Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation (MSc)

Course Overview

This postgraduate programme equips students with the knowledge and skills required to make meaningful contributions to cardiovascular and pulmonary rehabilitation practice. The course addresses disease-specific theory and practice components together with a strong focus on research, integrated care approaches, evidence-informed innovation in rehabilitative service delivery and the latest evidence-based implementation of best-practice guidelines and healthcare policy. Whilst the main focus is cardiovascular and pulmonary disease prevention and rehabilitation, key learning outcomes achieved apply to chronic disease management more widely.  

Unique features of this programme include: 

• Flexible learning: The course uses a dual delivery approach (with a fully online option available) by incorporating scheduled tutorials and workshops coupled with the directed study. This enables students to simultaneously maintain professional roles in clinical practice or manage other commitments whilst completing their studies.   
• Delivered in partnership with the National Institute for Prevention and Cardiovascular Health (NIPC): This partnership enables an exceptional opportunity for students to interact with leading experts as well as engage in cutting-edge research and further opportunities in cardiovascular and pulmonary rehabilitation. 
• Interdisciplinary expert teaching faculty: Students from a variety of backgrounds from all over the world interact with international leaders and clinical specialists from medicine, nursing, nutrition, exercise, behavioural medicine, and public health. 

As reflected within the speciality of cardiovascular and pulmonary rehabilitation, this programme is interdisciplinary in nature and designed predominantly for health care practitioners. The course focuses on current evidence-based delivery of cardiovascular and pulmonary rehabilitation practices, behavioural change strategies, lifestyle approaches to risk factor modification, psychosocial health, and medical management of cardiovascular risk factors. Outcome measures, health technology, and innovation in service design also feature strongly to enable programme uptake and high-quality delivery.   

This programme aims to provide nurses, physiotherapists, dietitians, GPs, hospital doctors, psychologists, occupational therapists, and other health professionals interested in or working with people with cardiovascular and pulmonary conditions the knowledge to provide high-quality care as well as an array of career opportunities in clinical care transformation, research, academia, and industry. Students are supervised in designing an original research project which addresses a specific research question in any aspect of cardiovascular and pulmonary rehabilitation. Contributors are drawn from clinical departments at the University Hospital Galway, scientific and healthcare disciplines at the University of Galway, the Croí clinical team, and an array of established national and international partnerships.  

Scholarships available 
Find out about our Postgraduate Scholarships here. 

Key Facts

Entry Requirements

Additional Requirements

Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL)

Course Outline

The MSc in Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation involves students participating in a number of Level 9 modules totalling 90 ECTS.  

In Semester 1 students participate in three core modules (total 30ECTs): 

• Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Disease (10 ECT) 
• Research Methods (10 ECT) 
• Reflective Clinical Practice (Part 1 Semester 1 & Part 2 in Semester 2) (10 ECT) 

In Semester 2 students are required to complete 30 elective ECTs from the following options: 

• Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation (30 ECTS)  
• Lifestyle Risk Factor Modification (30 ECTs) 
• Tobacco Cessation in Noncommunicable Disease Prevention and Management (10ECTs) 
• Diet and Weight Management in Preventive Medicine and Cardiovascular Health (10ECTs) 
• Physical Activity and Exercise in Chronic Disease Management (10ECTs) 
• Pharmacotherapeutic Approaches in Cardiometabolic Medicine (10 ECTS) 
• Cardiac Rehabilitation (30 ECTS) 

Across all three semesters, students work on a primary Research Project (30 ECTS) that is submitted as a ready-to-publish article at the end of the programme.  

The course starts in September and finishes in August, covering teaching and clinical placement components. Structured weekly directed study is coupled with a schedule of group-based lectures, tutorials, and interactive workshops. These group-based sessions are delivered online via live sessions and are timetabled for Thursdays and Fridays (3 pm – 8 pm) with occasional Saturdays (10 am – 3 pm). Students working simultaneously in a clinical setting can complete their studies using a fully online option, enabling access to the programme from their home country. International students with a Tier 2 Visa choosing to reside in Ireland during their studies and those not working in clinical practice are required to complete a weekly timetable of face-to-face activities that take place in a range of clinical settings.   

Each module has associated assessments. At the end of Semester 1 online examinations are run for these modules. The remainder of the course has assessments in the form of essays or equivalent—e.g., written assignments, presentations, and case reviews. 

Glossary of Terms

Credits

You must earn a defined number of credits (aka ECTS) to complete each year of your course. You do this by taking all of its required modules as well as the correct number of optional modules to obtain that year's total number of credits.

Module

An examinable portion of a subject or course, for which you attend lectures and/or tutorials and carry out assignments. E.g., Algebra and Calculus could be modules within the subject of Mathematics. Each module has a unique module code e.g. MA140.

Subject

Some courses allow you to choose subjects, where related modules are grouped together. Subjects have their own required number of credits, so you must take all that subject's required modules and may also need to obtain the remainder of the subject's total credits by choosing from its available optional modules.

Optional

A module you may choose to study.

Required

A module that you must study if you choose this course (or subject).

Semester

Most courses have 2 semesters (aka terms) per year, so a three-year course will have six semesters in total.

Year 1 (90 Credits)

Required MD576:   Reflective Clinical Practice - 10 Credits - Semester 1 & 2


Required MD577:   Research Project - 30 Credits - Semester 1 & 2

Required MD1802: Research Methods - 10 Credits - Semester 1

Required MD1811: Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Disease - 10 Credits - Semester 1

Optional  MD578:   Lifestyle Risk Factor Modification - 30 Credits - Semester 2


Optional  MD1800: Cardiac Rehabilitation - 30 Credits - Semester 2


Optional  MD1803: Tobacco Cessation in Noncommunicable Disease Prevention and Management - 10 Credits - Semester 2


Optional MD1804: Diet and Weight Management in Preventive Medicine and Cardiovascular Health - 10 Credits - Semester 2


Optional MD1805: Physical Activity and Exercise in Chronic Disease Management - 10 Credits - Semester 2


Optional MD1810: Pharmacotherapeutic Approaches in Cardiometabolic Medicine - 10 Credits - Semester 2

Optional MD1812: Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation - 30 Credits - Semester 2

Why Choose This Course?

Career Opportunities

Who’s Suited to This Course

Learning Outcomes

Transferable Skills Employers Value

Work Placement

Study Abroad

Related Student Organisations

Course Fees

Fees: EU

Fees: Tuition

Fees: Student levy

Fees: Non EU

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