Pharmacy MPharm

Play a vital role in improving the health of patients. Become an expert in the design, development and therapeutic use of medicines. Graduate and develop a fascinating and rewarding career, both holistically and financially.

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Overview

Our highly-regarded Pharmacy course begins with a broad overview of the fundamental pharmaceutical and biological sciences. You will develop more specialised knowledge and skills in medicinal chemistry, pharmaceutics, therapeutics, clinical management and patient-focused clinical skills.

The course lasts four years and you will graduate as a Master of Pharmacy. The MPharm is the only undergraduate qualification in the UK which leads to professional registration as a pharmacist.

Why us?

General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) figures show that the University of Sunderland is consistently one of the top-ranking Schools of Pharmacy in the National Registration Assessment. The pass rate in 2019 was 89.82% which is significantly above the national average of 72.33%
97.5% of our MPharm Pharmacy graduates are in graduate-level employment, further study or training within six months of graduating, according to DLHE 2016/17 (based on full-time, first degree, home leavers)
Pharmacy has been taught at Sunderland for almost 100 years and we have a strong reputation as a Pharmacy School that produces successful graduates

This course has over 90% Overall Satisfaction according to the National Student Survey 2018
Patient contact is embedded throughout the course alongside placements and interprofessional learning opportunities
All our pharmacist academics are at the forefront of current practice as they continue to work with regional trusts and pharmacy employers. This means you have direct links to employers and the most up to date clinical teaching
Research in Pharmacy at Sunderland has been described as ‘world-leading’ by the latest Research Excellence Framework

Course structure

Lectures cover key principles and are delivered by experienced and research active academics in the field. You will also learn in small seminar groups, practical laboratory classes and dispensing classes.

Assessment methods include examinations, time constrained tests (some web-based), assignments, essays, reports and presentations.

Year 1 (national level 4):

Fundamental Principles of Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Formulation (50 credits)

Study the fundamental principles of pharmaceutical chemistry and the formulation of medicinal products. Explore the various types of dosage forms and the commonly used routes of administration in clinical practice. Learn to identify sources of drugs and discuss the regulatory structure that ensures quality and patient safety in the preparation of pharmaceutical products.

The Healthy Patient: Fundamental Principles of Anatomy, Physiology, Pharmacology and Microbiology (50 credits)

Gain an understanding of the fundamental principles of biological sciences. Be introduced to the anatomy and the functions of body systems, which will integrate well with the clinical skills studied at this Stage. Study the fundamental principles of physiology, pharmacology and microbiology and consider how these are applied to the care of patients.

Introduction to the Professional Practice of Pharmacy (20 credits)

Be introduced to the professional practice of pharmacy and discuss the various roles of a pharmacist as part of the multidisciplinary healthcare team. The underlying concepts of professionalism and the regulation of pharmacy professionals by the General Pharmaceutical Council will also be explored. Undertake placements in community pharmacy and develop your clinical skills through sessions with patients. Integrate the material from all Stage 1 modules and apply the concepts covered to patient focused case studies.

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

Year 2 (national level 5):

Pharmacy: the Legal, Professional and Ethical Basis of Practice (40 credits)

Build on the professional elements of Stage 1. Develop the knowledge and skills needed in order to practice legally as a pharmacist in the UK. Study several important components of practice in the UK, namely; pharmacy law, pharmacy practice, pharmaceutical calculations, professionalism and ethics. Undertake placements in both community and hospital pharmacy and work with students from other healthcare professions.

Integrated Therapeutics 1: Cardiovascular and Renal Systems (40 credits)

Focus on cardiovascular, cerebrovascular and renal disease. Cover the clinical management of diseases of these systems, supported by developing your knowledge of relevant underpinning scientific principles and the application of these to patient care. Cover major areas including hypertension, heart failure, ischaemic heart disease, stroke, acute and chronic renal failure. Continue to develop your clinical skills and work with patients throughout this module.

Integrated Therapeutics 2: Respiratory and Gastrointestinal Systems (40 credits)

Focus on respiratory and gastrointestinal disease. Cover the clinical management of diseases of these systems, supported by developing your knowledge of relevant underpinning scientific principles and the application of these to patient care. Cover asthma, COPD, allergies, cough, cystic fibrosis, ear, nose and throat pathology, peptic ulcer disease, GORD inflammatory bowel disease, emesis, constipation, diarrhoea and alcohol/drug-induced hepatic disorder. Continue to develop your clinical skills and work with patients throughout this module.

