August 10, 2017, by jicke
First graduates of new Pharmacy course are ready to practise
Students from the University of Nottingham are the first in the UK to graduate as fully qualified pharmacists after studying on the new MPharm degree with fully integrated pre-registration training.
The students were the first to study on the School of Pharmacy’s sector-leading, MPharm degree course with integrated pre-registration scheme and have successfully passed the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) registration exam.
Students celebrated with their families, placement tutors and staff from the school following the award ceremony -pictured here are 2017 graduates from 4 and 5 year MPharm Courses. Many of the students have already secured jobs in hospital and community pharmacy in the UK and overseas.
Ching-wen Chen has secured a job at a premier NHS acute teaching hospital, she said: “The integrated MPharm course at Nottingham has been an incredible experience, it broadened my horizons, both academically and on a personal basis…I am now prepared to take on new challenges and responsibilities as a hospital junior pharmacist.”
Student, Kwok Bun To is set to graduate in September and has also successfully secured a job in an NHS Mental Health Hospital. He describes how the course prepared him for interview: “They asked me a question about how I overcome obstacles. I told them about the 5-year course and my experience of working in two very different hospitals. The interviewers were really impressed and at that time I realised that if I had not been in this course, I would never have this valuable experience. This course is not just for solving visa problems but more importantly it has made me stronger in all areas. I did it, I am confident and ready to be a pharmacist now.”
The five-year MPharm with integrated pre-registration scheme was launched at the University of Nottingham in September 2012 alongside the new curriculum for the innovative four-year programme. It is designed to prepare future pharmacists as front-line professionals to deliver safe and effective, person-centred care, utilising emerging health technologies, and working in collaboration with others, as identified in the Modernising Pharmacy Careers report, which recommended the integration of science, practice and professional training into a single degree.
The MPharm with Integrated pre-registration scheme is the first programme to both meet the recommendations of the Modernising Pharmacy Careers report and to be fully accredited by the General Pharmaceutical Council.
Course Director Tom Gray, former Chief Pharmacist at Royal Derby Hospital, who joined the School in 2013 to lead this innovative development said: “The strength of this programme is the very close partnership between our students, work-based tutors and university facilitators; all credit to them for their professionalism, support and hard-work. Not only will this transform the opportunity for our students ‘to be the best they can be’, preparing them for their future careers, but it also supports an ‘all teach, all learn culture’, enhancing the education and training capacity of the wider Pharmacy workforce.”
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