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Pharmaceutical Journal Vol 263 No 7066 p587-589
October 9, 1999 Special Feature

Pharmacy education

An invitation to participate in a review of degree accreditation

By Robert Dewdney, PhD, MRPharmS

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society is currently seeking members' and students' views on its future policy and procedure for degree accreditation. The head of the Society's education division describes the background to the invitation, the main features of current policy and procedure for making a submission.

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society accredits for registration purposes each pharmacy degree course in the United Kingdom at least every five years. Its power to do this comes from the Pharmacy Act 1954 and a European Directive. Degree accreditation is important because, without it, graduates cannot embark on preregistration training and, ultimately, be admitted to the pharmaceutical register. Without accreditation, a pharmacy degree course would be unable to attract students and would cease to be viable.
For the past 15 years or more, the Society has had a written policy and procedure for degree accreditation and a stated set of criteria to be fulfilled by each university. A required documentation set has to be produced by the university and an accreditation team visits the pharmacy school to ensure that the criteria are being met. This policy and procedure was last subject to a full review in 1994.

Challenging developments

That review included a major consultation exercise with Society members, students and other stakeholders, such as pharmacy employers and the schools of pharmacy themselves. More than anything else, it constituted a coming to terms with several challenging developments within UK universities over the late 1980s and early 1990s. These developments included modularisation (organising the curriculum in self-contained units of teaching, learning and assessment), semesterisation (splitting the academic year into two rather than three blocks), computer-aided learning and student-centred learning (providing students with resources to learn for themselves as well as from lecture classes). The review also took into account the full implementation of the national curriculum in secondary education and its implications for the capabilities of students at entry to university.
It would be understandably if people believed that the review coincided with the decision to move to four-year pharmacy degree courses across the UK. However, this was not the case.
In fact, the Society's Council, advised by the heads of the schools of pharmacy, reached that decision in the following year. In the spring of 1995, after several years of investigation and much discussion, the Council and the heads of schools judged that circumstances were then favourable to the move to a longer degree programme. The considerations were predominantly political and logistical, the educational case and the goals having been established far earlier. It was no accident that these had been taken into account in the policy and procedure review of the year before.
Nevertheless, there was some review of accreditation policy and procedure following the decision to go to a four-year course, but it was of modest scale and scope.
The Society has it in mind that there should be a full review of its own policy and procedure approximately every five years, as with university reaccreditation, and just such an exercise is now due. Furthermore, in the autumn of 2000, the schools of pharmacy will have students in all years of their new four-year programmes and that will be a good time to be thinking about how further to advance pharmacy undergraduate education.
There are also some external pressures for a full review. The Society's Education Committee has identified as many as 26 potentially significant ramifications for pharmacy education and training in, or arising from, the "NHS: modern and dependable" White Paper.
Over the past few years, schools of pharmacy have become subject to assessment of the quality of their teaching (euphemistically called "subject review") by the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) for higher education and its progenitors. This means that the Society needs to ensure that it does not duplicate the work of the QAA and place a double burden on the schools of pharmacy. In fulfilling its unique roles of looking at the subject matter and the relevance to practice of the degree course and of pursuing the interests of pharmacy education (as opposed to higher education in general), the Society needs to learn from, and build on, any good practice developed by the QAA.

Where do you come in?

So where do the Society's members and pharmacy students come into the picture?
The answer is that the Society wants their views. It is one of the defining features of pharmacy as a profession that its members and to some extent its students "own" what pharmacy is in terms of its science, practice and education. This means that if anyone is going to tinker with one, or all, of these it is desirable that members and students know about it and have the opportunity to influence developments.
Those wishing to make an input might reasonably ask "where do I start?"

Where do I start?

A good place would be to consider the main parts of the Society's current policy on degree accreditation.
Those criteria for degree accreditation likely to be of most interest to the Society's non-academic members are given in panel 1. Panel 2 (a four-part list of the content of the degree course expected by the Society) gives the Society's "indicative syllabus". It is indicative because the Society does not wish to put schools of pharmacy in the straitjacket of a national required syllabus - the Society knows that sometimes in some areas schools of pharmacy should lead rather than follow the profession.
Submissions should state what criterion or syllabus element might be altered, deleted or added, along with an explanation of why. Submission can be sent by post to me at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, 1 Lambeth High Street, London SE1 7JN. They can also be e-mailed via the Society's website at www.rpsgb.org.uk.
Anyone who wants to comment on the full set of accreditation criteria or the accreditation procedure can contact the same address for a copy of the full statement.
The Society's believes that its role in degree accreditation is an important means of assuring the relevance and adequacy of undergraduate pharmacy education. Over several decades, it has also developed other systems and relationships for monitoring and enhancing the quality of education by the schools of pharmacy. These are:

Application elsewhere

In conclusion, although accreditation can be an essential component of quality assurance and enhancement, it must be remembered that it is only a component and not the sole criterion. This is true of many other areas in the profession of pharmacy.

