Clinical Pharmacy MSc

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

Skills Boost NE Discount

Info on joining us in September 2020

Overview

The Clinical Pharmacy MSc has been designed to align with the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) foundation and advanced practice frameworks and the RPS knowledge summary guides. Gain vital core skills and knowledge necessary to prepare for your role as an advanced pharmacist practitioner and utilise your portfolio assessments to be used towards building your RPS individual pharmacist portfolio.

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. Customise your clinical learning needs for your pharmacist role through our tailored module approach. There is a mentor and non-mentor route offered for the majority of modules (please see specific modules for further details); we would advise that you look to identify a chosen mentor as soon as possible in the application process, but if you are unable to find a suitable one then the non-mentor based route is available. The mentor must have an equivalent or higher qualification to a diploma in Clinical Pharmacy and held this qualification for a minimum of one year before becoming a mentor.

Why us?

Part-time innovative and flexible MSc Clinical Pharmacy course design; tailor your learning with our suite of elective modules
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

Joining us in 2020

The course will continue to deliver a blended learning experience utilising the virtual learning environment (Canvas) and live sessions. In place of face to face conference teaching we will be delivering live webinar series attached to the applicable modules. The introduction session usually held on campus will also be held virtually.

To support the changes in delivery to the 2020-21 academic year there will be scheduled online drop-in sessions to provide an additional communication channel between academics and students. Assessments, in light of the current situation, have been reviewed in relation to work-based tasks and the style of examination. This has led to term 1 module exams that have previously been closed book to become open book assessments.

Due to modules planned to have started in April 2020 being cancelled, we are running three of these 10 credit modules (PHMM65 Evidence Based Medicine, PHMM69 Population Healthcare and PHMM73 Psychiatry) from October 2020 to January 2021 to allow those who wish to complete their studies by the February assessment board. Due to the cancellation of these modules new module selection forms will be issued prior to the new academic year.

Course structure

The Clinical Pharmacy MSc 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 on campus at the University. 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, OSCEs, a work-based portfolio mapped to the RPS pharmacy frameworks, and written coursework.

The suite of modules running over the academic year allow you the learner 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.

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

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

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

Primary Care and Social Pharmacy (10 credits)

Consider the key principles relating to transfer of care and identify potential issues and formulate strategies to reduce risks leading to better patient outcomes
Gain knowledge of the underpinning legal, professional and good practice guidelines which support the management of medicines in a care home setting and incorporate these considerations in any course of action relating to medicines optimisation in this patient group
Develop the ability to contextualise and integrate the data provided in case based scenarios and plan the best course of action to deliver excellent patient care considering any relevant operational, legal and clinical aspects of care

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

Facilities

Onsite facilities include state-of-the-art equipment for pharmacy. Conference days are held within the Living Lab in the Sciences Complex, which boasts multi-disciplinary laboratories and cutting-edge equipment thanks to multi-million pound investments. Online facilities include the use of the VLE Canvas where software such as review and Storyline are utilised to deliver the course.

Entry requirements

We usually require:

Registration and employment as a Pharmacist in the UK for study at Sunderland
Your degree should be recognised by the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC).

If English is not your first language, please see our English language requirements.

Fees and finance

The tuition fee for this course is £375 per 10 credits. Each year of the course requires 60 credits to complete.

Please note that part-time courses are not available to international students who require a Tier 4 visa to study in the UK. Fees for non-Tier 4 international students will be agreed at application stage, and may differ from the above.

The Skills Boost North East Discount is a 20% waiver on the full cost of course fees for postgraduate taught Masters courses for any worker who has been furloughed, has been made redundant, or is likely to be made redundant and who has a local connection to the North East region. Read more about the discount.

If you are not sure whether you qualify as a UK, EU or international student, find out more in our Help and Advice article.

This information was correct at the time of publication.

Career ready

We encourage you to plan your career progression with your employer.

On completing this course you will be equipped with the advanced skills and knowledge specifically needed for progression into various senior pharmacist roles.

A promotion to a higher band of pay can quickly ensure a good return on your investment in the course. Within the NHS, salaries for specialist clinical pharmacist are rated as Band 7 (up to around £40,000).

Recommended Route for Learning

We have a recommended route for your learning on the course, however, this is only a guide and you may have specific requirements or areas that you would want to cover. The recommended route would be:

Year 1: Clinical Decision Making and Stages of Care (20 credits), Patient Safety (20 credits) and two additional 10 credit modules.

Year 2: The Chronic Patient (20 credits), The Acute Patient (20 credits), and two additional 10 credit modules.

Year 3: Research Methods & Research Project (60 credits) OR Pharmacist Independent Prescribing (40 credits) and two additional 10 credit modules.

Meet the students

I wouldn’t be where I am now without this qualification.

James Slack
I am proud to continue my association with the University of Sunderland.

Mark Burdon
I found it easy to meet people and I'm still in touch with friends I made there

Paul Tasker
The course really lived up to its international reputation and set me up for a lifelong career.

Sinead McHugh

Meet the team

Related courses

MPharm Pharmacy

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: 30 July 2020

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