Year 3 (national level 6):

Research Option (40 credits)

Undertake your own research project in a specific area related to pharmacy; we currently offer research projects in pharmaceutical chemistry, analysis, drug discovery, formulation, clinical pharmacy and pharmacy practice.

Integrated Therapeutics 3: Endocrine, Genito-Urinary and Musculoskeletal Systems (40 credits)

Focus on the endocrine, genito-urinary and musculoskeletal systems. Cover the clinical management of diseases of these systems, supported by developing your knowledge of relevant underpinning scientific principles and the application of these to patient care. Cover diabetes and disorders of the thyroid, adrenocortical, hypothalamic, pituitary, sex hormones and bone metabolism. Discuss the formulation of injectable products such as insulin and the medicinal chemistry of key drugs such as those used in the treatment of diabetes. Undertake community, hospital, general practice and specialist sector placements.

Integrated Therapeutics 4: Central Nervous System and Skin (40 credits)

Focus on the central nervous system and skin. Cover the clinical management of diseases of these systems, supported by developing your knowledge of relevant underpinning scientific principles and the application of these to patient care. Explore pain, mental health conditions such as depression, bipolar disorder, dementia and schizophrenia. Discuss other CNS conditions such as Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy and the role of the pharmacist in the management of substance misuse. Continue to work with patients and with students from other healthcare professions.

Final year (national level 7)

Applied Practice: Achieving Optimal Clinical Outcomes (60 credits)

Be prepared for clinical and professional practice and study the latest in pharmacy law, ethics and the evidence based therapeutic management of acute and chronic conditions. Spend a significant amount of time using our simulation suites, mock hospital ward and simulated pharmacy, and perform safe and effective consultations applicable to community pharmacy, hospital pharmacy and primary care settings. Undertake a one week placement in a sector of your choosing.

Advanced Therapeutics (60 credits)

Gain an understanding of the principles of oncology and infectious disease. Put a greater focus on decision making and complex therapeutic interventions. Study various cancers seen commonly in clinical practice. Understand the use of chemotherapeutic and supportive interventions and the evidence base supporting their use in the treatment of cancer. Cover the management of common and serious infections and HIV.

More about (MPharm) Pharmacy at Sunderland

Discover more articles

Our highly technical apparatus will help you gain a better understanding of the effects of drugs on specific receptors located throughout the human body and related physiological effects.

In addition to equipment for standard pharmacopoeial tests, such as dissolution testing, friability and disintegration, we also have highly sophisticated test methods. These include rheometry, thermal analysis (differential scanning calorimetry and hot stage microscopy), tests for powder flow, laser diffraction, photon correlation spectroscopy, image analysis and laser confocal microscopy.

We also have equipment for wet granulation, spray drying, capsule filling, tablet making, mixing inhalation, film coating and freeze drying.
Facilities for pharmaceutics and pharmacology
Helen McArdle House is based on our City Campus and has benefited from multi-million pound investment in modern facilities in recent years.
Many of our healthcare courses are taught here, including Nursing, Paramedic Science, Medicine and Healthcare Sciences, and our School of Psychology is also based here.
The building is made up of a variety of teaching and learning spaces, including mock hospital wards, OSCE suites, the Patient Diagnostic Suite, Mental Health and Wellbeing Suite and seminar and IT classrooms.
A lot of academic staff offices are based here, with an open-door policy in place.
Helen McArdle House
The Living Lab boasts a unique immersive simulation room, that allows participants to experience a range of simulated scenarios in a safe environment. The space is designed to make scenarios feel as close to reality as possible, to enable students to practice their clinical skills safely. An adjacent debrief room allows groups to observe the scenario in the immersive suite through a live stream (projected onto TV screens) and provide peer feedback and group discussion following the completion of the scenario.
Immersive Suite
The University boasts a collection of more than 430,000 books in total, with many more titles available through the inter-library loan service. There are nearly 9,000 journal titles, mostly in electronic format. Each year the University invests around £1 million in new resources. As a student, you will have access to a huge range of online databases such as:

British National Formulary:
Compiled with the advice of clinical experts, the British National Formulary (BNF) provides up-to-date guidance on prescribing, dispensing and administering medicines.

The British Pharmacopoeia:
The British Pharmacopoeia (BP) is the authoritative collection of quality standards for UK medicines and is an essential reference for anyone involved in pharmaceutical R&D, manufacture, testing and regulation.