1. Selected criteria for accreditation of degrees in pharmacy

  • The degree course is planned as an integrated programme and a significant part of the teaching is delivered by interdisciplinary teams
  • The subject matter of the degree is integrated so that the student is provided with a co-ordinated understanding and comprehensive knowledge and expertise in the key aspects of the preparation, distribution, actions and uses of drugs and medicines
  • Adequate time is devoted to the teaching of topics directly relevant to the student's future professional role in pharmacy
  • Knowledge, understanding and capability in pharmacy law, ethics and practice are developed over the whole period of the degree course
  • Sufficient staff-led or supervised time is devoted to covering the topics of pharmacy law and ethics, and their applications to practice, this being in addition to the assimilation of legal and ethical requirements into a substantial proportion of a dispensing practical course
  • The degree course includes a significant research project (not a literature review), of three to six months' duration, but not necessarily with all curriculum time during this period being devoted to this activity alone
  • The student is encouraged to take responsibility for his or her own learning both within the degree course and as a basis for later continuing professional development
  • Teacher-practitioners and visiting lecturers from all of community, hospital and industrial pharmacy practice, and appropriate persons from other health professions, are involved in teaching or support for learning and assessment
  • The student gains first-hand structured experience of practice, including, where possible and appropriate, contact with patients and practitioners of other health professions
  • Where possible and appropriate, during stages of the degree course, the student is taught and learns alongside and together with students of other health professions
  • The development of communication skills is additional to the teaching of their theoretical basis within the social and behavioural science content of the degree course
  • By its structure and content, the degree course facilitates the development of the student's written and oral communication skills
  • There is a requirement for achievement of a satisfactorily high standard in assessment of both dispensing practice, and pharmacy law and ethics, irrespective of the student's performance in other subjects. Compensation for poor marks for these subjects because of good marks in other subjects is not allowed
  • At the outset, or after foundation teaching and learning, the great majority of admitted students is able to cope with the degree course
  • The student is made aware of the advantages of, and encouraged to undertake employment or attachment for, vacation experience in pharmacy practice
  • The student is encouraged both to be a participating member of the British Pharmaceutical Students' Association and to attend local Society branch or regional meetings
  • The school of pharmacy has an academic staff expert in pharmacy practice and at least two of the three traditional pharmaceutical science disciplines, one of which must be pharmaceutics
  • Pharmacy undergraduate teaching takes place alongside and with reference to research and other postgraduate activities
  • Course planning is carried out by groups of staff representing all components of the degree course
  • The academic staff properly takes account of advances in pharmaceutical science and pharmacy practice within the process of curriculum review and development
  • Intra-department/school and intra-university degree course quality assurance systems are adequate

2. Indicative syllabus for pharmacy degrees

Below is the current indicative syllabus appended to the criteria for pharmacy degree accreditation by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society. This syllabus was arrived at after extensive consultation with members, pharmacy bodies (including employers) and the schools of pharmacy. The syllabus is a description of what the Society expects with respect to the content and balance of pharmacy education. In cases where a school does not teach a subject in the syllabus, the Council will look for a rationale for its omission.

Pharmacy practice

THE PRACTICE OF PHARMACY

  • The pharmacist's role in patient care, industrial and other settings relevant to health or social care
  • Problem solving in all main aspects of managing medicines (dispensing only being a part of this), clinical pharmacy, responding to symptoms, provision of drug and patient information, adverse drug reaction reporting, drug utilisation review and measuring outcomes in support of evidence-based practice and achieving maximum clinical effectiveness
  • Principles and methodologies of the social and behavioural sciences relevant to pharmacy
  • Health policy and economics, including particularly pharmacoeconomics and pharmacoepidemiology
  • Theory and practice of personal and interpersonal skills, including written and verbal communication and study skills
  • The pharmacist as a Qualified Person in the pharmaceutical industry
  • Codes of practice and acceptable standards of practice, including those relating to continuing professional development
  • Approaches to quality assurance and total quality management, including good pharmaceutical manufacturing practice, good laboratory practice and good clinical practice (within clinical trials)
  • Law and ethics, their role and importance within pharmacy
  • The use of information technology in pharmacy and more widely in health care

IMPROVEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT OF PHARMACY

  • Professional and interprofessional audit
  • Promotion of good health and disease prevention through health promotion; the pharmacist's contribution
  • Health services research and social services research; methods and results relevant to practice
  • New roles for the pharmacist in health care

PHARMACY IN SOCIETY

  • The political and legal framework and processes applying in Britain; European Community/Union, the Crown, Government, Parliament and the judiciary: Green Papers, White Papers and legislation; and international, European, English and Scottish law
  • The duty of care to the patient and the wider public: concept, scope and application of professional ethics, and the Code of Ethics of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain
  • Health and illness: definitions and perceptions
  • Philosophy and provision of health care, with particular emphasis on the National Health Service in Great Britain
  • Medicines: licensing of medicines, consumer protection, including product liability and unlicensed medicines; classification of medicines including Controlled Drugs and their sub-classes; packaging and labelling of medicines
  • Poisons: classes and controls
  • Retail pharmacy business
  • Miscellaneous statutes and regulations

The action and uses of drugs, medicines and other products

  • Normal and abnormal bodily function: biochemistry, genetics, microbiology, nutrition, immunology, infective processes, pathology, pathophysiology and physiology
  • Actions of drugs within living systems: molecular, cellular, biological, and physical aspects
  • Therapeutic uses of drugs and medicines in man, including adverse reactions to and interactions of drugs, and their relevance to treatment
  • Aetiology and epidemiology of major diseases and the principles of their drug treatment
  • Recognition of disease states and responding to symptoms of such
  • Zoonoses
  • Clinical evaluation of new drugs and medicines and post-marketing surveillance
  • Clinical use of medicines, particularly principles which are common to both community and hospital practice, focusing on problem solving
  • Drug and substance misuse, and physiological and psychological dependence
  • Alterations in drug absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion upon ageing, disease and other changes
  • Clinical toxicology associated with drug overdosage, drug or substance misuse or accidental exposure
  • Medicine delivery devices and other medical devices, including equipment for oxygen therapy, equipment for continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis, peak flow meters and syringe drivers
  • Dressings and wound management products
  • Prospects for new approaches in therapeutics

Medicines design and manufacture: materials, methods and quality standards

  • Properties of materials used in formulations and devices for the delivery of biologically active molecules; biological, chemical and physical properties
  • Development pharmaceutics, preformulation and formulation studies: design and standardisation of medicines for administration to the body by different routes and to specific target sites
  • Functionality of pharmaceutical excipients
  • Environmental control in manufacturing facilities and in the supply chain
  • The influence of processing on product quality with respect to biological safety, bioavailability (including bioequivalence), dosage uniformity and stability
  • Quality assurance of pharmaceutical products and processes
  • Good pharmaceutical manufacturing practice and its implications
  • Packaging: purpose, design and evaluation
  • Effect of total supply process (supply chain) on product quality
  • Pharmacopoeial and regulatory requirements
  • Degradation of medicines: evaluation and control of biological, chemical and physical degradation
  • Microbial contamination: sources, determination, consequences and control
  • Sterilisation processes and aseptic procedures in the preparation of pharmaceutical products and medical devices; monitoring of sterilisation processes
  • Biological methods of measuring drug activity and biological standards
  • Drug absorption, disposition, metabolism and excretion; formulation criteria and dosage regimens
  • Immunological, biotechnological and radiopharmaceutical products
  • Dressings and medical appliances

The sources, isolation, characterisation, analysis and properties of substances used in medicine

  • Sources and purification of substances used in medicine of biotechnological, chemical synthetic, immunological, mineral and plant origin
  • Cell and molecular biology relevant to biotechnology
  • Physicochemical aspects of drugs and biological systems, including thermodynamics and chemical kinetics
  • Analytical methods (including those for biotechnology products): principles, design, development, validation and application
  • Specifications of substances used in medicine, including physical and chemical tests
  • Assessment of chemical/physical stability
  • Good laboratory practice
  • Prediction of drug properties, including chemical compatibilities, from molecular structure
  • Drug design: principles and future prospects