Advanced Practice

Learn from the global leaders in dementia education to help lead positive change

The Wicking Dementia Research and Education Centre is a global leader in dementia research and education, with a mission to transform the understanding of dementia worldwide. We offer leading online education, based on the latest research, that is suitable for everyone at any stage of their career.

The Dementia specialisation provides a global perspective on the impact of dementia on individuals and societies. It is aimed at health professionals building their expertise in aged care and dementia. The rising prevalence of dementia is creating new challenges and a pressing need for change in the way our systems and practices support people to live well with dementia - equip yourself with the expertise to lead transformation, based on the latest evidence.

The Dementia specialisation offers a comprehensive understanding of dementia from the perspectives of individuals, families, communities, healthcare systems and governments. You will explore a range of approaches aimed at supporting people living with dementia to maintain healthy lives and examine the ways that healthcare systems and government policy affect health and social care provision.

Lead the provision of safe, high-quality contemporary care

The Governance specialisation provides a comprehensive introduction to contemporary healthcare quality and safety with a focus on person-centred care. Students will gain a broad understanding of governance, clinical governance and risk management within health and human services, focussing on recent developments and changes.

You will explore healthcare quality and safety, learn about the foundations of patient safety and quality improvement design within the healthcare arena and reflect on your own individual practice. You will examine current concepts and trends and barriers in risk management and governance and explore the issues and complex relationships between medico-legal issues, clinical error, consumer rights and services, occupational health systems, quality of service strategies, the systems and structures for the management of the law/medicine interface, and its governance in pursuit of reliable delivery of safe, high-quality care and services.

Choice units will allow you to explore aspects of clinical governance in more depth, with options focussed on health ethics and law, safety and quality, sustainability, and consumer engagement.

This Governance specialisation will support clinicians, clinical managers and those in other management roles to develop the knowledge and skills that are vital to the provision of safe, high-quality contemporary care.

Lead the change you want to see in the healthcare sector.

The Health Service Improvement specialisation allows you to improve existing health services and processes, with a central goal of improving patient care.

The content will provide you with the leadership skills to drive healthcare improvement through evidence-based solutions. You’ll learn about improvement theory and apply a suite of tools and techniques that encourage a problem-solving mindset.

Whether you’re a practising health professional in a public, private, or not- for-profit organisation, or a healthcare administrator, you’ll develop the skills to lead your workplace into becoming more efficient and person-centred.

Become a capable and responsive educator and supervisor

The Healthcare Education specialisation will develop your knowledge and skills to make you a more effective leader, educator and clinical supervisor.

In the core units, you will explore clinical supervision theory and practice and critically review models of supervision across professions and healthcare contexts using a framework for effective leadership and supervision. You will reflect on your own clinical supervision experiences and practice within the existing models and will analyse, reflect and plan improvements in personal supervisory practice.

Choice units will allow you to explore other aspects of healthcare education including simulation, learning and teaching in healthcare settings and educational professionalism.

The Healthcare Education specialisation is designed for health professionals working in a range of health and human service settings who want to develop skills in learner supervision, designing education for their peers, and developing educational interventions.

Master the dynamics of the healthcare environment to lead system change

Every health organisation needs qualified and passionate leaders. The Organisational Performance specialisation will support you to develop the skills to accentuate your natural leadership qualities or help you find skills you didn’t know you had. Within this specialisation, you will develop in-depth contemporary knowledge of health and human service systems across a range of leadership and management dimensions.

The range of choice units will allow you to explore aspects of organisational performance in more detail, including health data management, managing complex adaptive organisations, decision-making, monitoring performance and health finance and economics.

The Organisational Performance specialisation focuses on providing organisational performance management skills to emerging, middle and senior managers, clinicians, and health professionals working within health and human services.

Become a supply chain manager

The maritime and logistics industries underpin international business and world trade. They are a key element in sustainable development, and are tightly interconnected with human society: physically, socially and economically.

It is critical that our supply chains are managed by highly trained individuals and teams who can lead the development, implementation and control of sound contemporary management practices.

The Supply Chain and Logistics specialisation will prepare you for management and senior administrative roles in in a range of industries, including health. On completion of this specialisation, you can be confident that the skills, knowledge and networks you’ve acquired through study will allow you to succeed in a diverse range of areas including transport policy and administration, freight forwarding, exporting and importing, logistics and supply chains, and other critical elements of global international industry.

• Duration: 1 year, up to 3 years part-time
• Location: Online

The Graduate Certificate in Advanced Practice has been co-designed with the health industry and features a strong inter-disciplinary approach, drawing on content from a broad range of disciplines across the University, with an emphasis on providing students with the flexibility to choose content that best progresses their career ambitions. Graduates will be able to utilise advanced critical thinking and leadership skills to be more effective in their role within the health system.

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• Duration: 2 years, up to 5 years part-time
• Location: Online

The Graduate Diploma of Advanced Practice (Specialisation) has been co-designed with the health industry and features a strong inter-disciplinary approach, drawing on content from a broad range of disciplines across the University, with an emphasis on providing students with the flexibility to choose content that best progresses their career ambitions.

The initial core content focuses on the development of leadership and critical thinking skills, while choice units allow students to broaden their knowledge of aspects of the health system. Students build on this foundation to progress to more specialised content that aligns with their current or desired career pathway. The course provides advanced knowledge and skills in governance, strategic communication, organisational performance, workplace psychology, healthcare education, supply chain and logistics, and other clinical areas, to meet industry needs.

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• Duration: 3 years, up to 7 years part-time
• Location: Online

The Master of Advanced Practice (Specialisation) has been co-designed with major health providers for the health workforce, with content developed to meet the needs of health professionals from all disciplines. Building upon foundational units in leadership and critical thinking, master's students will complete a specialisation of their choice and select a research pathway.

The Capstone Pathway will develop your research skills as you design and conduct a quality improvement project relevant to your workplace and/or career aspirations. In the Research Pathway, you will complete a substantial piece of original, independent research, focused on the topics that are of particular interest, which provides you with a pathway to a Higher Degree by Research.

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