Undergraduate study

• Integrated skills development throughout the course
• Opportunities to learn alongside other health professionals
• Part of an expanding Faculty of Health with a medical school
• A problem-based learning approach
• Modern practical laboratories for pharmaceutical science and a custom-built pharmacy practice suite to develop clinical and therapeutic skills
• Interaction with a variety of patients in both the real and the virtual worlds

Keele offers established postgraduate courses with an emphasis on medicines management; excellent links with thelocal health service; dedicated teaching and IT facilities; modern, well-equipped laboratories and analytical facilities; an enthusiastic, multidisciplinary teaching team; and a stimulating research environment.

In common with all other UK Schools of Pharmacy, Keele requires external accreditation of its course by the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC). The MPharm programme achieved full accreditation in May 2010 with the first cohort graduating in 2010. We have been granted full accreditation for the maximum possible period, which is five years.

Pharmacists are the experts in drug discovery, development, preparation and usage of medicines. They are both professional scientists and qualified healthcare practitioners. Pharmacists work in hospitals, in the community and in the pharmaceutical industry. They promote the safe and effective use of medicines and ensure quality patient care. Often, pharmacists are the first point of information on medicines for the public and other healthcare professionals, and must be effective communicators.

Pharmacists are educated in diverse areas of science and in the skills required to be effective and professional in their job. The MPharm degree provides the knowledge and skills education essential for future practice and the School of Pharmacy at Keele provides the ideal setting for this. Located within the Faculty of Health, the School complements the existing Schools of Nursing and Midwifery,Medicine and Health and Rehabilitation, and students will be taught in a dynamic and flourishing multidisciplinary, inter-professional environment.

VP/KAVE

For the opportunity to meet one of our virtual patients and to seee what our KAVE (Keele Active Virtual Environment) has to offer, please visit our website.

There is currently full employment in the pharmacy profession, and expanding opportunities in new areas. The Keele MPharm course aims to produce highly skilled healthcare professionals and competent scientists, well prepared for these new roles. In particular, we will draw on our existing strengths in medicines management, considered by many to be the future of the profession.

The course focuses on the profession and practice of Pharmacy and will draw on key aspects of the clinical, physical, life and social sciences, as well as law and ethics. Our aim is to produce the forward thinking, modern pharmacists of the future. The Keele curriculum is designed such that core aspects of pharmacy practice and the underpinning science are integrated at every level of the course.

The core topics in pharmacy practice include: the roles required of the modern pharmacist; legal, ethical and professional aspects of health care; service quality and standards applying to Pharmacy; understanding the signs and symptoms of illness; improving the public’s health; medicines management and advice to other health care providers. These topics run through all levels of the course, from Level I to Level M, developing the professional responsibilities of our future pharmacists year on year. Students are assigned pharmacist mentors who will support their professional development through the course. Students will also maintain a portfolio throughout their studies, providing evidence of progress and commitment to continuing professional development.

The programme provides a truly integrated and fully contextualised MPharm degree. Each year/level of the programme is based on a single 120-credit module that spans both semesters. In Level I this comprises three cycles of learning, assessment and reflection. Each cycle comprises seven weeks of teaching followed by one week that is reserved for end-of-cycle examinations, other assessments that cannot fall within the teaching period and a meeting with a personal tutor who will provide comprehensive and relevant feedback on academic performance and achievement during the cycle. This is a key feature of the programme design: students will be able to use this week to reflect on their own progress using the immediate feedback and to prepare for the next cycle, which will build on and be linked to themes covered already.

The principal aim is to develop knowledge and skills in a wide variety of disciplines by demonstrating the linkages between seemingly dissimilar topics in science and practice that underpin the remainder of the course. Rather than packaging studies into smaller, discrete modules the Level I programme allows students to see more clearly the linkages between all strands of the programme.

Within the three cycles of learning and assessment material has been contextualised into three broad themes: those of individual people/patients, or people/patients as members of families and of wider populations. This is strengthened in later cycles by focusing on particular patient groups and on specific diseases that affect these groups. Throughout, the relevance of each group of teaching sessions to the healthcare of the individual, family or population will be highlighted. From the outset, students will be interacting with patients and developing their consulting skills.

Topics covered will include the anatomy of different patients groups, the underpinning organic and synthetic chemistry necessary for drug design, the development and use of drugs, dispensing and all aspects of communication with patients.

The structure of Level II is very similar to that of Level I with frequent and regular periods of learning, assessment, feedback and reflection. Students will study the more complex aspects of pharmaceutical science in the second year, including pharmacology, toxicology, microbiology, and pharmaceutics and formulation. Students will further expand their professional skills through the study of law, ethics and more complex dispensing as the pharmacy practice elements of their learning continue to be developed.

The emphasis in Level III is the further integration of science and practice in the development of skills in patient care, diagnosis and prescribing, the monitoring of disease and appropriate drug interventions. This will encompass relevant aspects of clinical practice, systems pharmacology and therapeutics, advanced drug delivery systems and clinical governance.

