Clinical Pharmacy via Study Centres MSc

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Future proof your role as a pharmacist. Learn through an innovative and flexible teaching style. Build on current knowledge and experience and extend your professional development.

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Overview

This course is taught at our quality-assured partners worldwide and will provide the additional postgraduate qualification you need to progress in your field. You will cover principles of clinical pharmacy and a range of therapeutic areas, including cardiovascular, respiratory, and palliative care.

This course will challenge you, through an innovative and flexible teaching style, to be the best pharmacist for you and your patients. It provides you with an approach to practice, building on existing knowledge and experiences to extend your personal and professional development.

The course has been developed by healthcare professionals and academics to reflect the most up-to-date and relevant areas to a pharmacist’s practice. You will cover principles of clinical pharmacy and a range of therapeutic areas.

Please contact your Study Centre for the duration and mode of this course.

Students in a classroom sitting at individual desks taking notes

Why us?

Research in Pharmacy at Sunderland has been described as ‘world-leading’ according to the latest Research Excellence Framework
Pharmacy has been taught at Sunderland for nearly 100 years
Part-time innovative and flexible MSc Clinical Pharmacy course design
Blended learning approach with the use of Canvas, the University’s Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) and three taught conference days across the academic year

Interactive, online learning materials including self-check quizzes, video presentations, applied case-based scenarios, ‘ask a question’ and much more
The taught conference teaching is delivered on campus by experienced academic practitioners, specialist advanced clinical pharmacists in practice and other members of the healthcare team, including consultants and registrars, GPs and specialist nurses

Course structure

The course is delivered through a blended learning approach. A strong focus is on the interactive distance-learning material, which you can work through at a time convenient to you.

Teaching is delivered through online lectures, expert interviews, directed reading, case-based scenarios, research, tutorials and online tutor support. Content is divided into bite-sized chunks so even in a short amount of time you could cover a specific area, self-check your knowledge in a quiz, watch an expert consult or watch a video.

In addition to online teaching you will have the opportunity to attend conference days. You will be taught by experienced academic pharmacists working in current practice, highly specialist advanced clinical pharmacist practitioners, medical consultants and many other healthcare professionals.

Assessments include written/online examinations, a work-based portfolio mapped to the RPS pharmacy frameworks, and written coursework.

The suite of modules running over the academic year allow you to manage your own time and give you flexibility of when you study across the module time period.

Compared to an undergraduate course, you will find that this Masters requires a higher level of independent working.

Modules

Stage 1

Clinical Decision Making and Stages of Care (20 credits)

Develop and rationalise your clinical decision making skills as a pharmacist practitioner. Learn how to interpret and consider all relevant information in the context of the patient, including medicines optimisation. Develop your underpinning knowledge as a pharmacist for effective clinical decisions for better patient outcomes

Patient Safety (20 credits)

Learn about patient safety looking at medicines-related risk, prescribing of high-risk medicines, monitoring requirements of specific drugs, therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) and the application of advanced pharmaceutical calculations in practice. Understand how care providers identify and quantify clinical risk. Understand processes of risk assessment and management from an organisational perspective, encapsulating theoretical models of risk in addition to the ethical and legal issues surrounding adverse events.

Evidence Based Medicine (10 credits)

Get an introduction to the concepts of evidence-based medicine and evidence-based practice and the processes involved in applying this into everyday practice. Learn how to undertake a literature review using major healthcare and specific databases. Understand the concepts of the hierarchy of medical/scientific data and its relevance within medical practice.

Clinical Investigation and Diagnostics (10 credits)

Build upon the general biochemical data obtained from patients and look at specific markers for a number of different conditions, for example, pancreatitis. Explore the sensitivity and specificity of diagnostic tests. Develop your ability to critically analyse investigations and formulate management plans to monitor disease states and drug therapies, taking into consideration medicines optimisation.

Some modules have prerequisites. Read more about what this means in our Help and Advice article.

Stage 2

The Chronic Patient (20 credits)

Follow the patient journey to the point of established chronic disease, developing a rounded understanding of the management of longer-term illnesses. Take a patient-centred approach to the case scenarios. Make decisions on appropriate pharmaceutical care for these integrated, multifaceted cases using a critical approach to the underpinning evidence-base.

The Acute Patient (20 credits)

Explore the patient in a number of acute settings where they present with an acute disease, condition or syndrome. Further your clinical knowledge through complex case scenarios with multiple co-morbidities and polypharmacy affecting your decision making. Critically analyse and formulate appropriate management plans for the patient.

Population Healthcare (10 credits)

Expand upon your knowledge and understanding of the pharmacists’ role in improving population health. Develop your critical appraisal skills across a range of published research studies. Consider the importance of epidemiological data in the context of clinical pharmacy practice.

Psychiatry (10 credits)

Consider the underlying neurobiology and anatomy, presenting features, clinical and radiological investigations of common psychiatric disorders. Develop a comprehensive understanding of the underpinning evidence-base supporting drug and non-drug therapies used in a range of mental health disorders, recognising where evidence for an intervention is lacking and how to address this. Learn how to tailor clinical management plans to complex, higher-risk groups with critical awareness of associated legal and ethical issues arising during decision-making processes.

Masters Stage

Research Methods (30 credits)

Gain a comprehensive and critical understanding of research methods - Learn the ethical, theoretical and logistical considerations associated with research study design. Develop the ability to construct and communicate research findings.

Research Project (30 credits)

Gain the skills to identify, design and justify your investigative healthcare study. Learn to critically evaluate the research literature relevant to your area of study. Develop the ability to produce a detailed written analysis of your investigative study.

Facilities

Online facilities include the use of VLE Canvas, reVIEW and Storyline.

Please contact the relevant study centre for information on their facilities and location.

Entry requirements

Our typical offer is:

Qualification	Minimum grade
a Canadian bachelor's degree	GPA 2.40
a USA bachelor's degree	GPA 2.5

If you already hold a postgraduate qualification, please see our Applying for additional postgraduate degrees Help and Advice article.

If you don't meet our standard entry requirements, you can take one of the foundation pathways at our partners ONCAMPUS Sunderland. Find out more information and whether your course is eligible on our ONCAMPUS page.

If your qualification is not listed above, please contact the Student Administration team at studentadmin@sunderland.ac.uk for further advice.

Please contact the study centre for more information on their specific requirements and equivalent qualifications from outside the UK.

Is your qualification not displaying here? For international qualifications, search our full list of international entry requirements for this course.

Fees and finance

Please contact the Study Centre directly for information on fees and finance.

This information was correct at the time of publication.

Student in the Sunderland Futures department

Career ready

We encourage you to plan your future contributions with your employer and how your career will progress. On completing this postgraduate qualification in clinical pharmacy, you will be equipped with the advanced skills and knowledge specifically needed for progression into various senior pharmacist roles.

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Contact

Contact the Student Helpline for further information about studying at the University of Sunderland:

0191 515 3000

student.helpline@sunderland.ac.uk

View Programme Specifications for the Faculty of Health Sciences and Wellbeing

Page last updated: 20 February 2024

We aim to provide clear, accurate and timely information to prospective and current students. We continuously review and enhance course content in consultation with our students and the information provided on our website is the latest available. If you have received an offer from us to start a course, we will communicate any important changes to you in writing. We will always seek to ensure that our prospective students are fully aware of the basis on which they are accepting an offer.