the ECS, the iStan adds an essential human element to patient simulation. It moves, breathes, can cry out or moan with pain, providing a realistic patient for you to practice on
- Pedia Patient Simulator: A complete reproduction of a six-year-old child enabling you to practice paediatric scenarios
- Baby simulator: This mannequin makes it possible to interact with our most vulnerable patients - in a safe, realistic learning environment
Life at Salford
From your course to the student's union, explore what life is like as a nursing student at Salford.
Support and Wellbeing
Whether you need advice about accommodation, settling in to student life, or just want a chat with our friendly Wellbeing team, we are here to help. Meet some of the team who will help you settle into life at Salford.
Hear from our student nurses
What are the benefits of the MA Nursing programme?
There are a number of benefits to choosing the accelerated MA Nursing programme. For example graduating with a Masters in Nursing along with your eligibility to register with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) can lead to earlier career progression opportunities in your chosen field of practice. Since you already have a degree, completing a Masters will also add to your existing academic achievements and in the future you may be interested in a career in nursing education and research. Whatever your career pathway, you will also be a registered nurse in your chosen field of practice within two years instead of three years.
Why do I need to provide evidence of 800 hours of prior experience?
The pre-registration MA Nursing programme is an accelerated two-year course. This means that you will be eligible for registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) after two years instead of the traditional three years. Due to the fast-track nature of the programme, we need you to bring with you 800 hours health and social care experience so that these hours can count towards the NMC requirement for all pre-registration nursing students to complete a minimum of 4600 hours by the end of their programme.
Is this the only pre-entry requirement?
No – you need to meet all the other standard entry requirements in addition to demonstrating that you have 800 hours of health and social care prior experience (achieved in the last five years). You will also have an interview.
Does it matter how long ago I gained my experience?
Yes – we can only accept evidence of experience gained within the last five year of your application.
What types of experience will you accept?
The experience can be gained from a range of different health and social care roles and settings, within the last 5 years. This may be from a traditional health or social care setting in the community, residential home, or hospital. It can also be gained within a non-traditional health and social care setting: for example a charity, educational setting, social enterprise organisation, or experience being a carer.
What evidence will you accept?
We accept witness statements from independent, senior health care professionals / line managers. The witness statement needs to verify their position and relationship with you, your role and the hours that you have achieved. It must be on official letter headed paper or if sent via email, sent from their official work email. If you gained your experience in a number of different places, you need more than one witness statement for each setting.
What is the best way to list my experience?
Please ensure you list the hours achieved and the dates ‘From’ and ‘To’.
What should I do if I do not have enough hours at the moment?
Here are some ideas and suggestions from our recent MA Nursing graduates who had a career change when they applied for the programme.
- Look for volunteering opportunities in your local area. If you live in the UK, you could search NCVO website
- Apply to work for NHS Professionals (the largest NHS staff bank in the UK) or an equivalent health care assistant/support worker role where you live. This will not only count towards the 800 hours but also help you to prepare for the health and social care settings in which you will be a nursing student
- Here are some examples to show you different ways to achieve your hours and how long it might take:
|
Commitment in time |
Total in days or weeks |
How long it would take |
|
1 day per week (7.5 hours) |
107 days
|
9 days a month over a year |
|
Part time experience (18 hours a week) |
45 weeks |
11 months |
|
Full time experience (37.5 hours a week) |
21.5 weeks |
5.5 months |
The form asks me to write about how my experience has prepared me for my chosen field of nursing, how much should I write here?
We ask you to write a description of how your experience meets each key programme objective. You should write about the skills, knowledge or attitudes you have gained as a result if the experience using examples (anonymised) to illustrate to the panel.
When should I complete and submit the form with my evidence?
You need to complete and submit the form along with your evidence at the same time as your application to the University of Salford. Once you have completed your upload, email AdmissionsHealthSociety@salford.ac.uk to notify them it is ready.
What happens once I have completed my upload?
Your evidence will then be reviewed by an internal panel of academic staff and we will let you know whether you have ‘fully met’, ‘partially met’, or ‘not met’ the 800 hours required.
How to apply
We believe that how far you go in life is up to you. So whether you want to take the next big leap in your career, hone your skills in a specialist area, or start on a new path altogether, studying for a postgraduate qualification with us can help you achieve your goals. More information about how to apply for a postgraduate course.
How will I fund my course?
Postgraduate loans are available for the MA Nursing courses as long as it is your first Postgraduate course. More details about fees and funding.
Open days are a great way to get all of the information you need to make the all-important decision of which university to choose. You can book your place via our postgraduate open days page.