Advanced Physical Assessment and Clinical Decision Making

Attendance mode

Entry year

Duration: 5 months
Start date: January
Location: City Campus

Suitable for UK applications.

Overview

This is a 30-credit module, studied at level 7, for students on a study program leading to advancing practice in their role.

It will provide students with an understanding of the theoretical underpinnings of the concepts, skills, practice and management of the consultation process. This will enable students to acquire advanced knowledge and expertise to undertake both comprehensive clinical history taking and skilled physical assessment, covering multiple systems, such as cardiovascular, respiratory, and muscular-skeletal. This learning is supported by lecturers with/from ACP backgrounds, who can further link theory and practice.

Your learning will take place in multi-professional groups with other experienced healthcare professionals, improving your inter-professional communication skills and networking opportunities.

This module is subject to having a viable number of students to run.

Application deadlines

January 2026 entry

application deadline: 15 December 2025

Fees, finance and scholarships

Tuition fee

These fees are for entry during the 2026-2027 academic year (September 2026 - August 2027).

10 credits: £642
20 credits: £1284
30 credits: £1926
40 credits: £2568
Dissertation: £2782

Additional course costs

There may be additional costs that you may incur as a student. Though these are not essential to your programme of study you need to be aware of them as a student of the University. A list of the sort of costs you might expect can be found on our fees and finance section.

Funding your studies

It can be hard to know what financial help is available to you as a student.

Health Education England may fund some health courses/modules at the University of Bradford for healthcare staff providing NHS services working within West Yorkshire and Harrogate, against organisational training priorities identified through the organisations training needs analysis.

You are therefore advised to contact the SSPRD Signatory within your organisation regarding their organisational training priorities.

See our fees and financial support section.

Postgraduate Master's Loan

If you live in England you may be able to apply for a special Government-funded Master's Loan to help pay your tuition fees and living costs. You don't have to pay the loan back until you're earning a certain amount of money.

Further information about the variety of options that can help fund your studies and maximise the money available to you is available on our funding your studies section.

Scholarships

Every year we award numerous non-repayable scholarships to UK, EU and international students on the basis of academic excellence, personal circumstances or economic hardship. For full details, visit our scholarships section.

Entry requirements

You must:

have support from your clinical area
have a supervisor in practice that needs to complete the attached form prior to commencing the module
work within a clinical area that will enable you to gain the wide experience you will need to meet all the learning outcomes of the module
have previous Level 6 study

Your learning journey

The face-to-face onsite study days run from January to May, on alternate Mondays.

Each day is dedicated to a specific system, the history-taking, the physical examination, the clinical decision-making, supporting formulation of differential diagnosis.

The systems covered are:

cardiac
respiratory
abdominal
neurology
MSK
ENT/eyes/dermatology

The morning session is a lecture.

The afternoon session is a practical review of the physical examination skills covered in the morning theory session.

Assessment is by:

May submission: OSCEs
July submission: 4000-word portfolio comprising of five reflective pieces. Competency Document: supportive evidence to meet the competencies.

Career prospects

There is national recognition of the need for health professionals who are able to work across professional boundaries to provide patient centred care. This module will develop your skills and knowledge to improve your clinical practice and to plan, implement and evaluate care.

This module has also been developed in collaboration with Yorkshire Ambulance Service to contribute to the continuing professional development requirements of UK paramedics.

Career opportunities

The University is committed to helping students develop and enhance employability and this is an integral part of many programmes. Specialist support is available throughout the course from Career and Employability Services including help to find part-time work while studying, placements, vacation work and graduate vacancies. Students are encouraged to access this support at an early stage and to use the extensive resources on the careers section.

This is the current course information. Modules and course details may change, subject to the University's programme approval, monitoring and review procedures. The University reserves the right to alter or withdraw courses, services and facilities as described on our website without notice and to amend Ordinances, Regulations, fees and charges at any time. Students should enquire as to the up-to-date position when applying for their course of study.