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To support experiential learning, students are assigned to a clinical placement site at a teaching hospital in the London area. Students will spend time at the hospital placement throughout the year. These placements allow access to patients in order to develop clinical care skills such as identifying pharmaceutical care issues and preparing appropriate care plans to optimise treatment. The use of key reference works, such as the British National Formulary (BNF), and interpretation of medical notes are covered at the university during induction sessions.

Site allocation is done at the beginning of Term 1. Induction week at the placement sites takes place in week 11. From week 12 onwards, students will attend placement two days per week (Thursday and Friday) in Terms 1 and 2 (please note this is subject to change).

A placement tutor facilitates learning at each site. Placement tutors are senior clinical pharmacists with roles in training and development. They serve as student supervisors at the hospital sites and are responsible for co-ordinating placement activities, orientating students to site-specific policies and procedures and helping to identify the research project topics. Students may work with other practitioners in the placement sites under the advice of the placement tutor.

The module extends over Terms 1, 2 and 3 and is closely aligned with module 1 (PHAY0024) and module 2 (PHAY0025). It builds on the learning gained through the taught clinical pharmacy topics as well as journal clubs (JCs) and the problem-based learning sessions (PBL). The overall aim of the placement is to learn appropriate methods (not specific knowledge) to identify and manage pharmaceutical care and medicines optimisation issues for individual patients. During placement, a significant amount of student-directed learning is required.

Students must sign a learning agreement and adopt a reflective practice throughout the programme.

Formative assessment by school and placement tutors and peers is crucial to this module. Students are encouraged to turn such feedback into feed-forward in application to future coursework and practise. Assessment tools are based on the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (Great Britain) Foundation Programme.

MODULE AIM AND OBJECTIVES:

Aim :To develop an effective method for meeting the pharmaceutical needs of a patient.

Objectives

By the end of the clinical placements, students should be able to:

• perform accurate medication histories of patients
• describe a patient’s current therapy
• identify actual and/or potential pharmaceutical problems
• appropriately assess pharmaceutical problems
• identify plans for interventions to resolve or avoid pharmaceutical problems
• identify and critically appraise the relevant evidence base pertaining to pharmaceutical care of patients
• identify expected relevant monitoring data that may be used as evidence to confirm effective plans
• communicate effectively and professionally with other health care practitioners and patients (e.g. drug history taking and patient counselling)
• describe specific issues relating to drug administration where appropriate
• discuss how pharmacists contribute to improving patients’ clinical outcomes
• collect monitoring data to illustrate the outcomes of contributions
• identify areas for continued professional development

AND

In presenting the oral case presentations and discussing the contents of the placement portfolio, the student will be able to:

• demonstrate effective oral presentation skills and the use of audio visual aids
• demonstrate the ability to present a patient to a professional audience, including relevant past medical history, presenting complaint, current drug therapy, and appropriate data where relevant
• describe background knowledge of a particular disease state
• evaluate evidence-based treatment options and monitoring of therapy
• justify recommendations made to manage the patient’s drug related problems on questioning, and where appropriate, form an opinion on alternative treatment options
• describe any particular issues around pharmacology, pharmacokinetics and drug

administration where appropriate on presentation and questioning of the patient’s therapy

• develop potential pharmaceutical care plans and future management of the named patient, including patient counselling and discharge plan
• participate in discussions and respond to questions in a professional and clear manner

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