The final year will examine current topics and key developments in professional practice, and the wider role of the pharmacist in patient care will be covered, including prescribing skills, providing currency to the programme and preparing students for employment. A research project will be undertaken over the third and fourth years that may encompass any aspect of the science and practice of Pharmacy.

WelcomeWeb

For a more comprehensive overview of the School of Pharmacy and the MPharm course please visit our Welcome Web.

Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) checks

Candidates who are successful in gaining a place on the course will also need to provide a satisfactory enhanced Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) check. In the future this may include satisfying requirements for the Vetting and Barring Scheme (VBS) and Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) registration or equivalent. Candidates who have any criminal convictions, cautions, warnings, and/or reprimands, however dated they may be, are strongly advised to contact the School of Pharmacy for guidance (01782 734952). All such information will be treated in strictest confidence. Please note, Pharmacy is not subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and as such all convictions, cautions, warnings or reprimands must be disclosed.

The University follows the CRB Code of Practice in these issues (see www.crb.gov.uk) and can provide a copy of the Code on request.

All aspects of the Pharmacy programme are taught in dedicated, well-equipped facilities using a combination of lectures and seminars, tutorials, practical laboratory work, videoed presentations and computer-assisted exercises. In order to reflect the variety of teaching methods used the class size will vary between a full year group in certain teaching sessions through to half or one-third size groups for practical elements of the course. Smaller groups will also be utilised for workshops and presentations. Problem-based learning will be used progressively to develop understanding and place aspects of the course in context. Essential communication skills will be developed through workshops and presentations and Pharmacy students will be taught in an inter-professional environment, studying alongside and with medical and nursing students.

The course will be assessed through continuous assessment and examination, with a strong emphasis on skills development and preparation for practice. The elements of continuous assessment may include the submission of laboratory reports or essays, the completion of exercises administered via the virtual learning environment, participation in workshops and giving presentations.

Programme specifications (new window)

MPharm graduates need to complete a statutory one year pre-registration period to qualify to practice. There are many employment opportunities for registered pharmacists. Graduates from this course will have a portfolio of skills that are attractive to potential employers in health authorities, hospitals, community pharmacies and in the pharmaceutical industry. The School of Pharmacy has close links with all these sectors. Throughout the course, students will be able to assess which areas of pharmacy are of most interest to them and practising pharmacists will be available to provide advice. 

On the 27^th September 2010, the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) became the regulator for pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and registered pharmacy premises. To work as a pharmacist and to call yourself a pharmacist, you must register with the GPhC. Part of the registration requirements of the GPhC are education requirements and the GPhC has agreed that there should be completion time limits for anyone entering Pre-registration from 2011 onwards. This applies to anyone studying currently for an accredited MPharm. The reason for the time limit is to ensure the link between your course and Pre-registration training is preserved and that your knowledge and skills are current when you apply to register.

The normal maximum time period for you to apply to register as a pharmacist is eight calendar years from the day you first enrolled on your MPharm. In the eight years you must do the following:

1. Pass your MPharm; and
2. Pass Pre-registration; and
3. Pass the Registration Assessment (previously known as the Registration Examination); and
4. Apply to register as a pharmacist.

The maximum number of attempts at the Registration Assessment is three.

The GPhC may consider extending the eight year maximum time period but only if there are documented extenuating circumstances. Extenuating circumstances can include:

1. Extended periods of illness;
2. Compassionate leave;
3. Maternity/paternity leave;
4. Part time study;
5. Reasonable adjustments to accommodate a disability but only if the reasonable adjustment is agreed in advance;
6. Operational tours with the Territorial Army.

This list is not exhaustive.

Extenuating circumstances does not include:

1. Repeating courses/modules/academic years due to academic failure;
2. Travel such as gap years or other periods of non-compulsory absence;
3. Periods of imprisonment.

This list is not exhaustive.

Before being registered, you will have to comply with other requirements including fitness to practise and health requirements. Full details will be sent to you when you apply to register. (In addition you will have to comply with health and fitness to practise requirements as a student and as a Pre-registration trainee.)

Should you require further information on the GPhC’s education and training requirements for initial registration please contact the GPhC. Contact details can be found on the GPhC’s website: www.pharmacyregulation.org

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The course includes a rich programme of scheduled visits and placements in hospital, community and industrial settings. Students will also participate in running their own health campaign. We provide support for students wishing to arrange extended work placements during vacations to maximise the benefit of this additional learning opportunity. A placement allows students to review the course material in context and develop valuable employability and research skills. Placements will begin during the first semester of teaching and will continue regularly throughout the remainder of the course. The final year will include sessions that prepare students for their pre-registration placement.

The unique teaching and learning methods and integrated course structure adopted in the Keele MPharm programme, and the quality of our graduates and newly registered pharmacists are already having a positive impact on patient care in practice.