Outline

Overview

Integrated Dispensing Practice links together the skills and knowledge that students have developed in dispensing and pharmacy practice. The emphasis is on clinical practice and develops the theme that dispensing is not a single event but a process which draws on skills and knowledge from a variety of areas of pharmacy practice, including communication with the patient and prescriber. This is achieved using a simulated practice environment in which students learn to integrate the skills they have developed in dose form preparation with their clinical skills, forensic and administrative requirements (including the use of computer-based dispensing programs), as well as the professional aspects of pharmacy in delivering a patient-centred care. This unit of study emphasises the importance of patient safety and quality use of medicines. The unit of study is Pass/Fail.

Unit details and rules

Unit code	PHAR4812
Academic unit	Pharmacy
Credit points	6
Prohibitions ?	None
Prerequisites ?	PHAR3100 and PHAR3815 and PHAR3825 and PHAR3816 and PHAR3817 and PHAR3818 and PHAR3819 and PHAR3826 and PHAR3827 and [PHAR3820 or (PHAR3828 and PHAR3829)]
Corequisites ?	PHAR4811 and (PHAR4814 or PHAR4815 or WORK3202) and PHAR4823 and PHAR4100
Assumed knowledge ?	None
Available to study abroad and exchange students	Yes

Teaching staff

Coordinator	Stephen Carter, stephen.carter@sydney.edu.au

Type	Description	Weight	Due	Length
Final exam	Communication and documentation examination Written exam with non-written elements	40%	Formal exam period	2 hours
Outcomes assessed:
Assignment	Documentation assignments Report	60%	Multiple weeks	3 hours
Outcomes assessed:
Participation	Tutorial Pre-work, participation in interviews and documenting patient interactions	0%	Weekly	Weekly
Outcomes assessed:
= hurdle task ?

Assessment summary

Workshop and practical attendance: The majority of the learning in this unit will occur in workshops and practical sessions. Students will be required to engage in role-play interviews with other students or tutors.
Documentation assignments: Students will be assessed on the accuracy and appropriateness of a SOAP plan, subjective, objective, assessment and plan. Students will also be required to complete any formal documentation normally completed by pharmacists.
Dispensing: In order to demonstrate the technical skills required to dispense and check dispensed medicines, students will be required to dispense 9 out of 10 prescriptions without error and detect and document error as a “near-miss” which has been deliberately created in 1 of 10 dispensed prescription labels.
Communication and documentation examination: Students are required to engage in a counselling session in relation to a medication-related issue, acting as a community pharmacist. Assessment involves observation of counselling performance (including verbal and non-verbal behaviour) as well as content and accuracy of documentation.
Forensics exam: This assessment will cover poisons legislation. The examination is open book, and any form of hard copy material is permitted.

Detailed information for each assessment can be found on Canvas.

Assessment criteria

The University awards common result grades, set out in the Coursework Policy 2014 (Schedule 1).

As a general guide, a high distinction indicates work of an exceptional standard, a distinction a very high standard, a credit a good standard, and a pass an acceptable standard.

Result name	Mark range	Description
High distinction	85 - 100	At HD level, a student demonstrates an aptitude for the subject and a well-developed understanding of the unit material. A ‘High Distinction’ reflects exceptional achievement and is awarded to students who demonstrate the ability to apply their subject knowledge and understanding to produce original solutions for novel or highly complex problems and/or comprehensive critical discussions of theoretical concepts.
Distinction	75 - 84	At DI level, a student demonstrates an aptitude for the subject and a well-developed understanding of the units material. A ‘Distinction’ reflects excellent achievement and is awarded to a student who demonstrates an ability to apply their subject knowledge and understanding of the subject to produce good solutions for challenging problems and/or a reasonably well-developed critical analysis of theoretical concepts.
Credit	65 - 74	At CR level, a student demonstrates a good command and knowledge of the unit material. A ‘Credit’ reflects solid achievement and is awarded to a student who has a broad general understanding of the units material and can solve routine problems and/ or identify and superficially discuss theoretical concepts.
Pass	50 - 64	At PS level, a student demonstrates proficiency in the material. A ‘Pass’ reflects satisfactory adequately referencing the original source of the work.
Fail	0 - 49	When you don’t meet the learning outcomes of the unit to a satisfactory standard.

