Prescribing & Medicines
Management
Issue no 4, p5-6
July/August 2003
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Prescribing & Medicines
Management |
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Features |
Everything you need to know about training courses for prescribing
Five universities will be offering courses in supplementary prescribing for pharmacists this autumn. Although they all have to provide the same curriculum, they have chosen different ways to construct their courses. Some concentrate more on a taught course within the university and others have adopted a distance-learning package. One course has already started. The Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen sent out introductory materials to students on 4 August. It will be followed next month by courses at the University of Keele, King's College London, Homerton College, Cambridge, and the London Metropolitan University. Dr Peter Wilson, consultant to the Royal Pharmaceutical Society who has been involved in the accreditation visits, confirmed that at the beginning of August, five courses had been accredited. "A further three visits are scheduled for later in August so, if they all go through, eight courses will be in place by September," he said. One further university has indicated that it will apply for accreditation in the autumn for a course starting in January and three others have said that they will apply in 2004. The Royal Pharmaceutical Society has published an outline curriculum that all courses in supplementary prescribing have to follow (available online at www.rpsgb.org.uk). This includes the following areas: • Consultation and decision making • Influences on prescribing • Prescribing in a team context • Update on therapeutics • Methods of monitoring • Evidence-based practice and clinical governance • Legal, policy, professional and ethical aspects • Public health context In addition, the Society has established three general entrance requirements to the courses: current registration as a pharmacist with the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (or equivalent in Northern Ireland), having a designated medical practitioner who will act as a mentor and supervise the student during the 12 days of training spent in practice, and having support from a sponsoring organisation such as a PCT trust. The school of health studies at Homerton College, Cambridge, is running two courses. One will begin in September and be held in Cambridge. The second, to be held in Peterborough, will begin in January. In the future, this could be extended to four courses a year, depending on demand. There are 10 places on the first course and all have been allocated. The college has a contract with the local Workforce Development Confederation (WDC) and students referred by the WDC take priority. Pharmacists from outside the Cambridge area can also apply. "We will accept applications from outside the NHS but they will still need to fulfil the standard entrance criteria," says Matt Griffiths, the course lead. This opens the door, for example, to multiple pharmacy chains to put their pharmacists on the course, providing a mentor can be found. The course will be structured around 27 time-tabled days at the college, some of which will be shared learning between pharmacists and nurses and some will be separate. Much of the course will be compulsory but there are some "open learning" days that pharmacists can opt out of if their knowledge is already sufficient in that particular area. It will follow the RPSGB curriculum. An additional 13 days will be spent in practice. Assessment will be through objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs), a portfolio, an essay and a short-answer exam.
Contact details The course for the first intake of students at Keele University will start on 1 September. A second course will follow at the beginning of 2004 and it is likely that there will be one or two additional courses in 2004, depending on demand. Each course will have around 30 places. Applications for the first course have already closed and the closing date for applications for the January course is 14 November. Pharmacists in the West Midlands who are sponsored via Staffordshire and Shropshire WDC will be given priority. It is anticipated that almost all of the students on the first course will come via the WDC. However, pharmacists who are not eligible for sponsorship via the local WDC can still apply. Patricia Black, postgraduate course development manager, explains that these pharmacists can also apply for another course. "The University has approved that the supplementary prescribing preparatory course contributes 45 masters level credits towards the 60 credits required for Keele's certificate in prescribing studies (supplementary prescribing)," she says. The certificate in prescribing studies (supplementary prescribing) provides credits towards all Keele's current postgraduate diploma and MSc programmes, she adds. In addition to the standard entrance requirements, applicants must have at least two years' post-registration experience in pharmacy practice and, since the course is validated at masters level, should normally have an honours degree in pharmacy (preferably minimum 2:2). The course will consist of six study days at the university, 12 days supervised learning in practice and 310 hours of open/distance learning. The course is based on the RPSGB curriculum, and assessment will include problem solving case analysis, case presentation, practice-based audit, reflective learning, assessment of practice by the mentor and Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE). Contact details The first course in supplementary prescribing at King's College London, will run from 23 September until 16 December. A second course will begin in January. There are 30 places available for each course and the college will still be taking applications for the first course until the last week in August. "We anticipate most applications will come from the London area, but we will not exclude applications from elsewhere," comments Anne Lovejoy, lecturer in pharmacy practice. Furthermore, she confirmed that both WDC-funded and privately-funded applications will be accepted. King's is taking a unique approach to its course design, operating a mainly web-based course. Teaching materials will be accessible online or on a CD-Rom. In addition, students will have to attend 13 compulsory two-hour weekly seminars relating to what has been covered in the web-based course that week. Additional tutorials will be provided if students request them.The titles of the modules the course contains are: legal aspects of prescribing for health professionals, communications and clinical decision making, influences on prescribing and achieving concordance, clinical effectiveness, clinical governance, medical examination, ethics in practice, professional accountability and public health issues. Students will be assessed through a written examination, three OSCEs and an assessment of their time spent in practice.
Contact details London Metropolitan University A supplementary prescribing course is starting at London Metropolitan University in September. There will be a second intake in February next year. In the longer term, the university plans to offer two courses a year, depending on demand. Each course will have between 25 and 30 places, and is open to both pharmacists and nurses. Places were allocated in the beginning of August following a meeting of the London WDC. Pharmacists need to get approval from the WDC but also need to apply to the university itself.. However, in the first instance, pharmacists can contact the university to gain information about how to apply for the course. Students can apply from anywhere in England. In total, the course lasts for 40 days – it will be spilt between 13 days in practice and 27 days at the university. The 27 days will be divided into three blocks over a three-month period. Contact details The Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen has 40 places on its course that has already begun, all of which have been taken. Derek Stewart, senior lecturer, explains that places have been divided between community, hospital and practice-based pharmacists but the majority have been taken by community pharmacists. The course is largely based on distance learning. It comprises three distance-learning modules and a residential course. Each module will take 50 hours to complete, over a four-week period. The whole course will last between three and six months depending on when the student chooses to complete the practice part. The first module is therapeutics. Pharmacists are given an option of which clinical area they select but all cover the same skills. At the moment the choices are between cardiovascular, respiratory, endocrine and musculoskeletal modules. Other topics will be added soon, including cancer and mental health. The skills each module covers are critical appraisal, application of evidence-based medicine, selection of therapy and disease monitoring. The second module is called "medicines, prescribers and people". It is about the process of prescribing including the psychology of prescribing, health beliefs, prescribing in teams and non-clinical factors that influence prescribing. The third module is called "prescribing and public health". In other words, aspects of pharmaceutical public health including health needs assessments, clinical governance, corporate governance, health improvement and health protection. The residential period is a five-day course at the university, to be held about two-thirds of the way through the distance-learning course. This will cover how to write and implement clinical management plans, communication skills for consultations, sources of information, interviewing skills and reviewing information. Candidates also have to complete a period of learning in practice. Assessment will be through three tools: case studies, reflective essays and OSCEs. Places on the supplementary prescribing course in Scotland are all funded by the Scottish Executive through NHS Education for Scotland (NES). NES wrote to trust chief pharmacists to ask them to allocate a certain number of pharmacists in their area. Rose Marie Parr, director of the Scottish Centre for Post-qualification Pharmaceutical Education, says that she hopes this funding will continue in the future. A decision on this will have to be made by the Scottish Executive. In the meantime, she advises pharmacists who are interested in undertaking prescribing training to contact their trust chief pharmacist for information. Contact details |
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