Pharmacy MPharm
School of Pharmacy
Institution Code H36
UCAS Code
B230
Course Code HHMPHA
Start date
September
Year 1 - full details
Core modules
An Introduction to Inter-professional Education
Cell Biology
Human Physiology (Pharmacy)
Introduction to Biochemistry and Metabolism (Pharmacy)
Medicines and Professional Practice 1
Molecular Structure and Reactivity
Personal Transferable Skills (Pharmacy)
Year 2 - full details
Core modules
Analytical Science
Dispensing Competence
Medicines and Professional Practice 2
Personal Transferable Skills 2 (Pharmacy)
Pharmaceutical Chemistry
Pharmaceutical Microbiology & Manufacture
Pharmacology and Therapeutics
Principles of Immunology (Pharmacy)
Year 3 - full details
Core modules
Business Management
Drug Discovery & Development
Enhancing Health & Social Care through Inter-professional Education
Law, Ethics and Professionalism
Medicines and Professional Practice III
Patient Assessment (Pharmacy)
Pharmaceutical Analysis, Production and Quality Control
Research Methods
Year 4 - full details
Core modules
Medicines and Professional Practice IV
The aims of this module are to prepare the graduate for practice and enables the students to understand the role of medicines in health and society. The module will cover recent changes in Pharmacy Law and Professional Practice. It describes how pharmacy and pharmacists operate within the organisational frameworks in health and social care. The module will explore the scope of pharmacy in public health, the role of the pharmacists in evaluating prescribing and developing effective clinical care plans. The module will also focus on technological and clinical developments in the safe supply, distribution and use of medicines. Complementary and alternative therapies, pharmacogenomics and advances in molecular gene therapy will be included.
Patient Safety Pharmacovigilance and Toxicology
The aim of this module is to understand the nature of the toxicity of medicines and substances of abuse, and to gain an appreciation of the role of the pharmacists in limiting the adverse effects that develop as a result of these toxic mechanisms. The toxic mechanisms will be considered at a molecular, biochemical and physiological level, and will use examples from several classes of drugs. Procedures for evaluating safety of new medicines and radiopharmaceuticals pre and post-marketing (pharmacovigilance) are considered using both experimental and clinical testing. The ethical considerations associated with these testing procedures, and the difficulty of making risk/benefit decisions will be highlighted in exercises using case studies. Regulation and guidelines intended to limit adverse drug reactions will also be assessed.
Project
To carry out an independent research project and submit a written report (10,000 - 15,000 words).
Therapeutic Interventions in Practice (Pharmacy)
This module further develops skills learned in 3PHA001- Patient Assessment, in order to work towards competency as a prescriber, as defined by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain (RPSGB). It integrates and applies the knowledge acquired throughout Levels 1, 2 and 3 of the MPharm degree to prescribing in clinical practice. The module will develop the students ability to utilise their knowledge of clinical pharmacology, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics to the safe, legal and ethical prescribing process. This will include making decisions about prescribing medicines from an agreed list. students will evaluate non-pharmacological treatment options Students will develop skills to form working partnerships with patients and fellow health professionals. Record keeping and monitoring, previously learned in the Patient Assessment module, will be reviewed and applied to the prescribing process.The module will provide students with practical experience through simulation to enhance their understanding of the basic components of safe prescribing.
Optional modules
Advanced Pharmaceutical Analysis
The course will describe modern analytical instrumentation such as hyphenated techniques, capillary electrophoresis and nmr and outline the types of data which these techniques generate. The effect of various experimental variables will be considered using experimental design techniques. Throughout the lectures examples from the analysis of pharmaceuticals will be given.
Complementary Therapies
The aims of this module are to develop the students knowledge and understanding of the use of complementary and alternative medicines and therapies encountered in Pharmacy Practice. The module will give an overview of homeopathy, herbal medicine, aromatherapy, Bach Flower remedies, Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine, nutritional therapy and the techniques of acupuncture, osteopathy, chiropractic, relaxation including hypnotherapy. Students will examine the philosophies of these practices, the principles of diagnosis and therapeutic response, and the relevance to modern healthcare. Students will explore the problems facing Pharmacists in practice relating to evidencebased counter prescribing and advice; the range of products on the market; and the issues to be considered when encountered in secondary care. Students will critically analyse the chemical complexity of complementary medicines, and product quality assurance, and evaluate the regulatory challenges.
Industrial Pharmaceutics
The module will introduce the main principles of drug candidate and route of delivery selection, preformulation, different approaches to developing, optimising and performance testing a dosage form and the choice of appropriate preclinical and clinical methodology. In addition, the module will cover the importance of patent protection and business in the pharmaceutical development process. The regulatory process of CTA and MA submissions will also be reviewed. The preparation of a CTA application will also be performed, along with a presentation on the critical and statistical evaluation of quantitative pharmaceutics, preclinical and clinical data and a test on Intellectual Property and Patent Law.
Mental Health
The aim of this module is to develop an understanding of mental health across life span ( infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood, late life) and its impact on primary and secondary healthcare. Furthermore, the role of pharmacists in mental health will be critically appraised. The student will develop in-depth knowledge of both neurochemistry and psychopharmacology. The above issues will be presented in lectures and applied to specific examples by case studies (within seminars and workshops). Case studies will explore such matters as the definition of the appropriate and inappropriate use of psychotropic drugs and the clinical pharmacological classification of psychotropics. Workshops will explore both clinical neuropsychopharmacological issues applied to everyday practice and critical incidents, with appropriate assessment and management of at-risk clinical situations. Problem based learning group exercises will test the students ability to conduct appropriate assessment and management in the most common clinical psychopathological situations. StudyNet will be used throughout the module.
Pharmaceutical Research
The module will provide the student with training in the ability to produce a reasoned and coherent argument to defend the research project in the form of a presentation and an oral examination. The student will be able to critically evaluate, appraise and reflect on the research performed and contextualise the research and its relevance to clinical outcomes.
Public Health
The aims of this module are to give the student advanced understanding of elements of public health theory, how these will affect practice and role of the Consultant in Pharmaceutical Public Health. The module will cover the concepts of public health surveillance,assessment of population health and ethical management of self, people and resources. The role of pharmacy in enhanced public health promotion and protection. Students will examine collaborative working for health and wellbeing, concepts of developing health programmes and reducing inequalities. The module will cover key developments in Health policy and strategy. The role of the Public health specialist in providing leadership for research and development in public health will be outlined. Students will cover communication and interpersonal skills in interview and coaching simulations.
Synthetic Medicinal Chemistry
This module option examines the processes and steps involved in the design of synthetic pathways for pharmaceuticals. The module will provide a revision of functional group reactivity and bond formation in relation to the design of multistep synthetic pathways. These introductory areas will be followed by more specialised topics including: the application of protecting groups in multistep synthesis; asymmetric synthesis, chemical and biochemical approaches to stereoselective synthesis; strategies for the synthesis of carbocyclic and heterocyclic compounds; and retrosynthetic analysis. The application of the principles and concepts outlined above will be illustrated by an examination of a variety of examples of pharmaceutical significance with an emphasis on potential byproducts, intermediates and related contaminants in relation to regulatory and pharmacopoeial requirements. The module will provide a critical insight and understanding of the issues associated with the design of multistep synthetic pathways of pharmaceuticals.
Therapeutics
Students will be introduced to the role of pharmacy in chronic disease management within national healthcare organisations. Students will explore the competences required by pharmacist working as advanced practitioners. The students will explore through private study a range of chronic diseases and contribute to seminars on the diagnosis, presentation and clinical management of a range of conditions. Students will present patient profiles on a range of conditions in a PBL group project. Students will review medicines management in prevention and treatment of a range of conditions. Students will explore the role of patients in safe and effective medication use. In particular students will cover the role of interprofessional working in chronic disease management.
Topical Therapeutics
The School of Pharmacy at UH has considerable expertise in the field of percutaneous absorption, both in terms of the School s academic staff and its visiting professors and lecturers. The module aims to discuss the key underlying principles pertaining to the percutaneous absorption of exogenous chemicals. Implicit in this is the regulatory positions for the classification of medicines or cosmetics. The physiological, physicochemical and pharmacological aspects of percutaneous absorption will be considered. The methods used to predict and experimentally measure percutaneous absorption will be discussed in detail. Clinical considerations and patient safety will be considered in the context of a product s regulatory position and the manner of exposure (i.e. considering both the site of application and the wider environment).
Travel Health
The aims of this module are to give the student advanced understanding of scientific and practical knowledge in all elements of travel health. The module will cover the role of the pharmacist and pharmaceutical scientist in travel health promotion and prevention of illness. Students will develop an understanding of key issues encountered in travel health and the needs of and being able to offer advice to special groups of travellers. The course content will include (but is not limited to) risks of travel in different countries, management of existing medical conditions during travel and responding to symptoms in the returning traveller. Students will also gain an understanding on how to manage travel for recreational, humanitarian, educational, business and religious purposes. Students will cover communication and interpersonal skills in role play and case studies scenarios.