Advanced Clinical Pharmacy Practice

Overview
Do you want to advance your pharmacy career while continuing in employment?

This postgraduate distance learning programme allows you fit your studies around your work and family commitments.

Our Advanced Clinical Pharmacy Practice programme was developed following extensive consultation with pharmacists and their employers both within and beyond the United Kingdom. It provides a flexible study pathway that is designed to develop the therapeutic knowledge and clinical skills of pharmacists to an advanced level. The modules are designed to help pharmacists to acquire and demonstrate the advanced-level competencies defined in the Royal Pharmaceutical Society's Core Advanced Pharmacist Curriculum.

The PG Diploma programme is open to pharmacists in all employment sectors.

The PG Diploma can be completed entirely off-campus by distance-learning and is therefore open to pharmacists both within and outside the United Kingdom.

Students in Great Britain may select the Independent Prescribing option in year 2, which includes a compulsory 5-day clinical skills residential at Queen's.

Course Structure
Study part-time by distance learning.

Year 1
Students complete one of the following 30-credit modules during the first semester:
PMY7100 Introduction to clinical pharmacy*
PMY7101 Managing drug treatment
PMY7102 Advancing practice in primary care
PMY7103 Developing evidence in practice

*compulsory for students who are working outside the UK/Ireland

Students complete one of the following 30-credit modules during the second semester:
PMY7104 Management of long-term conditions 1 (Cardiovascular disease and diabetes)
PMY7105 Management of long-term conditions 2 (Neurological disease, management of pain and mental health)
PMY7106 Management of long-term conditions 3 (Respiratory, gastrointestinal and skin disease)

Year 2
Students complete one of the following 30-credit modules during the first semester:
PMY7101 Managing drug treatment
PMY7102 Advancing practice in primary care
PMY7103 Developing evidence in practice

Students complete one of the following 30-credit modules during the second semester:
PMY7104 Management of long-term conditions 1 (Cardiovascular disease and diabetes)
PMY7105 Management of long-term conditions 2 (Neurological disease, management of pain and mental health)
PMY7106 Management of long-term conditions 3 (Respiratory, gastrointestinal and skin disease)

Independent prescribing (IP) option:
Students in Great Britain can complete IP training in Year 2 as an alternative to the modules listed above.

The IP option is delivered via a combination of e-learning and work-based learning and includes 12 days in-practice training with a Designated Prescribing Practitioner, the purpose of which is to enable the student to develop and practice clinical examination skills relevant to the condition(s) for which they intend to prescribe.

IP applicants must have been practicing for at least two years and should be employed in either primary or secondary care at the start of their IP studies.

Students taking the IP option are required to attend a 5-day residential at Queen's, which will include workshops, clinical skills training and assessment. The residential will be held in the second semester (dates to be confirmed). Students are required to pay their own travel, accommodation and subsistence costs.

Optional Modules:
Professionalism (10 credits)
Evidence-based medicine and safe prescribing (10 credits)
Disease Management (10 credits)
Prescribing in Practice (0 credits)
Management of long-term conditions 1 (30 credits)
Clinical skills, patient monitoring and onward referral (10 credits)
Influences on and psychology of prescribing and patient-centred care (10 credits)
Advancing practice in primary care (30 credits)
Developing evidence in practice (30 credits)
Consultation and communication skills (10 credits)
Management of long-term conditions 2 (30 credits)
Management of long-term conditions 3 (30 credits)
Managing drug treatment (30 credits)
Introduction to clinical pharmacy (30 credits)
Critical Literature Review (20 credits)

Graduate
This course is designed to meet the postgraduate education needs of pharmacists working in patient-facing roles, although applications are welcome from pharmacists working in any employment sector.

The programme is open to local, national and international applicants.

The University requires evidence that international applicants are competent in the use of English language.

Applicants must have a pharmacy degree (minimum Bachelor degree) from a university recognised by Queen’s University Belfast and be registered as a pharmacist with an appropriate regulatory organisation.

Applicants are advised to apply as early as possible and ideally no later than 31st July 2024 for courses which commence in late September. In the event that any programme receives a high number of applications, the University reserves the right to close the application portal. Notifications to this effect will appear on the Direct Application Portal against the programme application page.

2 years part-time

Entry Year: 2024/25

Career Prospects
Professional Opportunities
This programme will enhance opportunities to progress your career as a pharmacist to advanced practitioner level.