Background

The first graduates of the new Masters of Pharmacy degrees in English and Welsh Schools of Pharmacy commenced their pre-registration training in the summer of 2001. Many Schools of Pharmacy have taken this opportunity to undertake considerable redesign of their courses in order to meet the future demands of the profession. The aim of this project is to examine the competencies gained by these new graduates from the course at the University of Manchester.

Methods

The first stage of the research entailed interviewing all of the staff involved in the construction of the new pharmacy practice curriculum (nine interviews), and asking them about their expectations of how these new developments would impact on the students' abilities as pre-registration pharmacists. In the second stage of the research, we interviewed a sample of these graduates (thirty interviews) in their pre-registration training placements, in order to elicit their assessment of the value of the course in equipping them to fulfil their placement roles. All graduates had previously given their consent to being contacted by a researcher during their pre-registration year. Fourteen of these students were in hospital placements while the other sixteen were in community. Finally, the pre-registration tutors of these students were interviewed (twenty six interviews) about their views on these students' abilities and comparison invited with the graduates from the former BSc course. Using the data from the interviews with the university staff, we compiled a list of competencies that they felt the students may have developed having completed their four years of study. As part of the interviews with the pre-registration students, the interviewees were asked their views on their abilities in these specific aspects of professional performance, and their opinions on the role of the course in helping their development in these areas.

Preliminary Findings

Initial results suggest that the MPharm graduate students may be more confident in their ability to interact with patients and with other healthcare professionals. This appears to be more readily identifiable in the hospital sector, where students perceive that they have more opportunity to utilise these skills early in their career. Furthermore, there is some suggestion that the students may be able to step into the role of a pre-registration pharmacy graduate more quickly than previous graduates from the BSc course. The analysis of these data however is at a very early stage, and a far more detailed report will be available by the end of February, by which time the data will have been fully explored.