Postgraduate Coursework
Master of Nursing (Nurse Practitioner)
2020
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The Master of Nursing (Nurse Practitioner) course focuses on developing and enhancing your capability in core nurse practitioner knowledge and skills in line with the Standards of Practice set by NMBA. This includes, but is not limited to:
- expanded practice
- professional autonomy and accountability, and
- clinical leadership.
The course builds on the knowledge you will have already gained through professional experience and postgraduate studies. It has a focus on person-centred care that is culturally responsive, to be applied within primary health care or any other healthcare settings where the Nurse Practitioner provides care.
Intensives (on Campus)
This course is available online with compulsory on-campus intensives. You are required to participate in two intensive weeks over the course of the program. The intensives are undertaken in semester one each year, both of which take place at our Sydney campus. Confirmation of the time will be communicated at a later date.
Students will need to meet the cost of attending intensives themselves; including travel and accommodation.
Clinical Placements
In this course you are required to undertake a minimum of 300 hours supernumerary integrated professional practice (IPP).
CDU students on clinical placements are registered with AHPRA. Due to this, you are required to declare to The University if you have an impairment that may detrimentally affect your capacity to undertake clinical practice or place the public at substantial risk of harm. The information you provide may be disclosed to AHPRA, otherwise it will remain confidential.
Clinical Support Team (CST)
Chosen CST members and the clinical mentor (CM) must be employed at a minimum of 0.5 full-time equivalent (FTE) to enable consistent supervision and assessment in practice; casual staff are not eligible as CST members.
The nurse practitioner (NP) student will be working closely with their team to expand and further develop their clinical skills, decision-making, critical thinking, diagnostic reasoning, patient management, and professional practice.
It is desirable that the members of the CST have at least one of the following: educational training, experience supervising previous NP students, or experience of supervising registrar or medical students as outlined in the CST agreement form. This can be found in the Clinical Requirements SNNP01 assessment pack.
Career opportunities
Nurse Practitioners work in a wide variety of health care settings. As a Nurse Practitioner you can work in primary health care, community health or older adult care. Nurse Practitioners work in hospital or outreach from different specialist areas, common areas; chronic diseases i.e. heart failure, renal or respiratory. There are opportunities to work in public and/or private health care either employed or through your own business as an endorsed Nurse Practitioner.
Professional recognition
Graduates of the course may be eligible to apply to the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia for endorsement as a Nurse Practitioner. See the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia website for further details regarding regulatory requirements.
Credit transfers & pathways
Pathways for Higher Education to Higher Education
For information about credit transfer available to students with complete or incomplete study at this or other Institutions refer to Pathways for Higher Education to Higher Education
For further information on credit transfer and how to apply visit ASK CDU
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This course is accredited by the University in accordance with the Higher Education Standards.
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Australian qualification framework
This course is recognised in the Australian Qualifications Framework at Level 9.
Contact details
For further information about the course, enrolment procedures, closing dates and other administrative issues please contact Student Central on:
Course structure
This course consists of core and specialist elective units building on the foundation of specialist knowledge and skills, evidence-based practice, cultural safety and introductory pharmacology acquired at previous studies undergraduate and furthermore postgraduate level. The core units address the NMBA (2014) Nurse Practitioner Standards for Practice and encompass acquisition of knowledge and skills, critical thinking, decision making and complex problem solving required for advanced and extended clinical practice and clinical leadership.
In addition to the core units addressing the professional context of NP extended clinical practice including pharmacology for prescribers, students will undertake specialist elective units in which they can explore a range of research options and an area of professional leadership relevant to the advanced and extended role of the nurse practitioner.
A candidate must successfully complete units totalling 80 credit points as detailed below. All units are valued at 10 credit points unless indicated.
| Unit type | Credit Points | Specific requirements |
| Core Units (6 units) |
60cp | Compulsory Core units totalling 60 credit points as per the list of units detailed below:
NUR510 Foundation of Nurse Practitioner Practice |
| Specialist Electives (2 units) |
20cp |
Specialist Elective units totalling 20 credit points selected from the list of available units detailed below: Students must undertake: AND either |
| Electives (0 units) |
0cp |
There are no elective units available in this course. |
| 80cp | Total Credit Points |
Students who commenced in or after 2013
The grade of "PC" cannot be counted towards a Masters Degree by Coursework AQF Level 9 course award.
Students should refer to the current Grading Policy and Common Course Rules for further information.
Study plan
Students Commencing in Semester 1
The Recommended Study Plan provided below is suitable for a student commencing in semester 1 and enrolling in a standard part time load.
| Legend: | CO = Core Unit | SE = Specialist Elective |
| Semester 1 | Semester 2 | ||
| Year 1 | |||
| NUR510 Foundation of Nurse Practitioner Practice | CO | NUR513 Nurse Practitioner Integrated Professional Practice 1 | CO |
| NUR511 Assess, Examine, Investigate & Diagnose A | CO | MAN509 Contemporary Management Issues | SE |
| Year 2 | |||
| NUR515 Pharmacotherapeutics for Independent Prescribers (available from 2021) | CO | NUR614 Nurse Practitioner Integrated Professional Practice 2 | CO |
| NUR512 Assess, Examine, Investigate & Diagnose B (available from 2021) | CO | Specialist Elective | SE |
CDU Specialist Elective availability
| Semester 1 | Semester 2 |
| NUR516 Critical Evaluation of Treatment Modalities PHM525 Indigenous Health Research |
Students Commencing in Semester 2
There is no Semester 2 intake for this course.
Course fees
Both Commonwealth supported (CS) and full fee (FF) places are available for this course. If you would like to apply for a CS place use the SATAC code 1CM097 or UAC code 823152. If you would like to apply for a FF place you will need to use the SATAC code 1CM597 or UAC code 873152.
Commonwealth supported places
Commonwealth Supported places are available in this course to students who meet one of the following residency requirements:
(a) Australian Citizenship; or
(b) a New Zealand citizen or a permanent resident visa holder who will be resident within Australia for the duration of the unit.
2020: Information about fees and charges can be found at Fees and Payments.
2021: Information about fees and charges for 2021 are not yet available however will be published prior to 1 December 2020.
Non-Commonwealth supported places
Full fee paying places are available in this course.
2020: Information about fees and charges can be found at Fees and Payments.
2021: Information about fees and charges for 2021 are not yet available however will be published prior to 1 December 2020.