MSc Clinical Pharmacy / Course details

Early in the course students will be introduced to the mental health unit and assessment strategy, followed by learning about the Mental Health Act, substance misuse and mental health, the relationship between mental health and physical health, revisiting psychopharmacology, and guidance on completing pharmaceutical care plans.  

Following these introductory topics, the unit will concentrate on six main areas:

• depression
• anxiety disorders
• sleep disorders
• bipolar disorder
• schizophrenia
• dementia

The unit will conclude by exploring the role of mental health pharmacists in more specialist settings using journal articles and where possible short videos of advanced practitioners in these fields. Specialist settings may include substance misuse, A&E liaison, mother and baby units, learning disabilities and adolescent care.  

Students will develop skills in consulting with and providing advice to people with mental illness and be able to utilise information from a variety of sources in order to optimise patients’ care.

The unit will combine e-lectures, reading, case studies, online discussion forums, online webinars, short videos and practical work-based tasks to develop the knowledge and skills, which will be assessed using a pharmaceutical care plan, oral case-based discussion and the Centre for Pharmacy Postgraduate Education (CPPE) Consulting with people with mental health problems e-learning programme.

Students will also have the opportunity to discuss and receive feedback on a formative pharmaceutical care plan during the second scheduled unit webinar.  

The unit aims to develop student’s knowledge of commonly encountered mental illnesses, including their epidemiology, presentation, diagnosis and management; develop knowledge and skills in the practice of pharmaceutical care to patients with mental illnesses; and to improve students’ mental health clinical practice with regard to holistic approaches to improve communication, optimise therapy and improve outcomes in collaboration with patients and other healthcare professionals. 

This course unit is delivered online using Blackboard.

All learning material is presented in week-by-week folders organised by therapeutic topics to help students manage their time.

Each week will contain four main elements:

• Background self-directed study (reading)
• Learning in the form of e-lectures accompanied (where relevant) by an embedded short practitioner/patient video(s) and/or short online quizzes or other tasks
• A clinical case study to consolidate learning
• Time to complete assessed unit components.

Students will be encouraged to participate in three online discussion webinars for the unit, where the module structure, associated clinical case studies, reading and e-Lecture materials are discussed. These online discussion forums will also be structured to provide specific support on the following topics:

1. Unit introduction and structure
2. Discussion of formative pharmaceutical care plan case
3. Consultation skills in mental health.

• Describe the epidemiology, presentation, diagnosis and management of at least five mental health illnesses.
• List the main classes of medicines used in the management of commonly encountered mental illnesses and explain how and when they should be used.
• Describe the non-pharmacological approaches used in the management of mental illness.
• Evaluate the role, risk profile and effective management in practice of the high-risk mental health medicines lithium and clozapine.
• Discuss the key role the pharmacy team has in supporting people with adherence and helping them to make decisions about their medicines to improve their outcomes.
• Discuss interface issues that occur when people with mental illness move between secondary and primary care. 

• Integrate research findings on disease management in mental health with patient specific information to apply the best evidence to individual patients
• Critically analyse and evaluate clinical literature in therapeutics relevant to mental health
• Use critical reasoning to synthesise, analyse and evaluate clinical and contextual data in order to apply this to resolve individual patient drug-related problems.

• Access and effectively use the relevant National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and where appropriate the British Association of Psychopharmacology (BAP) and Maudsley Prescribing Guidelines resources to recommend the optimal clinical management of a patient with mental illnesses
• Explore new ways to improve outcomes for people with mental illness using a holistic and person-centred approach
• Carry out constructive peer review
• Demonstrate consultation skills for people with mental health conditions.

• Evaluate their own academic and personal progression  
• Manage effective team working by participating in online discussion forums and webinars
• Identify and use approaches to improve communication and consultation with people with mental health illness
• Learn effectively for the purpose of continuing professional development and in a wider context throughout their career including identifying competency against a professional competency framework.

** If students are unable to complete this CPPE e-learning course (e.g. lack of access) an alternative ‘Reflective Account’ assignment will be set. This will be capped at 500 words and will ask students to reflect upon and discuss the main areas of learning and development arising from studying on this unit, and how this will be/has been applied in their area of practice to benefit their patients and/or colleagues.

An up-to-date reading list for the unit is available on Reading Lists Online via Blackboard. 

Other scheduled teaching and learning activities: (40 hours)

• 2 x 1-hour tutorial with Educational Supervisor using a nominated online communication tool, e.g. Zoom
• 12 hour’s e-lectures/short videos
• 4.5 hour’s online Webinars (3 x 1.5 hour webinars)
• 21 hour’s self-directed clinical case studies
• 1 hour of oral case-based discussion via online meeting