Following a wide consultation with the profession, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society has launched its new post-registration foundation pharmacist curriculum to inform professional development training and pathways for early career pharmacists.
The demand for pharmacists with enhanced clinical skills has increased, and the curriculum articulates the knowledge, skills, behaviours and level of performance expected from post-registration foundation pharmacists working in patient-focused roles.
RPS has undertaken a significant programme of work in collaboration with a wide range of UK stakeholders to define this early post-registration level of practice, culminating in a modern, evidence-based curriculum.
The outcomes are based on the RPS Foundation Pharmacist Framework and are structured into five common domains. These are:
- Person-centred care and collaboration
- Professional practice
- Leadership and management
- Education
- Research
The five domains mirror the structure of the new GPhC initial education and training standards and the RPS advanced and consultant level curricula. This curriculum encourages a flexible approach to incorporating independent prescribing content into training programmes and allows both a modular approach aligned to current provision, and a new integrated model.
Pharmacists can work towards the curriculum outcomes by compiling an electronic portfolio to demonstrate their learning in collaboration with an educational supervisor and designated prescribing practitioner (for the period of learning in practice). This forms the basis of the assessment, which is carried out by an RPS competency committee.
Successful completion of the curriculum’s assessment leads to the award of the RPS post-registration foundation pharmacist credential. This will demonstrate the pharmacist has developed the necessary clinical and non-clinical capabilities to progress to RPS advanced practice credentialing pathways.
The curriculum focuses on achieving excellence in pharmacy education that is linked to high quality impacts for learners, practitioners and, most importantly, patients.
RPS Director of Education Gail Fleming said: “We see this curriculum as being a bridge that will support new registrants, employers and training providers to plan early post registration development programmes over the next five years.
"I would like to take this opportunity to thank the large numbers of people from across and beyond the profession who have contributed to the production of this curriculum. Together we are pharmacy”
Principal Lead for Post-registration Foundation programmes in Scotland Fiona McMillan said: "We are absolutely delighted to relaunch the Post-registration Foundation Programme in Scotland, using the RPS UK Curriculum, which builds on the work in Scotland over the past 15 years.
"It is fantastic the new programme includes community pharmacy and allows early career pharmacists in Scotland to participate in a robust and supported training programme for all sectors of practice and allow them to develop as independent prescribers"
NHS Health Education and Improvement Wales Dean Margaret Allan said: “HEIW welcomes the launch of the RPS post-registration foundation curricula. The RPS curricula will underpin the Wales new post-registration foundation programme starting September 2022. The Wales programme will support newly registered pharmacists to achieve all the new initial education and training outcomes including independent prescribing accreditation.”
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