Community Pharmacy - Student Pathways

Here are a few examples of the options that community pharmacists could opt for:

Freda’s pathway
Juanita’s pathway
Jeremy’s pathway
Mohammed’s pathway

However, there are many other possibilities so please contact a member of the Postgraduate Education Team to discuss your specific circumstances.

 

Freda's Pathway
Freda is a community pharmacist who was keen to develop her pharmacy services around public health. With the support of her employer she decided to enrol on Keele’s 60 credit module that leads to the Postgraduate Certificate in Public Health Community Pharmacy. She achieved this award after 9 months. She felt that this was sufficient to meet her personal and professional development needs for the time being.

After another 12 months she felt that she would like to further develop her knowledge and skills around smoking cessation and obesity. To achieve this, she went on to complete two 30 credit CPD Plus+ Open Learn modules relevant to these topics.

She had now accumulated 120 credits in total, within 3 years, and was awarded the Postgraduate Diploma in Community Pharmacy (Open Learn).

After a further 6 months break, she decided to enrol on the Advanced Practice Development module (15 credits) with a view to developing her knowledge and skills further to manage behaviour change.

She then decided to continue her studies to gain the additional 45 credits that she needed to be awarded the MSc in Community Pharmacy (Open Learn). Overall, Freda achieved the Masters award within the 5 years timescale permitted.

 

Juanita’s Pathway
Juanita is a community pharmacist who had been conducting MURs for a couple of years and felt that she could benefit from doing a course that focussed on areas that were relevant. Over the next 12 months she completed the CPD Plus+ module in Communication and Consultation Skills (15 credits) and a CPD Plus+ Open Learn module in Clinical Pharmacy for Medicines Management that she had negotiated with her Keele tutor that provided 30 credits.

A few months later she decided to complete the Working with Prescribers in Primary Care CPD Plus+ module (15 credits) since she had been asked by her local GP practice to provide them with a prescribing advice service. Having completed this module, her Keele tutor advised her that she had accumulated the total 60 credits that she needed for a university academic Certificate award.

Juanita had accumulated 60 credits in 2 years and was awarded the
Postgraduate Certificate in Community Pharmacy (Open Learn).

The following year, the community pharmacy organisation and GP practice that Juanita works for agreed that they would support her to qualify as an independent prescriber. Juanita subsequently completed the Keele Independent Prescribing course and accumulated a further 45 credits. She was now only 15 credits away from a university academic Diploma award. She decided to register on a 15 credit CPD Plus+ Open Learn module that would help her develop her knowledge and skills in relation to prescribing in heart failure.

Having completed this module, and a total of 120 credits within 3 years, Juanita was awarded the Postgraduate Diploma in Community Pharmacy (Independent Prescribing).

She can use these 120 Diploma credits towards the MSc in Community Pharmacy (Independent Prescribing) in the future if she wishes. She has up to two years to complete the Professional MSc course since the total timescale to achieve the MSc is 5 years.

 

Jeremy’s pathway
Jeremy began working as a locum in community pharmacies as soon as he qualified as a pharmacist. Over a period of two years he completed four of the Community Pharmacy CPD Plus+ 15 credit modules and was awarded the Postgraduate Certificate in Community Pharmacy (Open Learn).

He then took up a permanent post with an employer who agreed to fund him to complete the Diploma award over the next 12 months. In consultation with his employer and Keele tutor Jeremy decided that a further two 30 credit CPD Plus+ Open Learn modules would best meet his personal development needs and his employer’s service development plans around medicines management and health promotion.

By the end of the 12 months, Jeremy had accumulated a total of 120 credits (over a total period of 2 years) and was awarded the Postgraduate Diploma in Community Pharmacy (Open Learn).

He plans to register for the Professional MSc Course at the next available opportunity when he will complete the Advanced Practice Development module, the Research Methods module and an Independent Learning Project to gain the MSc in Community Pharmacy (Open Learn).

If all goes to plan, Jeremy will have achieved the Masters award within 3 years of initial registration on the CPD Plus+ modules.

 

Mohammed’s pathway
Mohammed had been working as a part-time prescribing adviser for his PCT for 18 months. He spent the other half of his week working for a small multiple community pharmacy group. He already had a postgraduate certificate award in Community Pharmacy from another university which he completed 12 months earlier. He therefore had 60 credits already, some of which he may be able to use to contribute towards a Keele University course.

The opportunity arose for him to enrol on Keele’s Independent Prescribing (IP) course. Six months later he qualified as a pharmacist IP. This coincided with the PCT’s developments relating to the ‘Implementing Care Closer to Home’ initiative and a further opportunity for Mohammed to undergo accreditation with the PCT to ultimately practice as a Pharmacist with a Special Interest (PhwSI) in the community. Mohammed decided to enrol on Keele’s Advanced Practice Development (APD) module to help him develop his portfolio for accreditation as a PhwSI. He completed the module after a further 3 months.

Having completed the IP course and the APD module, Mohammed had accumulated 60 credits from Keele University within 9 months and was awarded the Postgraduate Certificate in Advanced Professional Practice.

Mohammed can use these 60 credits from Keele courses and some of the 60 credits from the Community Pharmacy certificate award that he gained from another university (subject to approval by Keele) towards the Diploma/MSc in Advanced Professional Practice if he wishes. He has up to 5 years to achieve the MSc via the Diploma.