CINAHL:
CINAHL with Full Text is the world’s most comprehensive source of full text for nursing & allied health journals, providing full text for more than 600 journals indexed in CINAHL.

The Cochrane Library:
The Cochrane Library is a collection of databases that contain high-quality, independent evidence to inform healthcare decision-making.

PubMed Central:
PubMed Central is a service of the US National Library of Medicine that includes over 25 million citations from MEDLINE and other life science journals for biomedical articles and includes links to full text articles and other related resources.

ScienceDirect:
ScienceDirect is a leading full-text scientific database offering journal articles and book chapters covering physical sciences, life sciences, health sciences, and social sciences and humanities.
Library Services - pharmacy, health and wellbeing
Our Mock Hospital Wards are based in the Living Lab and Helen McArdle House, on City Campus and are used by students across a wide range of healthcare courses, including Nursing, Paramedic Science, Pharmacy, Biosciences and Healthcare Science. All wards are equipped with industry-standard clinical equipment, including life-like simulation manikins, and are suitable to run different scenarios, from clinical skills, to role playing, fully immersing students in a dynamic learning environment.
Mock Hospital Ward
The Sciences Complex has four multi-functional, general teaching labs which are used across a wide range of courses, including Pharmacy, Biomedical Science, and Cosmetic and Pharmaceutical Sciences. Experiments carried out in these labs include basic analytical chemistry using titrations, pH meters and UV Spectrometers. The four labs can be opened up through a partition wall to create two larger labs.
Multi-Functional Lab
OSCE stands for Objective Structured Clinical Examination. An OCSE is a practical assessment that students studying Nursing, Medicine, and Allied Health courses must undertake to test clinical skill competency.
OSCE Suite
The Dispensary is used by Pharmacy students across all year groups, including Pre-Registration students. The Dispensary has industry-standard kit such as labelling software, access to pharmacy reference sources (online and paper-based resources) and appropriate drug storage facilities which comply with relevant legislation and good practice requirements.
Pharmacy Dispensary
One of the most important skills of pharmacists is to communicate their expertise in a manner that the public can understand and accept. The University has invested in a purpose-built model pharmacy complete with consultation suite. This allows you to develop skills in helping patients take the correct medicine in the right way, with optional video recording of your interaction with patients for the purposes of analysis and improvement.

In addition, we can accurately simulate hospital-based scenarios in a fully equipped ward environment where medical, nursing and pharmacy students can share learning.
Pharmacy Practice
There are a range of simulation manikins used across most of our healthcare courses, giving you the opportunity to apply your training in a realistic, yet safe, setting.
Our manikins range from various SimMan patient simulators (SimMan 3G, SimMan ALS, Sim Junior and Sim Baby to name a few) to CAE Apollo and Caesar manikins, to anatomically realistic SimBodies and lower-fidelity simulation manikins.
SimMan and Apollo manikins can demonstrate realistic physiological behaviour, including blood pressure, a pulse, drug recognition technology (in SimMan 3G) and each model can be pre-programmed with various medical scenarios.
Simulation Technology
Sunderland Pharmacy School has a rich heritage in scientific studies and our degree courses are extremely well respected in the industry. We are fully plugged into relevant medical and pharmaceutical industry bodies, with strong links and an exchange of ideas and people. Your Masters project may involve collaboration with a pharmaceutical company, including working at their sites.
Sunderland Pharmacy School
The Sciences Complex is based on our City Campus. It has benefited from multi-million pound investment in modern facilities in recent years and continues to develop as our health sciences offer grows.

It is the central hub for many of our health and sciences courses and is made up of a variety of teaching and learning spaces, including labs, problem-based learning classrooms and facilities that encourage interprofessional learning. A lot of academic staff offices are based here, with an open-door policy in place.
The Sciences Complex
Map and directions

Facilities

Sunderland's exceptional facilities include state-of-the-art equipment for pharmaceutics, medicinal chemistry and pharmacology.

Entry requirements

Our typical offer is

GPA 3.0 or higher with Grade 12 Chemistry and one other science (or Maths) at grade C or above from High School Diploma along with one of the following at the required grade - SAT I and SAT II, ACT or Advanced Placement

We also require three passes at GCSE grade C or above, which must include Mathematics and English Language, or an equivalent qualification, for example; a minimum of Level 2 Key Skills in Communication and Application of Number. If you have studied for a new GCSE for which you will be awarded a numerical grade then you will need to achieve a grade 4 or above.

