Placements
Pharmacy graduates are required to have a basic and underpinning knowledge of the practice of clinical pharmacy prior to registration. This may be acquired through the provision of structured hospital and community pharmacy placement programmes throughout the undergraduate course, linking the core principles of pharmacy to their application in practice. These placements are intended to demonstrate the relevancy of the undergraduate course material via facilitating the application of knowledge into real patient scenarios. The experience of working alongside professional pharmacy role models as well as other healthcare professionals facilitates the effective application of clinical knowledge post- registration in all areas of practice. A structured placement programme further enables informed choices when selecting a career pathway at pre-registration.
HOSPITAL PLACEMENTS
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Level 1
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Level 2
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Level 3
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Level 4
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Students in Level 1 will undertake a one-day hospital placement in the second half of semester 1. Details of dates and locations of the placements will follow.
Students in Level 2 will undertake a 5-day hospital placement in Semester 2.
Students in Level 3 will undertake a 5 day hospital placement in Semester 2. Each student will spend five Thursdays in Semester 2 in one of the hospital Trusts in Northern Ireland.
In the academic year 2016/17, Level 4 students will complete a 5 day hospital placement in Semester 1. Each student will spend 5 Tuesdays in Semester 1 in one of the Hospital Trusts in Northern Ireland. The hospital placements will be facilitated by a team of hospital teacher practitioners based throughout the hospital Trusts in Northern Ireland. The organisation of the visits will be co-ordinated at the University level by the Hospital Placement Co-ordinator Dr Sharon Haughey. Allocation to the hospitals will be based on geographical location of students and the Placement Co-ordinators will endeavour to allocate students to a convenient hospital location wherever possible. The School of Pharmacy is unable to reimburse travel costs and therefore students are encouraged to share travel costs through, for example, car sharing wherever possible. Student allocations will be made available well in advance of placements, where possible, and students are encouraged to contact a Placement Coordinator if they have any problems. Details of the assessment procedures applied to clinical placements will be provided prior to the first placements being undertaken.
COMMUNITY PLACEMENTS
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Level 1
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Level 2
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Level 3
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Students in level 1 will undertake a one-day placement in the second half of semester 2.
Students in level 2 will undertake a 2 day community placement before entering Level 3 (usually carried out in the summer months).
Students in level 3 will undertake a 3 day community placement before entering Level 4 (usually carried out in the summer months).
The School of Pharmacy has recently created a formal network of accredited ‘Student Training Centre’ pharmacies across Northern Ireland and will allocate students only to pharmacies in this network. The organisation of the community placements will be co-ordinated at the university level by the Community Placement Co-ordinator Mrs Patricia Holden. Allocation to the pharmacies will be based on geographical location of students and the Placement Co-ordinator will endeavour to allocate students to a convenient pharmacy location wherever possible. The address and contact details of the allocated pharmacies will be emailed to students well in advance of the placement window. If a student has a request to be placed in a particular pharmacy (e.g. a place of work) they must inform the placement co-ordinator of the request in advance of the allocations being made - an email reminder will be sent to all students prior to this time. All requests will be considered but are not guaranteed. No changes or requests can be made after the allocation process has been completed and communicated.
Once the allocations have been communicated, students must contact their allocated pharmacy within 2 weeks to arrange a mutually convenient time for the placement. Once the date has been arranged, students MUST ensure that they attend the pharmacy at this time. Any amendment or postponement of the placement should only be done in the case of illness and, if ill, the pharmacist must be notified by 9am on the day of the placement, at the latest. The placement must then be rescheduled as soon as possible.
Students are required to complete a workbook whilst on placement, which will be made available at the time of the placement allocation. Students are expected to read through the entire contents of the Community Placement Workbook before the placement. There will also be an online placement feedback survey that all students are expected to complete promptly after the placement. Details will be given to students on how to access this survey.
Throughout the course of the pharmacy placements, students may become aware of information concerning patients, staff and other sensitive matters. Students are reminded that all such information is strictly confidential and must not be passed on to anyone at any time during or following completion of the placement. Students will be required to sign an agreement regarding confidentiality and professional behaviour whilst on placement. Furthermore, next of kin contact details must be provided in case of emergency and a pre-clinical placement health questionnaire must also be completed. This form must be completed prior to placement.
Students will be expected to cover any travel and accommodation costs incurred as a result of the clinical placements. If students experience difficulty with these costs, students may seek advice from University Support Fund and Hardship Fund.
Once the allocations have been communicated, students must contact their allocated pharmacy within 2 weeks to arrange a mutually convenient time for the placement. Once the date has been arranged, students MUST ensure that they attend the pharmacy at this time. Any amendment or postponement of the placement should only be done in the case of illness and, if ill, the pharmacist must be notified by 9am on the day of the placement, at the latest. The placement must then be rescheduled as soon as possible.
Students are required to complete a workbook whilst on placement, which will be made available at the time of the placement allocation. Students are expected to read through the entire contents of the Community Placement Workbook before the placement. There will also be an online placement feedback survey that all students are expected to complete promptly after the placement. Details will be given to students on how to access this survey.
Throughout the course of the pharmacy placements, students may become aware of information concerning patients, staff and other sensitive matters. Students are reminded that all such information is strictly confidential and must not be passed on to anyone at any time during or following completion of the placement. Students will be required to sign an agreement regarding confidentiality and professional behaviour whilst on placement. Furthermore, next of kin contact details must be provided in case of emergency and a pre-clinical placement health questionnaire must also be completed. This form must be completed prior to placement.
Students will be expected to cover any travel and accommodation costs incurred as a result of the clinical placements. If students experience difficulty with these costs, students may seek advice from University Support Fund and Hardship Fund.
