Professional Nurse Advocate

Key Information


Programme Type

Short Course

Award

10 weeks

Cost

£810

Next Start Date

February 2025

Course Overview

Professional nursing leadership and clinical supervision are essential in enabling nurses to continuously improve the care they provide to patients and their families, as well as to protect their own and their colleagues' health and wellbeing.

Through this course, students can expand and explore their own supervisory and leadership skills, equipping themselves with the knowledge and ability to facilitate restorative clinical supervision to colleagues and teams within the profession. Students will also be supported to link restorative clinical supervision to quality improvement and service enhancement initiatives, ensuring the provision of safe and effective care.

Key Features

Industry-experienced teaching staff

Course content informed by industry needs

Supervision and support from an advisory panel of academic staff

Online delivery

Part-time delivery allows you work around other commitments

Accredited by the Royal College of Nursing

Three nurses sat outside

How You Study

This course focuses on the A-EQUIP model. Professional nurse advocates use the AEQUIP (Advocating and Educating for Quality Improvement) model of professional nursing leadership and clinical supervision to support staff. It is of particular relevance to all nurses, student nurses, providers of nursing services, and patients.

Areas within the A-EQUIP model include:
1. advocating for the patient, the nurse, and healthcare staff
2. providing clinical supervision using a restorative approach
3. enabling nurses to undertake personal action for quality improvement
4. promoting the education and development of nurses.

Students on the course can also explore topics such as sustainable practice, advocacy, critical thinking and reflection, ethical issues, using research to inform practice, and emotional intelligence.

Accreditations

This programme has been accredited by the RCN Centre for Professional Accreditation until 30 September 2025. Accreditation applies only to the educational content of the programme and does not apply to any product.

Entry Requirements 2024-25

Entry Requirements

To undertake this course, you must:

- be a registered nurse with the Nursing & Midwifery Council or HCPC (hold a current registration)

- be Band 5 or above working in a patient-facing clinical role within a healthcare setting providing NHS-commissioned care

- be able to provide evidence of previous level 6 study (Bachelor's degree level) OR for those without a level 6 certificate in education must provide evidence of prior learning such as: Higher National Diploma (HND) in a relevant healthcare or nursing-related field; Foundation degree in nursing or a related discipline; other relevant professional qualifications, such as those obtained through specific nursing roles or advanced practice; work experience; significant years of experience in a senior nursing role demonstrating a high level of responsibility and autonomy; evidence of continuing professional development (CPD) which demonstrates a commitment to learning and development; leadership roles in healthcare settings, showcasing skills in managing and developing teams; or experience in education or mentorship indicating a capacity to teach and support others.

How you are assessed

To help our students get the best from their studies, the assessment strategy for this module is supported by formative and summative review points to ensure that students have developed the necessary variety of skills, at the appropriate standard, to be a professional nurse advocate (PNA).

Formative Assessment:
There are variety of group and individual formative assessment tasks throughout the programme which develop students both digitally and academically guiding them towards the summative assessment. Peer and tutor feedback is utilised as part of this process to guide learning.

Summative Assessment: 2 Tasks

Task 1: Portfolio:

Section 1:
SWOT analysis completed at the beginning of the course accompanied 150 word rationale of why undertaking the course and how you expect to apply the PNA role.

Sections 2:
Two reflections of up to 500 words each on supervision undertaken during the course, based on NMC CPD reflection document.

Section 3:
Completed Competency Grid signed by supervisor.

Section 4:
SWOT analysis completed at the end of the course with professional development and SMART goals.

Task 2:
A 10-15 minute presentation of the professional nursing advocate's role in support staff wellbeing in their organisation, including a five minute question and answer session on the following:
1. Current Role
2. Future considerations

Upcoming Start Dates

February 2025

April 2025

Explore Flexible Learning

From short courses and microcredentials, to professional development modules and fully online Master’s degrees, we offer a range of flexible programmes to suit your individual needs. Our suite of programmes uses a variety of delivery methods, including online-only, face-to-face, blended, and distance-learning approaches.

A student working on a tablet

Enquiries

For more information, please contact cpd@lincoln.ac.uk.