Master's Degree Programme in Advanced Clinical Practice, Palliative Care, Autumn 2025: YKLAPS25

Descriptions

Study objectives:

Palliative nursing education gives you the opportunity to deepen your expertise in palliative care. Through the education, you will network with experts in your field and in other fields and look at the challenges of working life from different perspectives.
The competences acquired in the Master's degree in Palliative Care is in line with the international competences for a Nurse Practitioner, Advanced Practice Nurse, Advanced Clinical Practitioner. The clinical specialist qualification strengthens the student's competence in palliative care nursing at a demanding level, contributes to the development of care and nursing practice and indirectly strengthens the competence of all staff, particularly in the clinical setting.
The education's aim is to strengthen your ability to work independently in extended specialist roles requiring clinical expertise and to develop palliative care in different settings and at different levels of care. In particular, the aim of the education is to acquire the competence to work at levels B and C of palliative care. The deepening of competence is not limited to patient care and its development in specialized palliative care units but can be used in different contexts in social and health care.

More about the language of instruction:

The main tuition language Finnish, but parts of the teaching can be in English.

Structure and contents of studies:

The extent of the study programme is 90 ECTS. The structure of the studies:

The studies are composed of:
- compulsory core competences 40 ECTS
- elective complementary competences 20 ECTS
- thesis work 30 ECTS.

Studies in core competence consist of 5 credits courses (5 ECTS is the computational equivalent of 135 hours of work).

The core competence (40 ECTS) consists of the advanced studies (30 ECTS) and the common core competence (10 ECTS). The content of the advanced studies includes the development of clinical expertise in palliative care, advance practice nursing in palliative care, patient-centred nursing process in palliative care, multiple interactions in palliative care, person-centred palliative care, multidisciplinary knowledge base and multidisciplinary collaboration in palliative care, and evidence-based competence management and development in palliative care. The other studies in the core competences include future awareness, foresight, sustainable development and research and development methods.

Elective complementary competence is built on elective studies (20 ECTS) in which the student expands his/her competence by including studies from his/her own or other education or from the offerings of other higher education institutions. Elective studies are also offered as a completely virtual implementation.

Master´s thesis:

The Master's thesis (30 ECTS) solves a topical issue or problem related to working life. The topic of the thesis may be related to the development of a new product, service or process, for example. The thesis is carried out as a commission in research, development and innovation projects (RDI) of working life or Turku University of Applied Sciences. You can also acquire the topic from a variety of professional networks, third sector, wellbeing services counties or national research institutes. The thesis is done individually or in pairs. The completion of the thesis requires the ability to work independently and in expert work. In accordance with the tripartite model, the work is carried out in cooperation between the student, the teacher tutor and the working life mentor/contact person throughout the education. As a rule, the guidance is implemented as group guidance in ways agreed with the supervisor/teacher tutor of the thesis.

Career opportunities:

The graduate can work in various national or international expert, development and management positions.
Tasks may include various demanding management, expert and development tasks in the private and public sectors of the social and health care sector or in non-governmental organizations. The degree also provides an opportunity to work in teaching positions in the social welfare and health care sector, if you also complete pedagogical studies.

It is a good idea to start your own career planning right at the beginning of your studies and continue it throughout your studies. A personal study plan (ISP) lays the foundation for this. During your studies, you can evaluate and refine your own goals and the knowledge and skills you need by updating your study plan, for example with regard to elective studies.

Qualification:

An upper university degree produces the same eligibility for a public post or post as a university degree at a university. Training provides general competence in management and development tasks. In the social and health sector, besides the general eligibility conditions, there is also sector-specific regulation for management. Extensive development and substance expertise enables national and international mobility. The training follows the European Qualification Framework (EQF) proficiency level descriptions and the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) proficiency descriptions. The level corresponding to the higher polytechnic degree is 7.

Possible jobtitles after graduation:

Graduates can work in various national or international expert, development, management and teaching positions in the field of advanced care nursing.

