Critical Care

Entry requirements

A UK 2:1 honours degree, or its international equivalent, in medicine (MBChB or equivalent), nursing, dietetics, physiotherapy, or any other allied health care profession involved in the management of critically ill patients.

In addition applicants must demonstrate experience of working with critically ill patients for a period of more than 3 months. This information should be contained in your referee's letter.

Months of entry

September

Course content

We have designed the MSc Critical Care (online) programme for health care professionals who encounter critically ill adults in their daily practice. These professionals include:

• nurses
• doctors in training
• senior doctors from all specialties
• allied health professionals (for example, physiotherapists, paramedics and dietitians)

Prospective students will often be working full time in professional roles and need a flexible approach to study. The programme is therefore designed as a part-time, fully online, MSc programme.

You have the option of graduating after one, two, or three years with a postgraduate certificate, postgraduate diploma, or MSc respectively.

You will study core clinical subjects in year one and two of the programme, covering, but not limited to:

• recognition of critical illness
• initial treatment and stabilisation
• advanced organ system support
• coordination of care within the intensive care unit
• human factors

This will provide you with a comprehensive, practical, and evidence-based knowledge. This knowledge can easily be applied in clinical practice.

You will be able to customise your learning by choosing two elective courses at the end of year two.

Integrated into the programme is a graduated exposure to academic research practice in the core 'Unlocking the Literature' teaching theme. This starts in the second teaching block and builds over the first 2 years.

You will become equipped with the skills to access and appraise the biomedical literature. This will fuel your curiosity, and allow you to actively take part in clinical discussions:

• on the programme
• with colleagues in the workplace

You will develop as an independent and critical thinker. You will be able to appraise primary and secondary research (research synthesis), and incorporate its findings into:

• personal practice
• guidelines
• work improvement

For those choosing the MSc dissertation option, this learning will culminate in a supervised research, quality improvement, audit, or guideline development project.