ADVANCED MEDICINES MANAGEMENT - 2023/4

Module Overview

This module aims to enable healthcare practitioners working in advanced roles to significantly expand their knowledge of pharmacology, related clinical sciences and the practice of medicines optimisation.

Module provider

School of Health Sciences

Module Leader

DRUMMOND Corinne (Health Sci.)

Number of Credits: 15

ECTS Credits: 7.5

Framework: FHEQ Level 7

Module cap (Maximum number of students): N/A

Module Availability

Year long

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

Students should have been qualified as a health care professional for at least 3 years and have been in a post for at least one year. Students should be registered with the NMC or HCPC Evidence of ability to study at level 7

Module content

Indicative content includes:

The indicative content reflects the guidance of the DH (2006) and the NMC (2006) NPC/NICE (2012) and the RPS (2016) programme content guidance.

• Consultation, decision-making and therapy, including referral
• - models of consultation
• - accurate assessment, history taking, communication and consultation with patients/clients and their parents/carers
• - concepts of working diagnosis or best formulation
• - confirmation of diagnosis/differential diagnosis - further examination, investigation, referral for diagnosis
• - medicines review of prescribed and other medication

• Clinical pharmacology, including the effects of co-morbidity
• - Pharmacology, including pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics, pharmacotherapeutics.
• - Anatomy and physiology as applied to prescribing practice.
• - Basic principles of drugs to be prescribed, eg. absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion, including adverse drug reactions (ADR).
• - Interactions and reactions.
• - Patient/client compliance, concordance and drug response.
• - Impact of physiological state on drug responses and safety, for example, in elderly people, neonates, children and young people, pregnant or breast feeding women.
• - Pharmaco-therapeutics related to controlled drugs.

• Evidence-based practice and clinical governance in relation to prescribing

• - Rationale, adherence to and deviation from national and local guidelines, protocols, policies, decision support systems and formulae.
• - Reflective practice.
• - Critical appraisal skills, scrutinising data.

• Medicines Management in the public health context
• - policies regarding the use of antibiotics and vaccines
• - inappropriate use of medication including misuse, under- and over-use
• - inappropriate prescribing, over- and under-prescribing

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

None

Assessment Strategy

Summative Assessment
• A 3000 word critical analysis of a patient/client case study demonstrating advanced decision making in medicines management.


Formative Feedback
Draft essay plans will be discussed with personal tutors and verbal feedback given to develop the writing.
Written feedback will be given by personal tutors after receipt of drafts prior to submission of the summative essays

Please note that any evidence of unsafe practice or breach of confidentiality will result in an automatic refer for the module.

Module aims

• • Successful completion of this module should enable students to demonstrate knowledge, skills and understanding required to underpin medicines optimisation. Specifically in the domains of pharmaceutical knowledge; principles of drug dosage, side effects, reactions and interactions; communication and concordance; philosophy and psychology of medicines management.

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

The learning and teaching strategy is designed to:

Help students meet the learning outcomes of the module

The learning and teaching methods include:

A variety of learning and teaching strategies will be used in the delivery of the module, encompassing the following:


Enquiry-based learning, to develop critical thinking in e.g. legal, ethical and professional issues

Lectures by specialist professionals

Case studies/scenarios, to show the application of knowledge of drugs to clinical practice

Student-led seminars, to show the application of knowledge of drugs to clinical practice

Self-directed workbooks for anatomy and physiology and specialist pharmacology

Online resources linked to student’s practice area(s)

Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Reading list

https://readinglists.surrey.ac.uk
Upon accessing the reading list, please search for the module using the module code: HCRM033

Other information

Programmes this module appears in

Please note that the information detailed within this record is accurate at the time of publishing and may be subject to change. This record contains information for the most up to date version of the programme / module for the 2023/4 academic year.