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Continuing Professional Development for Pharmacy Technicians

2024-25 (also available for 2025-26)

Start date

16 September 2024

Duration

1 year part-time

Places available (subject to change)

20

About the course

Reasons to study

  1. You could enhance your career prospects and gain the tools to get you a promotion.
  2. Your learning will take place in our purpose-built pharmacy practice suite as well as other lab and classroom based settings.
  3. You’ll be taught by Pharmacists and Academic staff, with a broad range of industry and teaching experience.

 

This course has been designed to help pharmacy technicians, involved in the delivery and development of new and extended roles, with their continuing professional development (CPD).

  • Our experience of delivering CPD to pharmacy technicians demonstrates that career progression is facilitated by completion of our university courses.
  • This course could be ideal for anyone wanting to expand their role, gain the tools for promotion and enhance their career.
  • There is no qualification awarded for this course but those who successfully complete the course will receive a letter confirming their completion.

Course detail

Core modules:

Professional Development

The increasingly important and responsible role of the pharmacy technician brings with it an increasingly demanding need for pharmacy technicians. In common with all healthcare professionals, to take responsibility for your continuing personal professional development, mandatory CPD is a component of registration as a pharmacy technician (or other healthcare professional). The overall aim of this module is to support you in effective professional development by providing the skills to enable you to take responsibility for your own, effective, lifelong learning and to enable you to access and use the appropriate resources to achieve this independently.

Option modules:

Choose one module from Pool 1 and one module from Pool 2-

Pool 1

Medicines Management

The aim of this module is to provide you with the underpinning knowledge to enable you to take an active part in a wide range of activities, which can be classed as ‘medicines management’ and ‘pharmaceutical care’. The module will provide knowledge and skills for pharmacy technicians to take their part in patient-centred medication review to assess efficacy, respond to adverse effects and support compliance, rational prescribing, safe repeat prescribing and appropriate patient information. The module content includes the provision of patient information, pharmaceutical care, medication review and medicines optimisation. Recent reforms and drivers for change in the profession of pharmacy will be discussed and you'll be enabled to take a greater role in your chosen area.

Applied Therapeutics for Pharmacy Technicians

The aim of this module is to provide pharmacy technicians with the underpinning knowledge to work with patients and their medicines to improve healthcare outcomes. This module will focus on the application of an integrated knowledgebase to inform decision-making and problem-solving of issues regarding pharmaceutical care of individual patients. It will focus on problem solving and pharmaceutical care planning whilst also introducing a variety of therapeutic areas and their management. Using taught, work based, and directed study you'll have the opportunity to apply theory to work by the preparation of ‘real-life’ care plans demonstrating application of knowledge.

Pool 2

Medication Safety

The aim of this module is to provide pharmacy technicians, without a dispensing role, with the underpinning knowledge to work with patients and their medicines to improve safety. With an emphasis on error reduction, the module will combine knowledge with skills to provide competence to reduce errors. Using both taught and self-directed study you'll have the opportunity to apply theory to work by the preparation of ‘real-life’ initiatives demonstrating application of knowledge. You'll be expected to become more familiar with the way in which work-place protocols and procedures operate and also be encouraged to appraise and challenge current procedures and ways of working to provide the safest possible care, benefiting both patients and other professionals.

Accredited Accuracy Checking for Pharmacy

The aim of this module, also suitable as an independent short course, is to provide the underpinning knowledge to enable pharmacy personnel to carry out the final accuracy check of dispensed items with confidence. The content is appropriate for the checking role and provides underpinning knowledge for you to understand the risks of inaccurate dispensing and their likely causes, the circumstances leading to error and ways to minimise risk. The role of protocols and procedures will be described and you'll be supported in developing the communication skills necessary for reducing the risk of errors in the pharmacy and at the point of administration. The module is recognised for ‘ACT’ across NHS employers in Yorkshire and Humber.

The course consists of three 20 credit modules at ‘F’ level (60 credits in total) and is delivered in an integrated way to provide skills related to professional development, medicines management and medication safety or accuracy checking for pharmacy (ACT).

Entry requirements

You must be a Registered Pharmacy Technician with the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) and be able to use the internet, email and have basic competence in 'Office' programmes such as Word and PowerPoint. You must also have access to the internet.

If your first language is not English, you will need to meet the minimum requirements of an English Language qualification. The minimum for IELTS is 6.0 overall with no element lower than 5.5, or equivalent. Read more about the University’s entry requirements for students outside of the UK on our Where are you from information pages.

Student support

At the University of Huddersfield, you'll find support networks and services to help you get ahead in your studies and social life. Whether you study at undergraduate or postgraduate level, you'll soon discover that you're never far away from our dedicated staff and resources to help you to navigate through your personal student journey. Find out more about all our support services.

Important information

We will always try to deliver your course as described on this web page. However, sometimes we may have to make changes as set out below.

Changes to a course you have applied for

If we propose to make a major change to a course that you are holding an offer for, then we will tell you as soon as possible so that you can decide whether to withdraw your application prior to enrolment.

Cancellation of a course you have applied for

Although we always try and run all of the course we offer, we may occasionally have to withdraw a course you have applied for or combine your programme with another programme if we consider this reasonably necessary to ensure a good student experience, for example if there are not enough applicants to ensure you have a good learning experience. Where this is the case we will notify you as soon as reasonably possible and we will contact you to discuss other suitable courses with us we can transfer your application to. If we notify you that the course you have applied to has been withdrawn or combined, and you do not wish to transfer to another course with us, you may cancel your application and we will refund you any deposits or fees you have paid to us.

Changes to your course after you enrol as a student

We will always try to deliver your course and other services as described. However, sometimes we may have to make changes as set out below:

Changes to option modules

Where your course allows you to choose modules from a range of options, we will review these each year and change them to reflect the expertise of our staff, current trends in research and as a result of student feedback or demand for certain modules. We will always ensure that you have a range of options to choose from and we will let you know in good time the options available for you to choose for the following year.

Major changes

We will only make major changes to the core curriculum of a course or to our services if it is necessary for us to do so and provided such changes are reasonable. A major change in this context is a change that materially changes the services available to you; or the outcomes, or a significant part, of your course, such as the nature of the award or a substantial change to module content, teaching days (part time provision), classes, type of delivery or assessment of the core curriculum.

For example, it may be necessary to make a major change to reflect changes in the law or the requirements of the University’s regulators; to meet the latest requirements of a commissioning or accrediting body; to improve the quality of educational provision; in response to student, examiners’ or other course evaluators’ feedback; and/or to reflect academic or professional changes within subject areas. Major changes may also be necessary because of circumstances outside our reasonable control, such as a key member of staff leaving the University or being unable to teach, where they have a particular specialism that can’t be adequately covered by other members of staff; or due to damage or interruption to buildings, facilities or equipment.

Major changes would usually be made with effect from the next academic year, but this may not always be the case. We will notify you as soon as possible should we need to make a major change and will carry out suitable consultation with affected students. If you reasonably believe that the proposed change will cause you detriment or hardship we will, if appropriate, work with you to try to reduce the adverse effect on you or find an appropriate solution. Where an appropriate solution cannot be found and you contact us in writing before the change takes effect you can cancel your registration and withdraw from the University without liability to the University for future tuition fees. We will provide reasonable support to assist you with transferring to another university if you wish to do so.

Termination of course

In exceptional circumstances, we may, for reasons outside of our control, be forced to discontinue or suspend your course. Where this is the case, a formal exit strategy will be followed and we will notify you as soon as possible about what your options are, which may include transferring to a suitable replacement course for which you are qualified, being provided with individual teaching to complete the award for which you were registered, or claiming an interim award and exiting the University. If you do not wish to take up any of the options that are made available to you, then you can cancel your registration and withdraw from the course without liability to the University for future tuition fees and you will be entitled to a refund of all course fees paid to date. We will provide reasonable support to assist you with transferring to another university if you wish to do so.

When you enrol as a student of the University, your study and time with us will be governed by a framework of regulations, policies and procedures, which form the basis of your agreement with us. These include regulations regarding the assessment of your course, academic integrity, your conduct (including attendance) and disciplinary procedure, fees and finance and compliance with visa requirements (where relevant). It is important that you familiarise yourself with these as you will be asked to agree to abide by them when you join us as a student. You will find a guide to the key terms here, along with the Student Protection Plan, where you will also find links to the full text of each of the regulations, policies and procedures referred to. You should read these carefully before you enrol. Please note that this information is subject to change and you are advised to check our website regularly for any changes before you enrol at the University. A person who is not party to this agreement shall not have any rights under or in connection with it. Only you and the University shall have any right to enforce or rely on the agreement.

The Office for Students (OfS) is the principal regulator for the University.