Mental Health Nursing (Kirkcaldy) University of Dundee

Overview

Completing this MSc Mental Health Nursing (Kirkcaldy) from University of Dundee gives you both an academic qualification and professional registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Council.

You'll need to already have an undergraduate degree to study the MSc version of this course. You will be based in Kirkcaldy, the second largest town in Fife, 30 miles from Dundee. Our Kirkcaldy Campus has a community feel and its own clinical skills centre. We have strong links with NHS Fife, where most of your placements will be.

As a mental health nurse, you will care for people in a diverse range of settings, with a variety of mental health challenges. 

For the MSc version of this course you will complete a dissertation on a topic of your choosing.

A significant proportion of the population will experience difficulties with their mental health during their lifetime and this course will prepare you to support them in their recovery. You will gain practical and cognitive skills and will leave the course as a competent and confident practitioner.

You will learn to work in different settings, such as city hospitals, rural communities, and in people's own homes. 

You will spend 50% of your time learning on our City Campus and the other 50% on placements in hospitals and community settings. Your placements help you develop the hands-on skills needed to work in healthcare and you will be introduced to the practical elements of mental health nursing in our clinical skills centre.

Teaching

Because hospitals run 24/7, so do nurses and this is reflected in our teaching.

We expect you to work shifts in your hospital and community placements and you will work 37.5 hours a week. You might have to travel a significant distance to get to some placements. If you are entitled to the SAAS student nurse bursary, you will be able to claim back travel expenses subject to conditions. If you are not entitled to the bursary, you are expected to pay for your own travel.

The academic year for nurses is longer than other courses. It is 45 weeks long, meaning you get seven weeks of annual leave which is fixed for the duration of your course.

A typical week is made up of time spent in lectures, clinical skills laboratory, small tutorials and private study.

You will work together with students from all three fields of nursing and learn through a variety of methods including case-based learning, evidence-based learning, inter-professional education and clinical skills simulation.

Careers

Qualified nurses can work in a diverse range of environments and develop their careers in clinical practice, education, research, management and education. Nurses can work in hospital settings or in the community either with the NHS or in the Independent sector.