Master of Pharmacy (MPharm)

Each year of the spiralled curriculum corresponds to a carefully constructed stage of your development:

At Stage 1 scientific and professional knowledge and skills are developed using four strands which integrate related disciplines or tasks. Molecules, Cells and Systems introduces the biochemical building blocks of life, the structure and function of eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells and human anatomy and physiology. Processes associated with these cells and systems are compared and contrasted in both health and disease. Introduction to Drugs and Medicines covers the basic principles of drug discovery and development and provides you with an understanding of organic and physical chemistry, and the pharmacological principles pertinent to medicinally important molecules. Pharmacists, Patients and Medicines explores how pharmacists use their expert knowledge of medicines, health and the disease for the benefit of patients and the population through exploration of pharmacists’ roles and how medicines are distributed and handled in patient-facing settings. Concurrently the Informed Pharmacy Learner strand aims to introduce and develop university-level skills, techniques and attributes including, laboratory, communication, learning and study skills.

In Stage 2 three strands are incorporated. Medicines in Development and Use explores how drugs are developed in to medicines and how they act and interact within specific body systems. The strand provides a comprehensive overview of the current usage of drugs, and the prediction of drug actions and effects. The principles of medicines design, delivery, packaging, handling, analysis and characterisation are covered in the context of the body systems in which they are used. Clinical and Professional Skills for Pharmacists introduces the skills required to apply to knowledge of medicines and to optimise their use in patients. The strand focuses on safe systems of working, professional responsibility and accountability, and ethical practice. It also develops your skills in consultation techniques, case analysis and prescription analysis, and introduces the strategies used to rationalise and optimise medicines use and patient care. The Applied Pharmacy Learner strand further develops your skills in reflective learning, information retrieval, academic writing, and team working.

Stage 3 incorporates two strands. Therapeutic Management of Patients revisits the range of conditions in the major body systems covered in stage 2 but with a focus on their diagnosis and therapeutic management. You will consider rational drug choice based upon clinical evidence and patent factors and characteristics; and also health promotion. Concurrently you will apply knowledge of advanced drug development processes from discovery through to the patient. This includes complex drug delivery technologies; the development and uses of biological treatments; and pharmacogenetics, pharmacogenomics and personalised medicine. In the Established Pharmacy Learner strand study skills are further enhanced by considering more advanced communication and consultation techniques, research methodologies pertinent to pharmacy; and by undertaking effective team-working in an interprofessional setting.

Stage 4 incorporates three strands. Frontiers in Pharmacy focuses on pharmaceutical research and development. It considers public and population health, health policy and the roles of medicines and pharmacists in meeting these agendas. Research and critical analysis skills are applied to a research project in an area of personal interest and also to an extended piece of work focussing on developing initiatives in pharmacy. Effective Patient Management introduces you to increasingly complex scenarios, cases and prescriptions that require higher level pharmaceutical input. These will involve patients with altered drug handling states, patients with multiple co-existing disease states, and patients with additional counselling or drug administration requirements. The Accomplished Pharmacy Learner considers more challenging consultation scenarios and calculations, and will develop coaching, teaching, management and leadership skills. At the conclusion of the programme you will demonstrate that you are an accomplished reflective practitioner with the necessary skills, knowledge and attributes to meet the GPhC’s standards for pharmacy graduates and that you are ready to enter their pre-registration year.

Watch our video below featuring staff and students from MPharm here at the University of Wolverhampton.