Advanced Non-Medical Prescribing (V300)

The Advanced Non-Medical Prescribing course is taught by blended learning, with a mixture of on-campus teaching, synchronous online teaching, and self-directed study. You can choose to join us on campus in Chelmsford or Cambridge (chosen at the point of application).

You'll already be a registered nurse, midwife, pharmacist, physiotherapist, paramedic, chiropodist, podiatrist, dietician, diagnostic or therapeutic radiographer, and there should be a recognised need for you to prescribe within your clinical practice.

On successful completion of this course, you can be annotated/registered with your Professional Body as an independent and supplementary prescriber and you'll be qualified to prescribe medications within your field of competence and the boundaries of your profession.*

Note: Your employing organisation will need to support you in terms of providing protected time for study and clinical supervision. They will also need to ensure that you have an appropriate practice assessor (and practice supervisors, where applicable) and that these individuals also have protected time to undertake supervision and provide feedback. Finally, your organisation must ensure that you are covered by appropriate clinical governance processes, such as insurance and access to a prescribing budget.

“Independent prescribers are practitioners responsible and accountable for the assessment of patients with previously undiagnosed or diagnosed conditions and for decisions about the clinical management required, including prescribing.”

“Supplementary prescribing is a partnership between an independent prescriber (a doctor or a dentist) and a supplementary prescriber to implement an agreed Clinical Management Plan for an individual patient with that patient’s agreement.”

(https://bnf.nice.org.uk/guidance/non-medical-prescribing.html)

* Important notes:

Passing this module does not automatically qualify you to prescribe. The University is authorised to run this preparatory module and recommend appropriate practitioners for the qualification. Your professional body (NMC, HCPC or GPhC) retains the right to approve or refuse this recommendation.

Diagnostic Radiographers and Dieticians can only prescribe as a Supplementary Prescriber.

Please be aware that some professions have limitations on what they can prescribe. Please consult the BNF and your professional body’s guidance for more details.

(https://bnf.nice.org.uk/guidance/non-medical-prescribing.html)

How you'll learn

Academic learning:

• This module takes place over two trimesters.
• There are 25 six-hour academic study days (26 days for pharmacists)
• 5 days of face-to-face teaching (plus an extra day for clinical skills for pharmacists).
• 11 teaching days delivered through a blend of self-directed study and online seminars
• 8 days (during the 2^nd trimester) for self-directed study focussed on your area of specialist practice.
• 1 day is allocated for the exams at the end of the 1^st trimester (held on campus)
• Pharmacists also have one day of clinical skills training (this takes place on campus in Chelmsford or Cambridge; please contact the module lead for information about which site this will be taught at as this varies depending on the cohort).

Core taught content:

The core teaching will involve an introduction to pharmacology and the generic aspects of prescribing. Although we don’t cover therapeutic indications, we’ll refer to common drugs throughout the module to demonstrate key pharmacological principals. The taught content will include:

• Critical application of knowledge of Pharmacology – pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics
• Prescribing for special risk groups including children, the elderly, pregnancy and breastfeeding
• Drug interactions and adverse events
• Holistic approach to prescribing including the biopsychosocial aspects of prescribing
• Application of consultation and clinical assessment within the prescribing context
• Effective medicines management
• Prescribing within the inter-professional team
• Legal and ethical issues, including professional accountability and impact on prescribing.

In addition to the generic taught content, you’ll have the opportunity to learn about medications specific to your specialist area of practice; through your clinical practice hours and 8 days of self-directed academic research.

Practice assessment

In partnership with your employer, you must identify a suitable Practice Assessor.

A Practice Assessor is a registered healthcare professional with a prescribing qualification and a minimum of three years’ recent prescribing experience in this role; e.g. a doctor, nurse, pharmacist or other professionally registered, V300 trained independent prescriber.

Your Practice Assessor, along with your Academic Assessor (module tutor or module lead) is responsible for signing you off as a competent and safe prescriber. As such you will need to make sure you keep accurate records of your clinical placement hours.

