Overview
The Cardiorespiratory Care programme is for nurses, paramedics, physiotherapists, physiologists, pharmacists and other professions allied to health who are seeking to specialise and enhance their professional capability in the management of adults with cardiorespiratory conditions.
Developed in direct response to the evolving needs of today’s healthcare workforce, this postgraduate programme has been designed for acute and community services, with specialist teaching input from clinical experts. You will gain contemporary, evidence based knowledge that supports the delivery of sustainable, high quality healthcare for adults with cardiorespiratory conditions.
You will develop your clinical assessment and diagnostic reasoning skills of adults with cardiovascular and respiratory conditions through an in depth exploration of the pathophysiological processes that underpin acute, chronic and advanced disease.
This programme equips you with the confidence and capability for autonomous, research informed decision making. You will graduate prepared to deliver safe, effective, and person centred cardiorespiratory care that makes a meaningful difference to patient outcomes.
This programme is a unique educational collaboration between three King’s Health Partners:
• King’s College London
• Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust (GSTT)
• King’s College Hospital NHS Trust (KCH)
Key benefits
- The course is delivered by internationally renowned clinicians and academics from King’s Health Partners with expertise in the care of cardiac and respiratory diseases.
- You will be studying at the #2 nursing faculty in the world, and # 1 in the UK (2026 QS World University Rankings), a world-leading centre for applied and allied healthcare, clinical research and education.
- Benefit from a wide range of optional modules offered in year 2 which allows you to tailor your development to suit your own clinical and professional needs.
- Located in the heart of London, across four of King’s Thames-side campuses (Waterloo, Strand, St Thomas’ and Guy’s) and the Denmark Hill Campus in South London.
This innovative MSc combines the clinical expertise from pioneering centres of excellence with the academic expertise at King’s, offering nurses and allied professionals the opportunity to advance their chosen career pathway in specialist clinical practice, clinical leadership or clinical academic careers in cardiorespiratory care.
Course essentials
The programme is designed to provide flexibility for healthcare professionals to enable them to study alongside their clinical role:
- Students enrolled on the PG Certificate complete 60 credits over one year of part-time study.
- Students enrolled on the PG Diploma complete 120 credits over two years of part-time study.
- Students enrolled on the MSc complete 180 credits over three years of part-time study.
Year 1 (60 credits) – The first year is taken by students enrolled on the MSc, PG Diploma and PG Certificate. Clinical experts from King’s Health Partners will lead the teaching for the three core modules. You will develop your clinical assessment and diagnostic reasoning skills through an in-depth exploration of the pathophysiological processes that underpin acute, chronic and advanced cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. You’ll also critically appraise and synthesise cardiorespiratory research evidence.
Year 2 (60 credits) – Year 2 is taken by students enrolled on the MSc and PG Diploma. You’ll select 60 credits of optional modules from a wide variety which will enable you to tailor your programme of study to support your career development across clinical practice, leadership and management, research and education.
Year 3 (60 credits) – Year 3 is taken by students enrolled on the MSc. Students will complete a dissertation, which is a substantial project relevant to your field of practice. You will draw on learning and skills acquired during the course to select a dissertation topic, and will work with a supervisor to produce a considerable piece of written work through one-to-one supervision and self-directed study.
If you apply for the PG Certificate or PG Diploma in the first instance, you can also decide to continue your studies by transferring to the full 3-year Master’s qualification if you should later wish.
Administrative bodies
Partner
King's Health Partners