Pharmaceutical and Chemical Sciences Foundation Degree (Pre-Pharmacy)

30 credits

This module is optional for students on the Foundation Degree in Pharmaceutical and Chemical Sciences, although core for students wishing to progress to the MPharm. It allows you to examine health promotion within community pharmacy with reference to current campaigns. You will come up with your own health promotion materials. There is also a practical dispensing element which gives experience of handling different types of dosage forms. The module also allows you to go on a placement in a pharmacy-related workplace with access to patients. You will give detailed consideration as to why patients turn up for help from a pharmacist, how they can be most suitably helped and what special needs or requirements they may have. Approximately 15% of the teaching time is spent in practicals and workshops to emphasise these concepts, and an additional 15% are based in a workplace environment.

30 credits

This is a core module for the Foundation Degree in Pharmaceutical and Chemical Sciences. It introduces biomolecules commonly found in cells, tissues and organ systems that make up the human body. The module is designed to give you a detailed knowledge of how the human body works with particular reference to disease states when appropriate. The delivery relies on Canvas to provide the majority of the background information with tutorials supporting discussion of this material.

30 credits

This module is core in the Foundation Degree in Pharmaceutical and Chemical Sciences for students who wish to progress onto the MPharm. It introduces key concepts in the manufacture and use of medicines in pharmaceutics. It provides you with an understanding of the links between fundamental physicochemical properties of drugs, the formulations of dosage forms and the route of delivery of drugs into the body. The making and labelling of extemporaneous preparations are undertaken as relevant to the clinical practice of pharmacy.

30 credits

This module provides an introduction to basic laboratory techniques and procedures such as weighing and volumetry, proceeding to descriptions of laboratory manipulations, elemental analysis and general practical knowledge. There is included an introduction to spectroscopic techniques in terms of simple theory, as well as a practical introduction to the identification of simple organic compounds. These compounds will sometimes be synthesised in the course of the practical element of the module, which will also serve to demonstrate laboratory techniques of preparation and purification of these organic materials.

30 credits

This is a core module for the Foundation Degree in Pharmaceutical and Chemical Sciences. It introduces biomolecules commonly found in cells, tissues and organ systems that make up the human body. The module is designed to give you a detailed knowledge of how the human body works with particular reference to disease states when appropriate. The delivery relies on Canvas to provide the majority of the background information with tutorials supporting discussion of this material.

30 credits

This module provides an introduction to basic laboratory techniques and procedures such as weighing and volumetry, proceeding to descriptions of laboratory manipulations, elemental analysis and general practical knowledge. There is included an introduction to spectroscopic techniques in terms of simple theory, as well as a practical introduction to the identification of simple organic compounds. These compounds will sometimes be synthesised in the course of the practical element of the module, which will also serve to demonstrate laboratory techniques of preparation and purification of these organic materials.

30 credits

Choose two from the following:

Work-based Dissertation
This module offers a chance to produce a dissertation on a work-based topic of the students' choosing which incorporates data from literature sources, as well as data collected from the work-based placement itself. This module will build upon components learnt, but in greater detail from the Academic and Professional Skills portfolio. The module facilitates the development of research skills and data collection in the workplace; incorporating communication, ICT and learning at an independent level.

On successful completion of the module, you will be able to:

• Analyse and evaluate a range of literature sources of information.
• Collect and analyse data from a workplace environment.
• Prepare and present a substantial document of researched data and original analysis using contemporary IT tools.
• Condense the above report into a short audio-visual presentation using IT presentation tools and technology; demonstrate the ability to answer questions on that presentation.

Medicines, Health and Wellbeing
This module examines health promotion within community pharmacy with reference to current campaigns and in response, to recommend health promotion materials. There is also a practical dispensing element which gives experience of handling different types of dosage forms. The module facilitates a placement in a pharmacy-related workplace with access to patients to assess why patients seek advice from the pharmacist, how they can be most suitably helped and what special needs or requirements they may have.

On successful completion of the module, you will be able to:

• Demonstrate effective communication skills and the ability to collect, evaluate and assimilate information through verbal and written presentations
• Carry out extemporaneous compounding of complex pharmaceuticals, and the dispensing of simple commercially-produced preparations (including their labelling)
• Discuss how pharmacy professionals can contribute to the promotion of good health and prevention of ill-health by choosing, after accessing and critically analysing information for various health promotion topics, strategies for health promotion for different health topics
• Discuss factors affecting the health and illness from a patient's perspective and those factors that lead a patient to consult a healthcare professional, including consulting a pharmacist or referral to a pharmacy. The influence of social factors and inequalities on health will also be discussed
• Apply appropriate counselling skills in the workplace to obtain information from the patient and ensure the patient acknowledges and understands the information provided
• Demonstrate a knowledge of the requirements of specific patient groups (including considerations of ethnicity) and special needs arising from disability together with suitable strategies for dealing with them.

Organic and Physical Chemistry
This module introduces the structure and isomerism observed in organic molecules and further deals with the preparation and chemical reactions (including the mechanisms involved) of the hydrocarbons and monofunctional organic molecules. The main principles of molecular systems, chemical reactivity and kinetics, including those of gas-phase reactions, are described before presenting the essential principles of chemical thermodynamics and molecular quantum mechanics.

On successful completion of the module, you will be able to:

• Describe the structures and shapes of simple organic molecules, explaining the origins and effects of the different kinds of isomerism that can arise within them.
• Describe the preparation and properties of hydrocarbons and monofunctional organic molecules, including the mechanisms involved in their reactions.
• Explain the behaviour of gases and the kinetics of gas-phase reactions in molecular terms.
• Apply thermodynamic and quantum mechanical principles to aspects of the energetics and structures of molecules, and to chemical reactions.
• Carry out and report laboratory procedures according to given protocols.
• Demonstrate appropriate Level 4 key skills in written communication, numeracy, data collection and analysis, including graphical analysis.

The Science of Medicines
This module introduces key concepts in the manufacture and use of medicines in pharmaceutics and microbiology. The module provides an understanding of  the links between fundamental physicochemical properties of drugs, the formulation of drugs and the route of delivery of drugs into the body. Fundamental concepts relevant to the clinical microbiology of disease-causing organisms, their classification, their manipulation, and their use in manufacturing are also explored.

On successful completion of the module, you will be able to:

• Understand the relevance of physico-chemical principles and techniques in the design, production and performance of disperse and, semi-solid dosage products for external and internal use.
• Link the role of excipients (eg surface active agents) in the preparation and stability of drug delivery systems for efficacious administration to patients.
• Describe the interaction of a physical system (ie formulation or preparation) with the physiological environment, and particularly with biological membranes.
• Understand the fundamental aspects of disease-causing microbial organisms, their identification and manipulation, as well as the exploitation of microbes in the development of vaccines, sterility tests and recombinant biotechnology.
• Conduct practical experimental procedures and generate reports related to the lecture and workshop course.