More information can be found here Non-Medical Prescribing - ARU

Nursing and midwifery applicants:

• In conjunction with your Practice Assessor, you must identify suitable Practice Supervisor(s) to support your practice learning.
• Practice Supervisors should also be registered V300 independent/supplementary prescribers (or equivalent) with at least one year of experience in this role and must work in the same or a similar field to you.
• In exceptional circumstances (for example, where there is limited access to other prescribers) nurses/midwives can request from the module lead that the same person acts as both Practice Assessor and Practice Supervisor.
• Standards for prescribers

Pharmacists and allied healthcare professionals:

• The Practice Assessor role is referred to as the “Designated Prescribing Practitioner (DPP)” by the GPhC and HCPC.
• The DPP can undertake the role of both Practice Assessor and Practice Supervisor. However, students are encouraged to seek one or more Practice Supervisors for a more diverse learning experience.

Supervised Practice

As an NMC or HCPC registrant you will need to demonstrate a minimum of 72 hours of supervised clinical practice, at least 22 hours of which must be with your Practice Assessor. A minimum of 10 hours must be direct supervision with your PA.

As a GPhC registrant you will need to demonstrate a minimum of 90 hours of supervised clinical practice, at least 28 hours of which must be with your Practice Assessor. A minimum of 10 hours must be direct supervision with your PA.

The remaining clinical hours must be spent with one or more Practice Supervisors (see above).

Please note that each episode of supervised practice should be no less than 1 hour and no more than 6 hours.

Direct supervision – this involves the Practice Assessor or Practice Supervisor directly observing you undertaking consultations within your identified scope of practice, and providing feedback in relation to your development as a prescriber. At least one third of your total practice hours must involve this type of supervision, of which at least 10 hours must be direct supervision by your practice assessor.

Assessment:

Your success on this programme will be determined on the basis of:

Element 010: Case Study Viva examination:

• Presentation/Viva Voce (Pass/Fail)
• Critical discussion based on an Independent or Supplementary prescribing episode with the following elements:
  • A clinical case study report including case notes, a critical reflection and a legal prescription.
  • A 20-minute presentation/discussion, in the presence of the Practice Assessor*, in which the module tutor will ask questions to assess clinical competence, safety and critical thinking in relation to the case report.
• This will be recorded for internal moderation and external examination.
• 1500-word equivalent.

Element 011: Calculations examination:

• A 30-minute unseen examination with a 100% pass mark (pass/fail).
• 7 questions undertaken on-site as a computer-based quiz.
• This exam must be taken on campus.

Element 012: Pharmacology examination:

• 90-minute unseen examination with an 80% pass mark (pass/fail).
• A range of questions relating to basic pharmacology and prescribing issues.
• This exam must be taken on campus.

Element 013: Practice Assessment Document (PAD):

• This takes the format of an online portfolio (ePAD)
• Key elements that must be recorded in the ePAD include:
• A Learning Contract consisting of clearly defined personal learning objectives which encompass your scope of practice as a prescriber.
• Details of those involved in your supervision in practice.
• Formal review meetings with your PA. These are undertaken at the start, middle and end of the programme.
• Initial and Final tripartite meetings between you, your PA and your module tutor. These are undertaken at week 6 and week 22.
• Summative Clinical Assessment of a patient under supervision of your Practice Assessor. For pharmacists this must be moderated by the Academic Assessor in person or by live video link.
• Feedback from your Practice Assessor and Supervisors.
• Anonymised Service User Feedback
• Logs of your supervised practice hours, demonstrating evidence of learning against relating to your Learning Objectives.
• Evidence of Academic Learning related to your scope of practice, as defined by your Learning Objectives, undertaking during the self-directed study days.
• A range of pieces of Additional Evidence
• You are required to map the pieces of evidence provided within the ePAD to competencies as outlined in the Royal Pharmaceutical Society Competency Framework for all Prescribers (2021) which has been adopted as the common standard for all independent prescribing programs (NMC, 2018; HCPC, 2019; GPhC, 2022). The evidence you provide is then graded by your PA to confirm that you have demonstrated the required competencies.

The module is pass/fail. To pass the module you will need to pass all elements of assessment.

Please note that demonstration of unsafe practice in any of the assessments will result in a zero mark being given and a second attempt will be required.