If English is not your first language, you should have an IELTS (or equivalent) score of at least 7.0, with a minimum of 6.5 in each band.

Pharmacy is a registered health care profession for which the ability to practice safely and effectively is essential, so all pharmacy students will be subjected to Fitness to Practise procedures.

This means you are required to complete two self-declaration forms, one about your health and the other about your conduct. For UK students you will also be required to obtain a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check and for overseas students, a Certificate of Good Conduct from your home police force is necessary. All overseas students will then be required to obtain a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check after six months after starting the programme.

A ’Fitness to Practise’ information pack containing the relevant documents will be sent to you by the University of Sunderland once you hold a conditional firm offer with us. These forms are then reviewed alongside your application, and you must meet both the academic and fitness to practice requirements before you will be given an unconditional offer. These checks enable us to make safer recruitment decisions by identifying candidates who may be unsuitable for certain activities including the pharmacy work experience placements.

Fees and finance

The annual fee for this course is:

£9,250 if you are from the UK / EU
£12,000 if you are an international student

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

Take a look at the Your Finances section to find out about the scholarships and bursaries that may be available to you.

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This information was correct at the time of publication.

Employment

97.5% of our MPharm Pharmacy graduates are in graduate-level employment, further study or training within six months of graduating, according to DLHE 2016/17 (based on full-time, first degree, home leavers).

Many of our students go on to work in Community Pharmacy, Primary care, Secondary care, and Industrial pharmaceuticals, or progress on to research degrees.

Financial rewards compare favourably with most other professions. Typical starting salaries for pharmacists range from £25,000 - £40,000 depending on sector, location, conditions of employment and experience. Currently, there is virtually no unemployment of qualified pharmacists.

Qualifying as a Pharmacist

On graduation as a Master of Pharmacy (MPharm), you will need to undertake a further year of postgraduate training after the end of the course to become eligible for registration as a pharmacist in the UK. We have never had an MPharm graduate who has not obtained a pre-registration placement and the University will support you in finding a position, however we are unable to guarantee one.

This one-year placement is known as the ‘pre-registration training year’ and involves you working under the supervision of a qualified pharmacist. We offer a support programme during the pre-registration year at Sunderland: Pharmacy pre-registration training programme.

On successful completion of the pre-registration training year, you will be required to pass the national registration assessment set by the General Pharmaceutical Council before you are eligible to start your career as a Pharmacist.

Other career options

Although the MPharm is primarily a route to becoming a pharmacist, it can also open up many other career pathways where expertise in medicines is vital. Examples include pharmaceutical research and working in the Research and Development industry.

Guest speakers

We have well-established links with professionals working in all the main branches of pharmacy. Through these links we organise a programme of guest speakers who help you relate academic theory to current trends and issues.

Teacher practitioners

Many of the staff teaching on this course are practitioners from hospital, community and primary care backgrounds. This ensures that our course is employer-led, and means that you will have regular contact with the ‘real world’ of the pharmacy profession.

Meet the students

The lecturers help bridge the gap between the theoretical and practical aspects of the course.

Jo Xuan Tan
I am proud to continue my association with the University of Sunderland.

Mark Burdon
The University of Sunderland has an absolutely excellent reputation.

Matthew Aiken
If you want to focus on developing your life skills and knowledge, then this is your destination.

Mohammed Ahmad Tarik Altaee
Coming here to study will literally change your life.

Natasha Kam
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
I don’t know how I would have coped without the support of my lecturers.

Yasmine Haq

Meet the team

Related courses

MSc Clinical 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: 10 December 2019

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Pharmacy MPharm

Overview

Why us?

Course structure

Year 1 (national level 4):

Year 2 (national level 5):

Year 3 (national level 6):

Final year (national level 7)

More about (MPharm) Pharmacy at Sunderland

Everything you need to know about Pre-Reg Pharmacy

Five alternative careers you can have with a Pharmacy degree

How a placement could be a foot in the door for a career in cosmetic science

Facilities

Entry requirements

Fees and finance

Employment

Qualifying as a Pharmacist

Other career options

Guest speakers

Teacher practitioners

Meet the students

Jo Xuan Tan

Mark Burdon

Matthew Aiken

Mohammed Ahmad Tarik Altaee

Natasha Kam

Paul Tasker

Sinead McHugh

Yasmine Haq

Meet the team

Related courses

Contact

Sign up to receive more information