Advanced and Specialist Healthcare (Advanced Dental Clinical Practice) - MSc

The MSc Advanced and Specialist Healthcare Articulated Pathway (Advanced Dental Clinical Practice) is a part-time Master’s-level programme studied over 18 months. It provides the route for FGDP post-registration Diploma and other appropriately qualified students to achieve a full Master's qualification.

The programme is delivered by Kent's Centre for Professional Practice (CPP), based at the Medway campus. It is a joint collaboration between the Centre and the Faculty of General Dental Practice (UK) (FGDP (UK)).

Who is the programme for?

Candidates who have successfully completed an FGDP post-registration Diploma or other appropriate programmes may apply for direct access entry with advanced standing of 90 credits to the next available MSc in Advanced and Specialist Healthcare cohort.

The programme fosters intellectual and professional development of experienced healthcare practitioners allowing them to extend and deepen the analytical and critical reasoning powers which underpin practice (e.g. in organisational leadership and change, health and welfare systems, organisations and services and advanced technical procedures and practices).

The programme aims to:

• provide supervision for advanced practitioner-centred research that builds a culture of evaluation and enquiry into the practice environment
• equip experienced practitioners for their role in challenging, questioning and realigning strategies for specialist practice
• develop confident senior practitioners who are able to participate in the development of practice, and work effectively with organisational interests and evidence-based processes within complex multidisciplinary teams.

Teaching and assessment

The assessment strategies for the programmes within the MSc Advanced and Specialist Healthcare framework are designed to support the development of academic and professional practice. Participants will be expected to show novel and fresh approaches in their application of knowledge to their practice. The assessment methods used are designed to show the depth and breadth of experiential knowledge and the relation this has to participant’s professional practice.

Programme aims

This programme aims to:

• Provide supervision for advanced practitioner centred research that builds a culture of evaluation and enquiry into the practice environment.
• Equip experienced practitioners for their role in challenging, questioning and realigning strategies for specialist practice.
• Develop confident senior practitioners who are able to participate in the development of practice, work effectively with organisational interests, evidence-based processes, and within complex multidisciplinary teams.
• Enable practitioners to critically evaluate their own area of practice informed by evidence-based research and grounded in self-reflection
• Provide a culture of lifelong learning that values and respects practice as the context for building and testing theory to enhance services for patients /clients/ consumers/customers and their families.
• Enable experienced practitioners from a diverse range of educational backgrounds to access and participate in a multidisciplinary working environment. Support a programme of personal development that underpins practice development and personal planning.
• Support a programme of personal development that underpins practice development and personal planning.

Entry to the programme is via an approved articulation arrangement route. Applicants need to have successfully completed an FGDP Post-registration Diploma programme or other appropriate qualification; this provides 90 credits in the form of approved Accreditation of Prior Experiential and Certificated Learning (APECL). Applicants must also be working in a dental workplace setting. All applicants are considered on an individual basis and additional qualifications, professional qualifications and relevant experience may also be taken into account when considering applications.