Practice Certificate in Independent Prescribing for Pharmacists

Course modules

Prescribing is complex and multifaceted and as such, our teaching focuses on the wider skills and knowledge required of a pharmacist prescriber. Some of the learning topics covered during study days and in self-directed study are: 

• Communication and consultation skills
• Clinical skills including NEWS2 assessment, cardiovascular, abdominal and respiratory examinations
• Influences on prescribing
• Psychology of prescribing
• Legal and ethical aspects of prescribing
• Understanding clinical risk 
• Clinical reasoning and decision making
• Using evidence-based medicine and critical appraisal
• Prescribing in a team and inter-professional education (including a half-day event with colleagues from the School of Nursing).

The course outcomes are: 

1) Critically evaluate a person-centred and partnership approach to care, through self-awareness of own values and beliefs, and understanding of legal and ethical responsibilities, in order to support individuals to make risk assessed and autonomous informed decisions. 

2) Demonstrate a critical understanding of, and reflection on, the prescribing role within a multi-disciplinary team, to ensure accountability and acknowledging influences on prescribing practice, including raising concerns or reporting of inappropriate or unsafe practice. 

3) Apply evidence-based decision making to all prescribing decisions through a systematic understanding and critical awareness of pharmacology, therapeutics, public health and health promotion, to manage the risks and benefits of holistic patient management. 

4) Ensure safe prescribing practice, and improved patient outcomes, through systematic understanding and utilisation of emerging systems, technologies and practice, and application of the principles of effective monitoring and ongoing management underpinned by appropriate governance processes and documentation that aligns with relevant legislation. 

5) Apply effective history-taking, consultation, diagnostic and clinical skills to critically evaluate complex information to optimise patient care, recognising the limits of own practice and appropriate referral and support processes. 

6) Demonstrate appropriate skills to uncover information from individuals who are guarded about, or unaware of their health needs, with critical reflection on their own role, and those of others, with regards to safeguarding children and vulnerable adults. 

7) Demonstrate all of learning outcomes within the current GPhC Standards for the Education and Training of Pharmacist Independent Prescribers.

The GPhC learning outcomes are listed in the Standards for the Education and Training of Pharmacist Independent Prescribers published in January 2019.

Teaching and assessment

All pharmacists will have chosen their own personal area of practice in which to develop their prescribing competency. This course does not teach therapeutics for individual scopes of practice, but instead facilitates structured independent learning for our students’ therapeutic areas of practice. The course encourages learning that will help pharmacists develop prescribing-related competencies and tools to expand therapeutic areas of practice post-qualification.

Assessment

There are three summative assessments for the course;  

1) Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs) – This will involve three stations, with patient actors, assessing pharmacist’s clinical and consultation skills.

2) Structured Case Report - This report is an academic piece of work with a number of components. It is linked to the pharmacist’s individual scope of practice and enables consideration of a patient’s whole care pathway.

3) Prescribing Portfolio – Pharmacists will develop a portfolio in which to log experiences, reflect on learning in practice hours and demonstrate GPhC learning outcomes and prescribing competencies.

Study days and Intakes - 2022/2023

There are usually three intakes during the academic year; in September and in January and in April .

Students on all cohorts are required to participate in 8 mandatory study days, which all run from 9am to 6pm. We anticipate these will be delivered in a ‘blended’ manner, with some study days delivered online/virtually and some study days delivered at the University. This is subject to change.

View the provisional dates for the September 2022 intake and January 2023 and April 2023 intake. Students are allocated to one particular group and the provisional dates for study days for each group are below. Please note that these are also subject to change.