Pharmacy Practice

Pharmaceutical Calculations

Required. Complete 20 pharmaceutical calculation problems (dose, IV rate, dilution, unit conversion) independently and have them verified by a registered pharmacist or pharmacy lecturer. ≥90% required. The 90% threshold reflects the safety-critical nature of calculation errors in dispensing. Full working must be shown — not just answers. Required before supervised dispensing practice.

Dispensing Accuracy & Safety

Required — builds on calculation competency at seq 10. Document ≥10 supervised dispensing accuracy checks: prescribed vs dispensed drug, dose, form, quantity, and label accuracy for each item. Signed off by a registered pharmacist. Peer verification is NOT accepted. Requires pharmacy placement access.

Drug Interaction Analysis

Elective. Analyse a real polypharmacy case (≥5 concurrent medications) for clinically significant interactions using a recognised interaction checker (Stockley's, BNF, Drugs.com). Document mechanism for each interaction identified, plus a recommended management plan. Reviewed by a registered pharmacist who confirms the assessment is accurate. The proof is the analysis and reasoning — not AI-generated output.

Patient Medication Counselling

Elective. Conduct a patient medication counselling session (supervised or observed setting) covering: what the medication is, how to take it, what to expect, what to avoid, when to seek help. Observed and assessed by a registered pharmacist using a structured assessment form. Peer verification is NOT accepted — registered pharmacist attestation is required.

Clinical Pharmacology Case Analysis

Elective. Apply pharmacological knowledge to a specific named drug and named clinical indication: therapeutic objectives, drug selection rationale, dose optimisation, monitoring parameters, patient counselling points. Reviewed by a clinical pharmacologist or senior pharmacist who challenges at least one decision with a real-time follow-up question. The proof is a supervised learning exercise, not a prescription.

Pharmacology Mastery

Elective depth track. Pharmacology science underpins pharmacy practice — understanding drug class mechanisms, indications, contraindications, and side effects is what makes the drug interaction analysis and clinical pharmacology case steps non-mechanical. Students who want maximum depth in the underlying science should complete this alongside the practice steps.

The standard UK drug reference for prescribing, dispensing, and counselling. Free to UK users. For the drug interaction analysis step, BNF's drug interactions section provides mechanism and management guidance for all common interactions. International students: use your national formulary equivalent.

The WHO essential medicines list covers the global core formulary. Used by pharmacy students worldwide as the reference for drug classes, therapeutic categories, and international dispensing standards. Useful for the drug class summary cards in the pharmacology mastery step.

Free NIH database of chemical and pharmacological properties for all drugs. Use for the pharmacology mastery step when building drug class summary cards — drug targets, mechanisms of action, and structural information are all searchable here.