Research has shown that enhancing the skills of qualified nurses to degree level globally is associated with lower mortality rates, fewer medication errors, and other quality care indications. In response there is currently a national and international drive towards an all-graduate profession and a recognised need for educational programmes to upskill qualified nurses to degree level. There is contemporaneous growing awareness that health is a global issue influenced by factors that extend beyond national borders. The need for nurses in all countries to be educated to mobilise knowledge and engage in critical reasoning and ethical conduct to provide contextually appropriate healthcare and globally connected teams is increasingly being recognised.
This programme will expand the choice available to national and international nursing students who wish to develop their nursing studies at Keele University. Students will be able to undertake one year of full-time academic study or up to five years of part-time study, without assessed practice outcomes, to enhance their critical thinking, leadership skills and ability to anticipate, plan and implement the changes that are required to improve the quality of nursing care in the dynamic context of global challenges to contemporary nursing practice.