Master of Nursing Practice

Curtin's Master of Nursing Practice is the graduate-entry pathway into nursing registration for people who already hold a degree in something else. It runs four semesters plus a summer coursework term, condensed but not shortcut, since it still carries 840 hours of professional practice experience and 216 hours of simulated practice, the same clinical hour benchmarks the undergraduate degree runs on, just compressed into two years instead of three.

Because the cohort is graduate-entry, the theory content moves faster than an undergraduate nursing unit would: physical, biological, psychological and social science content is treated as something students can absorb quickly given prior degree-level study skills, with more weight placed on advanced clinical development and interprofessional learning than on foundational science literacy.

Professional practice placements run full-time and include shift and night duty work, mirroring the undergraduate program's approach of exposing students to how wards actually operate rather than easing them in. It's a deliberate design choice given these students will be entering the workforce as registered nurses within two years rather than three, so the placement intensity compensates for the shorter timeline.