QUT School of Nursing, 14 November, 2023
The Master of Nurse Practitioner is the highest qualification in clinical nursing and can prepare you to lead best practice care within your specialty. The entry requirements are rigorous and may take time to satisfy.
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Entry requirements for the Master of Nurse Practitioner
Here’s a snapshot of what you will need for entry to the Master of Nurse Practitioner course:
- A completed postgraduate qualification from a recognised institution in a relevant clinical field—a graduate certificate or higher (Preferable within the last 10 years)
- Current registration as a Nurse (Division 1) without conditions with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA)
- You must meet clinical practice entry requirements—2 years, full time as a registered nurse in a specified field, PLUS a minimum of two years, full-time equivalent of advanced practice nursing in the same field, completed within the last 6 years
- Additional entry requirements including a Statement of Service and completed support forms which are available on the course page (view by clicking the link at the start of this dot point)
- Letters of support from a minimum of two clinical support team members—these are senior clinicians (Nurse Practitioners and or Consultant Medical Officers) who you can work with, who will assist you in developing advanced skills, and mentor you.
How to fulfill the requirements for the Master of Nurse Practitioner
Q. What is the best way to transition from my current role as an Registered Nurse (RN) to an area that suits the nurse practitioner program?
A. There’s a number of ways to think about this – check whether your specialty has advanced practice within it. Nurse Practitioners (NPs) are practicing in more than 30 specialties in primary health care, private practice, community health and public health in every state of Australia. Another approach could be to talk to someone who has experience in the area you would like to work in and ask them how they moved into it. You could also contact the Australian College of Nurse Practitioners and ask to be connected with a mentor in your area of practice.
The important thing is to gain experience at an advanced level, so discussing with your employer about options for gaining that experience is a good first step. Scope out within your department, unit or practice the opportunities to promote a nurse practitioner role, because if the demand’s there then your employer is key, they can then support you gain experience.
Q. Does the 2-year clinical experience of advanced practice nursing have to be in the area you want to study for the Master of Nurse Practitioner?
A. Yes. Your advanced practice nursing experience has to be in the same clinical field you want to study. If you are having trouble meeting that requirement contact the QUT NP team and they can give you advice about a transition.
Q. How many hours in total of advanced practice do you need for endorsement as a nurse practitioner?
A. You need 5000 hours of advanced practice experience within six years of submitting your application after successful completion of your studies. During the course you will gain 300 hours of advanced practice as a requirement of the program (these hours do not count towards the 5000 hours). However coming into the program it is best you have already completed sufficient hours to satisfy the majority requirement of 5000 hours for endorsement.
Q. How can I find out I find out if the nursing experience I have is considered to be advanced practice?
A. There are a number of documents that you can use to assess your level of practice. In the first instance you should review the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) definition of advanced practice as well as their fact sheets. While you don’t have the full independence of a Nurse Practitioner you must demonstrate you are building towards managing complex patients by undertaking comprehensive health assessments, clinical examinations, diagnostic reasoning, requesting tests, developing management plans including pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatments and referrals.
Q. Is the QUT Master of Nurse Practitioner course accredited?
A. Yes, the Master of Nurse Practitioner at QUT is accredited by the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Accreditation Council.
Q. Can I add clinical supervisors in addition to the supervisors nominated in my application?
A. Yes. You can have up to six supervisors and they can change over the two years of the course. They must be either Nurse Practitioners or senior medical officers (specialists).
What to expect while studying the Master of Nurse Practitioner
Q. How long do subjects or units run for in each semester?
A. The course delivery is 13 weeks in each semester. Assignments are spread out across the 13 week period. In terms of gaining clinical hours ideally these would take place within 13 weeks, however there is some flexibility in offering extensions in special circumstances.
Q. How much time do I have to complete the Master of Nurse Practitioner course?
There is potential for you to complete this course over two to four years.
Q. Is it reasonable to study two subjects a semester while working full time?
A. Yes if you are prepared to make some sacrifices as the content is at a masters’ level therefore heavy in commitment.
The nurse practitioner candidate position or transitional nurse practitioner position is one in which your employer is effectively sponsoring you to undertake the masters' program while practicing clinically within your area. Usually this means that you have designated time to build up your skills and students generally find undertaking the program a lot easier if in a supported position (rather than their own time).
Q. Is it possible to study one subject per semester?
A. Yes, it is possible to study a subject per semester, and that will take you four years to complete. This is an option if you need more advance practice hours or have heavy family commitments.
Q. What are the options for people who are not in a candidate or transitional position?
A. If you're not working in an area where you can undertake study as part of your job, you may need to consider taking leave at times. Part-time work, part-time study may suit you better or a combination of leave and reduced load. There is some flexibility in how the course can be offered so don’t let that stop you from enquiring about the program e.g. completing the course over a 3-4 year progression.
Q. Is it reasonable to study the course without employer support?
A. You will require employer sign off at an executive level to enter the course. Plus you require a minimum of two clinical support team members (Nurse Practitioner (NP)/Consultant; or NP/NP or 2 Consultants). The more support you have from your day-to-day workplace the better your experience will be.
If you are doing the program on your own time (i.e. no designated Candidate or transitional position) you have to create placements for yourself, which can be challenging at the start.
Q. How does the nurse practitioner course deliver content about the different specialty areas?
A. The way the course is designed, we provide generic information and you apply that information to your specialty. You’ll learn in virtual classrooms alongside registered nurses working in mental health, endocrinology, emergency, neonatal ICU, primary health care, vascular wound care, renal, and more. We have people from all sorts of specialties and you learn from each other.
When you undertake the integrated professional practice units in the first semester of Year 1 and both semesters of second year, you’ll develop a clinical support teams appropriate to your model of care / specialty.
Q. Do nurse practitioner students receive a timetable for the required clinical hours?
A. No. While you will receive a time frame for when the hours must be completed, there is no timetable. There is some flexibility around completion times for the clinical hours.
The timing of the hours is something that you will work out with your team week to week as part of your progression through the program.
Q. What are the requirements around completing the advanced practiced hours within the program?
A. Within the Master of Nurse Practitioner program you will complete 300 hours of advanced practice nursing (completing comprehensive health assessments / head to toe examinations on increasingly complex patients) and we monitor this by you completing a rigorous clinical log of those hours / patient encounters.
For more information:
Explore the Master of Nurse Practitioner
Find out about postgraduate nursing at QUT
Contact QUT by calling (07) 3138 2000 via email: askqut@qut.edu.au
