Master of Nursing (Pre-Registration)*

The Master of Nursing (Pre-Registration) degree prepares students for professional practice as registered nurses. It offers exceptional learning opportunities that enable students to integrate theory and practice to deliver confident, sustainable, quality care in a range of health care settings. Students will learn to think critically, manage complex healthcare challenges, and develop skills to situate themselves as a global healthcare leader. The course incorporates a range of professional nursing subjects, applied sciences, research and professional subjects relevant to contemporary nursing practice. Students will participate in active collaborative learning in simulated clinical laboratories, tutorials, and 840 hours of clinical placement experiences in a variety of settings and different local health districts. Students will be required to travel to a range of clinical facilities to attend clinical placements.

What you will study

As a graduate-level program, students entering are expected to have, at minimum, a Bachelors degree. The program will focus on easing the students' transition to UOW and preparing them to become health professionals. A substantial attention is made in a rigorous foundational subject and the initial study session to enhance both the students' learning experience and their readiness to enter the health profession. This strategy aims to motivate students to stay committed to the degree. In their first four weeks of enrolment, all students will complete an online Academic Integrity Module (AIM). This discipline-specific module is designed to instil a robust understanding of academic literacy, contextualized to their course, program, and future profession. AIM uses a self-paced, sequential, 'step-through' approach to foster interactive, self-directed, and independent learning. This module enables students to learn from their mistakes, providing immediate formative feedback. It links to relevant university policies, resources, and learning support to equip students better. The purpose of AIM is to prepare students and help them avoid common issues such as plagiarism and academic fraud that often occur when students lack an understanding of academic integrity.

In the introductory subject, MNPR800 Nursing Foundations, students are expected to engage in a range of activities. These activities, including online readings, videos, and self-introduction discussion forums on the e-Learning Moodle platform, are intentionally structured to equip students with essential knowledge for the subject. Furthermore, these activities offer students the chance to familiarise themselves with and interact with their peers. There will be regular feedback given in various forms such as self-assessment, peer review, automated responses from interactive activities like quizzes, and prompt replies from the subject coordinator to questions posted in the discussion forums on the E-Learning site. The goal of providing continuous formative feedback is to engage students, fostering a mindset of learning and development, whilst scaffolding towards enhancing student performance in summative assessments. Learning analytics will be used to identify and support students at risk of disengagement or poor performance, to keep them on track. This is particularly important during the students first semester of study as they transition into this program and manage course expectations.

This degree

The Master of Nursing (Pre-registration) course is designed for university graduates from diverse disciplines, including those without prior health education. This two-year course builds upon your existing undergraduate knowledge, preparing you for a career as a registered nurse. The program emphasises evidence-based clinical practice and integrates important areas such as bioscience, pathophysiology, therapeutics, and pharmacology within professional nursing practice in contemporary healthcare environments. A key focus is placed on sustainability, and people-centred healthcare. The course structure enables students to develop competence in their nursing skills through simulations before undertaking clinical placements in diverse healthcare settings. Additionally, the course prioritises cultural safety, collaboration, teamwork, and the social responsibility that are essential in contemporary nursing practice.

Applications open May 2024.

* This course is not on offer until 2025 and subject to accreditation by Australian Nursing and Midwifery Accreditation Council (ANMAC) and approval by the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA).