Independent Prescribing Practice
The course will follow the outline curricula of the accrediting bodies the Nursing & Midwifery Council (NMC), General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) and the Health & Care Professions Council (HCPC).
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Key Course Details
This course has been developed to reflect the advanced levels of knowledge and skills required to become an Independent Prescriber. Fundamental to this course is that pharmacists, midwives, nurses, paramedics and physiotherapists will be taught alongside one another and assessed using the same assessment criteria.
DESIGNED FOR
The course is designed to provide opportunities for students to further develop their knowledge, skills, understanding and competence to be able to effectively and safely prescribe in their area of practice.
Accredited by
- The NMC
- The GPhC
- The HCPC
Career Paths
- Specialist Community Public Health Nurse
- Nurse
- Midwife
- Pharmacist
Skills taught
- Safely prescribing
Module Overview
- Independent/ supplementary Prescribing for GPhC and HCPC registrants
- Independent/ supplementary Prescribing for NMC registrants
- Developing and Evidencing Prescribing Competence (Optional)
- Professional Portfolio Development (Optional)
Course Highlights
How you’ll learn
The course benefits from blended learning, face to face study and work-based practice.
Theoretical learning will be managed through blended facilitated learning processes that include distance education, lectures, tutorials, workshops, participant-led learning activities and use of simulated learning environments.
The participants will have support from practice-based tutors (Designated Prescribing Practitioners (GPhC and HCPC) and practice supervisor and practice and academic assessors (NMC). The practice-based tutors will offer educational support and play a key role in assessment and responsibilities for signing off competence.
Students will be allocated either a Thursday or Friday study day. The 15 days face to face will be spread out across the year. There is also an equivalent of 11 days distance learning to complete in your own time
Additionally, 100 hours of supervised learning will be undertaken in practice The support given by the students clinical environment to the development of prescribing practice is key
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Teaching staff
- Ben Pitcher - Course leader
- Paul Deslandes
- David Oneil
- Sara Morgan
- Chris Nash
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Facilities
This course is delivered on Glyntaff Campus whereby participants will be able to experience a range of teaching and learning facilities including the Clinical Simulation Suite, the Hydra Minerva Suite and other facilities.
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ENTRY REQUIREMENTS
All Nursing and Midwifery applicants must meet the following criteria:
- Valid registration on Part 1 of the Professional Register maintained by the NMC.
- Have at least one year’s post-registration clinical nursing experience.
- Have appropriate experience in the area of practice in which they will be prescribing; the employing organisation will assess and confirm the appropriate experience in areas of practice.
- An ability to study at academic level 6. Candidates without a first degree must provide evidence of being able to work at level 6 (e.g. Possession of a relevant diploma/degree), and may be asked to submit evidence of relevant experience and/or study.
- Support from the employing organisation whose responsibility it is to supply practice supervisors and practice assessors for the candidate.
Contact [email protected] to be sent an application pack or if you have any questions.
All pharmacist applicants must meet the following criteria:
- Applicants are registered as a pharmacist with the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) or, in Northern Ireland, with the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland (PSNI).
- Applicants are in good standing with the GPhC and/or PSNI, and any other healthcare regulator with which they are registered.
- Applicants must have at least two years appropriate patient-orientated experience post registration, in a relevant UK practice setting.
- Applicants have an identified area of clinical or therapeutic practice in which to develop independent prescribing practice. They must also have relevant clinical or therapeutic experience in that area, which is suitable to act as the foundation for their prescribing practice while training.
- Have support from the sponsoring organisation (such as an NHS Trust or primary care organisation), including appropriate supervised practice in the clinical area in which they expect to prescribe, and an identified service need for this extended role.
- Applicants must have a designated prescribing practitioner (DPP) who has agreed to supervise their learning in practice.
- The applicant’s DPP must be a registered healthcare professional in Great Britain or Northern Ireland with legal independent prescribing rights, who is suitably experienced and qualified to carry out this supervisory role, and who has demonstrated CPD or revalidation relevant to this role. Although an applicant may be supervised by more than one person, only one prescriber must be the DPP. The DPP is the person who will certify that by the end of the course, the pharmacist independent prescribers in training is competent to assume the prescribing role.
International applications welcomed:
International applications must be appropriately qualified healthcare professionals registered with either the NMC, GPhC or HCPC.
Contextual offers
We may make you a lower offer based on a range of factors, including your background (where you live and the school or college that you attended, for example), your experiences and individual circumstances (as a care leaver, for example). This is referred to as a contextual offer, and we receive data from UCAS to support us in making these decisions.
USW prides itself on its student experience and we support our students to achieve their goals and become a successful graduate. This approach helps us to support students who have the potential to succeed and who may have faced barriers that make it more difficult to access university.
We're here to help
Whether you a have a question about your course, fees and funding, the application process or anything else, there are plenty of ways you can get in touch, and we'd love to talk to you. You can contact our friendly admissions team by phone, email or chat to us online.
Fees and Funding
Additional Costs
As a student of USW, you’ll have access to lots of free resources to support your study and learning, such as textbooks, publications, online journals, laptops, and plenty of remote-access resources. Whilst in most cases these resources are more than sufficient in supporting you with completing your course, additional costs, both obligatory and optional, may be required or requested for the likes of travel, memberships, experience days, stationery, printing, or equipment.
An Enhanced DBS is required for the Independent Prescribing Module. All students should have this through their Health Board Roles.
Cost: £64.74
University Quality Assurance
At USW, we regularly review our courses in response to changing patterns of employment and skills demand to ensure we offer learning designed to reflect today’s student needs and tomorrow’s employer demands.
If during a review process course content is significantly changed, we’ll write to inform you and talk you through the changes for the coming year. But whatever the outcome, we aim to equip our students with the skillset and the mindset to succeed whatever tomorrow may bring. Your future, future-proofed.
Studying at USW
Our courses are designed with industry leaders and provide the practical skills and experiences industry demands. Our flexible courses reflect the need for life-long learning. If you value education in practice, not just in theory, then USW is for you.