Clinical Pharmacy - Keele University
 

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Module Title: Clinical Pharmacy
Mode of Study:Postgraduate distance learning
Contact Details:01782 734207
Contact email:b.oakden@keele.ac.uk
Fees 2011/12: 10 credits - £385
15 credits - £575
30 credits - 1060
Certificate / Diploma pathway - £2100 pa
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As our School name suggests, Medicines Management has been at the top of our agenda since its inception in the early 1990s. Now it is at the top of the national pharmacy agenda. Our Clinical Pharmacy programme for hospital pharmacists was first established in 1981, and we are proud of our high completion rate.

We are continually updating the programme to meet the changing requirements of the health service and individual practitioners. We are happy to put you in touch with some of our former students for their independent view. It is highly acclaimed by students, employers, purchasers and external course assessors for its structure, content and end value in relation to service, professional and career development. Our distance learning programme in Clinical Pharmacy for hospital pharmacists aims to provide you with a wider view of health care, and equip you with sufficient knowledge, skills and confidence to be able to develop and extend your clinical and professional role as part of a multidisciplinary health care team.

In the fast changing world of Pharmacy and health care provision, standing still is not an option, but you may, understandably, feel under-equipped to meet the new challenges. Let Keele help you meet the challenges set by the Government’s plan for the profession, Pharmacy in England. The programme links to the NHS Knowledge and Skills Framework to enable you to meet the relevant competencies and provide evidence for your continued professional development.

The Clinical Pharmacy Programme is designed to allow you choice and flexibility in your progression to Certificate, Diploma and Masters awards, to meet your specific professional development needs and advance your professional practice.

  • Build on your existing knowledge of disease states, pharmacology and pharmacokinetics to enable you to apply this in a clinical setting
  • Equip you to assess drug therapy for effectiveness, safety, compatibility, patient acceptability and cost, and use this information to make effective interventions and develop and document pharmaceutical care plans
  • Encourage you to develop an understanding of the principles of pharmaceutical care and problem-solving approach to clinical practice
  • Provide you with a wider view of health care and equip you with sufficient knowledge and skills to be able to develop and extend your professional role
  • Increase your confidence in your ability to contribute to patient care as part of the multidisciplinary health care team
  • Provide you with a structured learning programme that will help you apply your knowledge and skills in daily practice
  • Encourage you to develop a reflective approach to your clinical pharmacy practice
  • Encourage you to develop the self-discipline of private study and self-directed learning that will be continued beyond Keele’s Programme in your Continuing Professional Development (CPD) as an independent learner
  • In addition, you will develop valuable practical skills including written and oral communication, and the ability to design a project, collect, analyse and interpret data

To gain admission you must be registered with your professional regulatory body and be practising either full-time or part-time.

 

The Clinical Pharmacy Programme is designed principally for distance-learning. We provide mainly printed and online distance-learning materials so that you can study where and when it is most convenient for you. Our methods of delivery allow us to revise and update the course quickly to meet your changing needs as a pharmacist.

The Clinical Pharmacy programme can be completed via the following flexible pathways to accumulate academic credits at Masters Level:

  • CPD Plus+ – register for individual short courses of 10 credits. You can register on a number of occasions in any academic year.
  • Certificate in Clinical Pharmacy – register for 9 months and you’ll complete your choice of 6 of the optional modules from our CPD Plus+ portfolio.
  • Diploma in Clinical Pharmacy – register for 21 months and in the first year you will complete the 6 modules as described for the Certificate and an additional 6 modules of your choice in Year 2.

The CPD Plus+ short courses that are currently available, and which also form the course content for Certificate and Diploma courses are:

  • Cardiovascular Disease 1
  • Cardiovascular Disease 2
  • Central Nervous System Diseases
  • Critical Care and Parenteral Nutrition
  • Education Theory and Practice for Health Professionals (includes two f2f study days)
  • Endocrine Disease
  • Evidence-Based Practice and Clinical Governance (includes Critical Appraisal)
  • Gastrointestinal Disease
  • Hepatic Disease
  • HIV & AIDS
  • Infections
  • Maternal and Child Health
  • Joint Disease
  • Malignant Disease
  • Medicines Management and Pharmaceutical Care
  • Mental Health
  • Monitoring Therapy
  • Renal Disease
  • Respiratory Disease
  • Surgical

The Clinical Pharmacy Programme is fully supported by a team of experienced, friendly, and approachable academic, administrative and technical staff based at Keele. The Programme is also supported by our network of experienced, practising hospital pharmacists who fulfil the roles of clinical co-ordinators and tutors. You’re not on your own! And, don’t forget the network of other pharmacists on the course whom you can contact. You will require the equivalent of 1-2 days (approximately 10-15 hours) each week to complete your course. Remember that the portable nature of our course materials, and the fact that a good proportion of the assessed work focuses on your daily practice, means that you can integrate study and work.

Assessment is entirely by coursework for the Certificate, Diploma and MSc courses. A variety of assessment methods are used.

All of the modules (C,D) contain Practice-Based Assignments that will assess your knowledge, problem-solving skills, and data interpretation skills in relation to application of knowledge to practice, patient care and medicines management. Case Presentations (C,D) assess your ability to critically appraise the literature and relate published theory to everyday practice.

An Audit Project (C), Practice-Based Assignments (C,D), Project Protocol Development (M) and the Independent Study Project Report (M) assess ‘thinking’ and practical skills, and your ability to plan, conduct and report on an investigation. They also assess your ability to critically appraise the literature and relate published theory to everyday practice. Your Reflective Portfolio also assesses your ability to relate theory to practice, and self evaluation of, and reflection on, your own performance and CPD needs.

The nature of the assessments develops your written and oral communication skills. Practical skills and key life/transferable skills are assessed within the methods described above. Each method of assessment is supported by clear criteria for marking; these are explained in the relevant Course Handbooks. The minimum pass mark is 50%. The summative assessment is supported by a variety of formative assessment activities that include online discussions, formative feedback on elements of the reflective portfolio, contributions to study days and feedback on draft proposals.