MSc Advanced Pharmacy Practice

This course is designed to meet the needs of progressive practitioners enabling you to develop your expertise in areas relating to advanced pharmacy practice, including education and training, management and leadership, building working relationships and expert professional practice. 

It provides the opportunity for healthcare professionals to develop their professional practice as advanced practitioners involved in making decisions about patient care. Practitioners working in both primary and secondary care contexts will benefit from developing a range of skills and intellectual attributes which have the potential to enhance both the individuals' career prospects and benefit service delivery in their organisation.

Part of this course is accredited by the General Pharmaceutical Council as it includes the accredited Pharmacist Independent Prescribing qualification.

Visit the Pharmacy and Life Science school pages to read more about why a practitioner would study this course, the course aims and the opportunities. 

• PHM028 Pharmacist Independent Prescribing
• PHM029 Developing Non-medical Prescribing Practice
• PHM034 The Expert Practitioner
• PHM030 Education and Training in Advanced Practice
• PHM010 Health Services Research Methods
• PHM011 Health Services Research Project

The first two semesters of the course cover aspects of prescribing and incorporates all the elements of the General Pharmaceutical Council accredited course in Pharmacist Independent Prescribing.

The PgDip stage enables the student to develop in the key areas of advanced practice outlined in the Advanced and Consultant Level Framework (www.codeg.org).

Students progressing to the MSc stage have an opportunity to develop skills and expertise in relation to research and development of pharmacy services. Modules at the PgDip and MSc stages are extremely flexible and are designed around a framework that allows students to demonstrate achievement of competencies in any area of pharmacy practice.

You will study via our online virtual learning environment CampusMoodle, allowing you the flexibility to combine studies with your current employment.

All your materials will be provided online and are designed to allow self-assessment of learning needs then subsequent acquisition and application of knowledge in practice-related problem-based scenarios. These scenarios may involve you carrying out a range of activities including: participation in online discussion forums, formative peer-assessed essays, short answer problem / case study questions and multiple-choice questions.

Each module is sub-divided into a number of topics and you are encouraged to use materials to identify and address your own learning needs supported by a designated mentor.

Students who have already completed an accredited Pharmacist Independent Prescribing course may be exempt from attending a 5 day residential period.

The five day Pharmaceutical Care Planning residential period, which focuses on care planning in the context of prescribing, is delivered in collaboration with a range of healthcare professionals including nursing and medical colleagues. This is designed to help you acquire and develop new skills that cannot be taught at a distance. The residential period also provides the opportunity for you to meet fellow students and develop networks to support your practice.

Applicants should have undergraduate honours or integrated masters degree in pharmacy from a UK university or overseas equivalent, three years post-registration experience and currently working in an area that will allow development and demonstration of competencies in an area of advanced practice or in consultation with the Course Leader.

Applicants must also meet each of the criteria listed below unless they have already completed a GPhC accredited Pharmacist Independent Prescribing course and therefore intend applying for exemption for module PHM028:

1. Current registration with the General Pharmaceutical Council or the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland (PSNI) as a practising pharmacist.
2. At least two years appropriate patient-orientated experience in a UK hospital, community or primary care setting following the preregistration year.
3. Have identified an area of clinical practice in which to develop prescribing skills and have up-to-date clinical, pharmacological and pharmaceutical knowledge relevant to the intended area of prescribing practice.
4. Able to demonstrate reflection on own performance and take responsibility for own CPD.
5. Have a Designated Medical Practitioner who has agreed to provide supervision, support and shadowing opportunities and is familiar with the General Pharmaceutical Council's requirements of the programme and the need to achieve the learning outcomes.

English Language Requirements

All international students, for whom English is not their first language, must provide evidence of linguistic ability by gaining either IELTS 7 or its equivalent in TOEFL prior to receiving an unconditional offer of a place on the course.

All course fees are reviewed annually and subject to change.

For further information on this course please email pharmdip@rgu.ac.uk.

An MSc Advanced Pharmacy Practice will serve as a marker of a practitioner that has progressed beyond the parameters of normal practice. As such they will have benchmarked their practice and will be able to show that they can make a difference to patient care.

This qualification will set them apart from practitioners with ordinary MSc Clinical Pharmacy degrees and facilitate progression to peer recognition as an expert practitioner and Consultant status if desired.

Employers will benefit from their staff completing this course since it is designed to enable practitioners to develop in the key competency areas for advanced practice. This will mean staff are able to make valuable contributions to the development and quality assurance of pharmacy services through the application of aspects of advanced practice.