Curricula

Key learning outcomes

The Master's Degree Programme in Advanced Practice Nursing (APN) prepares you to take a position of an expert in the health care to make a significant impact on the lives of your patients and your profession. We educate experienced nurses at the master's level, enabling you to work with a demanding job description as an Advanced Nurse Practitioner.

As a graduate of Jamk’s APN programme, you will be able to be in charge of the nursing of diverse patient groups both independently and in multi-professional co-operation. You will be able to conduct health assessment and provide direct clinical care in complex decision-making situations. With modern, innovative techniques, you can plan, implement, and assess patient counselling to support patients in adhering to their treatment plans.

In addition, you employ theories and research methods used in nursing science to enhance the development of your profession. You will possess competencies for translating the best evidence into practice, and leading changes to improve quality care outcomes. Holding the master’s degree, you possess professional influencing skills, and you are also able to utilise global networks creatively to strengthen the development of nursing. As a member of a multinational student group, you will acquire the skill of cultural communication to advance your expertise in the workplace.

Education content and professional growth and know-how

The curriculum of this Master's Degree Programme in APN is competence-based and student-centric. Your professional growth is supported by a tutoring process which starts at the very beginning of your studies and continues until graduation. In this process, you complete a personal learning plan (PLP) based on your goals for competence development and career advancement. This is carried out through regular discussions with the tutor teacher. The tutoring discussion aims to ensure your graduation.

In the first year, you will acquire in-depth knowledge and advanced skills in clinical assessment, reasoning, and critical decision-making in nursing. In the second year, you will develop competencies that enhance your career growth and professional expertise in advanced nursing. In terms of the master’s thesis, you choose a topic in which you further develop a specific focus area of your own interest. The master’s thesis writing will enhance your analytical and synthesis abilities, as well as information management skills. This process also fosters scientific thinking, research skills, and project management competencies. Both face-to-face guidance and digital tools are used to support your learning. Some studies are carried out in multidisciplinary groups of master students, for example courses of research methodology and research writing.

Flexible studies

You can plan your studies so that they are carried out as part time -studies (in three years) or in full-time (in two years). Most of the courses are implemented by blended learning in virtual environments with a few obligatory ones in class skill labs, workshops or seminars. There are also fully online implemented courses that allow you to study remotely.

You can choose your alternative or elective studies offered by partner universities in Finland and abroad. Also, we utilise the studies produced by the Digivisio programme. You can apply for accreditation of higher education studies that you have completed elsewhere. In this APN programme, we cooperate globally with other higher education institutions, including with Nordic and Baltic countries to offer your student mobility periods.

Working life oriented learning

According to your personal learning plan (PLP) you may integrate all learning assignments of the courses to your own clinical area. During the studies all the APN master students continuously reflect on their learning in the light of their current and previous work experiences. In this way, you can utilise the competencies and work experience of other group members in your studies. Interaction with the working life is intensified while conducting master’s thesis as a development project or empirical research in which the topic is based on current issues and challenges in advanced nursing practice that need to be solved. Guest lecturers and international specialists further enhances working life contact and multicultural co-operation.

Career opportunities and employment

Graduates from the Master’s Degree Programme in Advanced Practice Nursing have found employment in different types of experts, manager, development and coordination positions in health care organisations. You can also work as a project manager or an expert in international and multicultural development projects.

The level of practice autonomy and accountability is determined by the context of the country and setting and the regulatory policies in which the master's degree earned nurse will practice.

Future job titles for you are:

advanced nurse practitioner
advanced practice nurse
clinical nurse specialist
advanced clinical practitioner
team leader
project leader/manager

Qualifications

There are no specific degree-related or statutory qualification requirements in the field.

Further studies

You may, after graduation, apply to continue to postgraduate studies at universities or in the school of professional teacher education. You can also continue your studies by applying for corresponding post-degree education at universities abroad, such as E³UDRES² European University Alliance institutions. In addition, universities of applied sciences provide opportunities for competence development in the form of specialisation education and open university of applied sciences.

Education planning

The International Council of Nurses’ competence recommendations for advanced practice nursing and Finnish Nurse practitioner’s competence areas have been used for the programme planning. The planning has been carried out in cooperation with the representatives from regional working life. Furthermore, the master students of current programmes provided feedback on the content and the courses of the programme during the planning process.

Contact Information

Hanna Hopia
Principal Lecturer
School of Health and Social Studies
+358400989446
firstname.lastname@jamk.fi