The Masters of Clinical Nursing is designed to expand your knowledge and skills in clinical nursing and practice. ACU Online currently offers six specialisations: correctional health, gerontological nursing, medical, renal, surgical and neuroscience. You will develop your holistic care skills in specialty practice, including person- and family-centered health promotion. Specific knowledge in the areas of bioscience, pharmacology, and lifespan development, relevant to your chosen specialty, will also be explored and applied to your clinical nursing practice.

In the correctional health specialisation, the mental health of prisoners is comprehensively and extensively covered. Modules include the importance of physical health, healthcare management, and consequences of accelerated ageing of the prison population.

Older persons require a multi-faceted approach to care and the gerontological specialisation will support you to undertake risk assessment, clinical decision-making and to implement risk mitigation strategies to ensure the delivery of quality and safe person-centered care to older persons.

The medical specialisation explores acute and chronic medical conditions across multiple biological systems with modules covering integral anatomy, physiology, pathophysiology, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and the significance of polypharmacy in our ageing population. Foci include common respiratory conditions, the significance of infection control and the implications of hospital acquired infections.

The renal specialisation explores acute renal conditions as well as living with renal disease and the role of the nurse in primary health care for people suffering chronic renal disease. You will explore the role of vascular access devices in the care of the person with Renal disease and infection control considerations, haemo and peritoneal dialysis.

The surgical specialisation explores acute and chronic health conditions that require surgical intervention. Modules include principles and management of nursing care across the pre-operative, post-operative and discharge, surgical care continuum. Content related to surgical comorbidities, common surgical procedures, surgical safety, risk assessment and the early recognition and timely escalation of deterioration to mitigate patient harm is extensively covered. The impact that pre-operative and post-operative complications have for surgical patient outcomes, and discharge planning, will also be detailed. 

The neuroscience specialisation explores acute and chronic neurological conditions and the role of the nurse in providing evidence-based nursing care.

Visit ACU for information on further specialisations offered.