Job titles: nurse practitioner, advanced practice nurse, ward or assistant ward nurse, team leader, care coordinator, case manager

Internationalisation:

Students have the opportunity to complete part of their studies outside Finland at the higher education institutions with which Turku University of Applied Sciences has signed a cooperation agreement. In addition, students can integrate internationalization in their studies e.g. by participating in the intensive weeks organized by the international networks as well as by participating in international conferences and projects.

Co-operation with other parties:

Cooperation with various working life organizations and networking are part of the studies. In research, development and innovation projects, cooperation can also extend to international higher education institutions and international working life partners.

During studies students can apply for courses at other higher education institutions and include these in a degree. Students can take advantage of CampusOnline's joint online study offer at the polytechnics of Finland. You can find CampusOnline's offer in your study record system Peppi (cross-institutional studies).

Research focus:

The focus of applied research, development and innovation activities is on project and group work related to the students' work tasks and the development of the employer organization, as well as in the thesis. Students have the opportunity to do some of the studies in the University of Applied Sciences' own projects.

Check out the research groups and projects on the Turku University of Applied Sciences website > Research and Development and innovations > Research Groups

Postgraduate study opportunities:

A Master’s degree awarded by a university of applied sciences provides eligibility for further academic studies as well as for applying for professional teacher education. Universities may set conditions on granting rights for further studies in the form of e.g. supplementary studies.

Objective

On completion of the education, students will achieve:

1) a broad and in-depth knowledge of the field of clinical expertise, palliative care and the theoretical knowledge required for the development of professional life, as well as the necessary theoretical knowledge to work in demanding specialist and managerial positions in palliative care,

2) an in-depth understanding of the field of clinical specialist, palliative care education, its role in professional life and its relevance to society, and the ability to analyze the development of research and professional practice in the field,

3) the capacity for continuous learning and development of one's own professional skills,

4) communication and language skills required in the workplace; and

5) the skills required for international interaction and professional activities.

Development

The pedagogical approach applied in the leadership (MBA) studies is Innovation pedagogy that refers to an approach of constructivist and problem-based learning. Master´s students study alongside their work and want to broaden and deepen their theoretical knowledge and get models to apply theory in their own work.

At the beginning of each semester there is one day of contact teaching on the campus of Turku University of Applied Sciences and mainly studying takes place online. Studying is practice-oriented distance learning that includes contact teaching, guidance, independent work, group and project work and development tasks. There is little traditional lecture-oriented study. On average, there are two days of contact teaching per month via remote connections, and students should reserve time not only for self-study but also for group work between students. The workload of studies corresponds to full-time studies (20 ECTS per semester corresponds to 540 hours of work).

The student creates an individual study plan (ISP) at the beginning of his/her studies. According to the plan, the student selects elective studies related to, among other things, the implementation of the thesis and their own career plans. An important part of the education is the thesis, which combines theory, practice, and the production and application of new knowledge.

Further information

The objectives for skills levels in a Master’s Degree are based on the legislation on universities of applied sciences and the European Qualification Framework (EQF). The level corresponding to a Master’s Degree is level 7. The assessment criteria for each course are described in its implementation plan. Performance requirements vary depending on objectives, content and the method of implementation. The courses and the thesis are mainly assessed on a scale of 0 to 5. Assessment focuses on competence and its development. The course assessment methods vary according to the objectives of the study module. Assessment may focus on the outcome (for instance, a report or a seminar presentation), on the process (the student’s own activity and actions during the course) or on both. Students receive regular feedback on their performance from their teachers. Peer- and self-assessment as well as client company feedback on performance are also utilized. The degree assessment framework is used as the basis for the assessment. The Degree Programme will be developed according to the principles of continuous improvement. In the development work, feedback from the students and working life as well as their initiatives have a key role. Feedback is collected with, for instance, student questionnaires and group-specific development discussions.