Pharmacist prescribing skills 1

This unit will equip you with the knowledge and skills to make safe person-centred and evidence-informed prescribing decisions as a pharmacist.

You will learn about and apply the principles of quality use of medicines, person-centred care, shared decision making, cultural competency, interprofessional collaborative care, evidence based practice and clinical governance to manage simulated prescribing cases. You will also apply principles of legal and ethical practice to make safe prescribing decisions within a pharmacists’ professional scope of practice.

Throughout this unit, you will learn about the signs, symptoms, diagnostic features and management options relevant to acute primary care ear, nose and throat conditions, gastrointestinal conditions and chronic respiratory conditions. Using the context of these acute and chronic primary care conditions, you will apply knowledge and skills relevant to the four step prescribing process of information gathering, clinical decision-making, communicating and documenting treatment plans and monitoring treatment responses.

In the context of these conditions, this unit will also teach you how to conduct comprehensive, culturally safe patient assessments to develop a working diagnosis and make prescribing decisions that promote person-centred care. To support this, you will develop basic physical examination skills (including techniques such as otoscopic examination and chest auscultation) relevant to the diagnosis and management of acute and chronic primary care conditions.

Through a series of case-based learning and simulation exercises you will start developing your prescribing competency.