Advanced Pharmacy Practice

PgCert(Stage 1) - 30weeks, Jan Aug

The first two modules are studied concurrently providing a strong foundation for your practice and future studies. Pharmaceutical Care Planning (30 credits) focuses on the development and implementation of evidence-based pharmaceutical care plans for patients and Therapeutics (30 credits) covers a wide range of therapeutic topics.

PgDip(Stage 2) - 30 weeks, Sept - May

You will complete 60 credits, 30 of which will be Pharmacist Independent Prescribing with a compulsory 5-day ‘virtual residential period’. On completion of this module pharmacists will be eligible for annotation as Pharmacist Independent Prescribers by the General Pharmaceutical Council.

You will also choose two additional 15 credit modules from seven offered. Some of these will be studied with postgraduate students from the School of Nursing, Midwifery and Paramedic Practice:

• Prescribing Decision Making (15 credits)
• Clinical Practice Elective (Pharmacy) (15 credits)
• Advanced Therapeutics and Personalised Medicine (15 credits)
• Safety and Quality in Medicine Use (15 credits)
• Managing Long Term Conditions (15 credits)
• Advanced Concepts of Improving Health and Wellbeing (15 credits)
• Clinical History Taking and Examination Skills for Advanced Practice (15 credits). This module requires a few days’ attendance at RGU (exact requirement to be confirmed in light of circumstances pertaining).

MSc(Stage 3) - 30 weeks, Sept- May

You will undertake an MSc by portfolio in the Advanced Pharmacy Practice module (60 credits) which includes research and evaluation, education and training, and leadership and management. The content is mapped to relevant professional development frameworks enabling you to develop the relevant knowledge, skills, attitudes and competencies required for effective advanced pharmacy practice.

Learning Methods

You will be taught part-time via our virtual learning environment CampusMoodle, allowing you to develop all necessary knowledge, skills, attitude and competencies while you remain in employment. Regular evening webinars are a feature, providing opportunities for support, sharing of practice and input from subject experts.

The Course Leader is a central point for information and support with regard to the delivery of the course. It is also recommended (but not mandatory) that you have a workplace mentor to provide local support and encouragement.

As part of the Pharmacist Independent Prescribing module, the pharmacist’s period of learning in practice must be supervised by a Designated Prescribing Practitioner (DPP) who may be a medical or a non-medical independent prescriber.

Further information on this role in relation to our course and our requirements can be found in our DPP Guide.

Activity Summary

• Independent Study - 600h per stage, 10-20hrs per week
• Placement / Work Based Learning,Pharmacist Independent Prescribing module - 90 hours

How long is an Advanced Pharmacy Practice course?

The duration of the course is 2 years and 4 months; this includes time for independent study, coursework preparation, placement / work based learning and other activities. Please note that there is a break between Stage 2 (Diploma) and Stage 3 (MSc).

Independent Study

All your materials will be provided online and are designed to allow self-assessment of learning needs.

Staff Delivering on this Course

Staff delivering this course are practised academics, with active links to national industry bodies including the Royal Pharmaceutical Society and the General Pharmaceutical Council.

The Course Leader is your central point for information and support with regard to the delivery of the course. You will be supported by university staff including e-tutors who are all practising clinical pharmacy practitioners, and many, pharmacist prescribers. They review the learning materials, provide real-life case scenarios and participate in the marking of practice related assessments. They facilitate discussion and learning within the modules and bring a unique practice-related perspective to learning.

Assessment

You will be assessed by continuous assessment based on your acquisition and application of knowledge in practice-related problem-based scenarios and activities including: responding to case studies, developing care plans and essay responses to specific topics and contribution to online discussion forums, formative peer-assessed essays, short answer problem/case study questions and multiple-choice questions. In addition there is a compulsory 5-day 'virtual residential' period as part of the Pharmacist Independent Prescribing module, during which you will complete an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) assessment. There will be a practical online assessment in Clinical History Taking and Examination Skills for Advanced Practice module.

Typically students are assessed eachyear:

• 6 written assignments, including essays
• 1 dissertation
• 4 portfolios
• 1 set exercises
• 1 oral assessment
• 1 practical skills assessment

Feedback

We aim to provide you with feedback within 20 working days of hand-in for all written exams, coursework and practical exams.