Kent, Surrey & Sussex Pharmacist Foundation Programme

Management of the programme

Educational Supervisor Training & Accreditation

This KSS Pharmacist Foundation Programme embraces the principles of a common curriculum and assessment developed by the Joint Programmes Board through a unique collaboration between NHS employers and 7 Universities across 4 regions. The programme was designed to meet employer as well as practitioner education and training needs for pharmacists in their early years of hospital employment. This collaborative working was praised in the 2008 Pharmacy White Paper as an example of good practice. At the end of the programme the collaborative working between the NHS and the University is recognised by the fact that the  student graduates with an academic postgraduate diploma and an NHS Statement of Completion of General Pharmacist Training.

The Foundation Programme is a 2.5 year programme comprising 18 months at Certificate level and 12 months at Diploma level. The certificate programme comprises 60 academic credits, divided into two integrated 30-credit modules (Practitioner Development and Establishing your Clinical and Professional Practice). The Diploma programme comprises 60 academic credits. Each 30-credit module represents 300 hours of student effort.

Typically, one third of this time should be spent on directed learning, one third on reflection, preparation of the portfolio and assessment, and the final third on private study. 
 

New KSS Pharmacist Foundation Programme September 2011  Delivery of the Programme

The programme will be delivered through blended learning which will incorporate both directed and self directed learning thus helping to ensure that students graduate with a clear vision of how lifelong learning is an essential part of their professional life. Students will be inducted into the programme format and the principles which underlie its delivery.
The key features of the programme are:-

• The academic programme is now a formalised partnership between the 2 local Schools of Pharmacy, Medway School of Pharmacy and the School of Pharmacy, University of Brighton.
• The academic programme will now be delivered in the counties of Kent, Surrey and Sussex. Each county will host its own learning sets supported by a county based teacher practitioner (TP). The TP will also provide a focus for local support and liaison. Learning sets will be staggered across the counties providing flexibility to employers and students and an opportunity to attend a set elsewhere if the local one is missed. It also enhances efficiencies across Universities as resources can be shared.
• There will be internal quality control of the workplace element of the programme. The progress of students and general status of workplace delivery of the programme will be reviewed every 3 months at the Trust Pharmacy Local Faculty Group. This group in turn reports to the NHS Trust Local Academic Board. There will be an annual external review
  of the Trust infrastructure to support the  programme carried out by the Kent
  Surrey Sussex Postgraduate Deanery.

Certificate Programme 2011 Training Dates Students will work through curriculum guides agreed through the JPB Curriculum and Assessment Group (CARG). There are four curricula: Patient Services Technical Pharmacy Medicines Information Clinical Delivery of the learning outcomes for the Technical Pharmacy, Medicines Information and Clinical curricula will be shared between the NHS and the Universities. The NHS will take full responsibility for ensuring the learning outcomes of the Patient Services curriculum are achieved. This must be completed before progression onto the diploma.   All learning outcomes will be achieved through a combination of directed, self directed and workplace learning.

The Universities will deliver 8 full days of learning sets which will consist of face to face contact facilitated primarily by teacher practitioners, supported by University staff and NHS specialists when appropriate. These learning sets will be followed by a full day preparing the students for assessment. The first session in each learning set will focus on consolidating underpinning knowledge and developing clinical and professional skills thorough shared experience.  The second session will focus on therapeutics in practice. All sessions will endeavour to integrate learning across the curricula and place special emphasis on problem solving and care prioritisation. When possible the learning from the first session will be linked to the cases studied in the second session. Directed learning will focus on the requirements of the clinical services curriculum but will integrate elements of the technical pharmacy services and medicines information curricula when appropriate. It is anticipated that the workplace assessments by local NHS tutors will align with the programme content in order to reinforce learning outcomes and assure students are covering the core curriculum Diploma Programme The Diploma is currently being reviewed  to become a 12 month programme. It is likely to reflect similar activities as at present including Defined Areas of Practice (DAPs) and projects such as change management and audit. Each DAP is given a specific focus and assessments will ensure that the learning outcomes and academic requirements are met.   Student learning will be self-directed around their DAP areas of practice, supported by their academic and NHS tutors.  Guidance will be given in the learning sets on assignments and students will be encouraged to link their assignments to the clinical areas in their DAPs Students will share their developing clinical skills by presenting a complex case from their DAP to their learning set DAPs