For more information see sydney.edu.au/students/guide-to-grades

For more information see guide to grades.

Late submission

In accordance with University policy, these penalties apply when written work is submitted after 11:59pm on the due date:

Deduction of 5% of the maximum mark for each calendar day after the due date.
After ten calendar days late, a mark of zero will be awarded.

Academic integrity

The Current Student website provides information on academic integrity and the resources available to all students. The University expects students and staff to act ethically and honestly and will treat all allegations of academic integrity breaches seriously.

We use similarity detection software to detect potential instances of plagiarism or other forms of academic integrity breach. If such matches indicate evidence of plagiarism or other forms of academic integrity breaches, your teacher is required to report your work for further investigation.

You may only use artificial intelligence and writing assistance tools in assessment tasks if you are permitted to by your unit coordinator, and if you do use them, you must also acknowledge this in your work, either in a footnote or an acknowledgement section.

Studiosity is permitted for postgraduate units unless otherwise indicated by the unit coordinator. The use of this service must be acknowledged in your submission.

Learning support

Simple extensions

If you encounter a problem submitting your work on time, you may be able to apply for an extension of five calendar days through a simple extension.  The application process will be different depending on the type of assessment and extensions cannot be granted for some assessment types like exams.

Special consideration

If exceptional circumstances mean you can’t complete an assessment, you need consideration for a longer period of time, or if you have essential commitments which impact your performance in an assessment, you may be eligible for special consideration or special arrangements.

Special consideration applications will not be affected by a simple extension application.

Using AI responsibly

Co-created with students, AI in Education includes lots of helpful examples of how students use generative AI tools to support their learning. It explains how generative AI works, the different tools available and how to use them responsibly and productively.

Weekly schedule

WK	Topic	Learning activity
Multiple weeks	Lectures to guide performance	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 02	Module 2 Communicating - listening while taking histories and giving advice	Workshop (3 hr)
Week 03	Module 3	Workshop (3 hr)
Week 04	Module 4	Workshop (3 hr)
Week 05	Module 5	Workshop (3 hr)
Week 06	Module 6 (run twice to allow for placements)	Workshop (3 hr)
Week 07	Module 7 (run twice to allow for placements)	Workshop (3 hr)
Week 10	Module 8	Workshop (3 hr)
Week 11	Practice exam	Workshop (3 hr)
Week 12	Module 9	Workshop (3 hr)
Week 13	Module 10	Workshop (3 hr)

Attendance and class requirements

Materials: Students require two spatulas, one small and one large or medium. A marker pen, tea-towel, and small pair of scissors are highly recommended.
Safety: While working within the dispensing laboratory, all students must wear a clean white lab coat and wear shoes which completely cover the feet. When preparing products or working with ingredients, all students must wear rubber gloves (supplied in the laboratory) and safety glasses or prescription glasses which meet the requirements as displayed in the notice boards in the dispensing laboratory.

Study commitment

Typically, there is a minimum expectation of 1.5-2 hours of student effort per week per credit point for units of study offered over a full semester. For a 6 credit point unit, this equates to roughly 120-150 hours of student effort in total.

Required readings

All readings for this unit can be accessed on the Library eReserve link available on Canvas.

APF 23 or APF 24
Australian Medicines Handbook (2016 or 2017 or 2018)

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes are what students know, understand and are able to do on completion of a unit of study. They are aligned with the University's graduate qualities and are assessed as part of the curriculum.

Outcomes
Graduate qualities

At the completion of this unit, you should be able to:

LO1. interview patients (and their caregivers) to elicit clinical and treatment history
LO2. establish diagnosis of minor illnesses within the pharmacist’s scope of practice
LO3. evaluate the appropriateness of a medicine or medication-related treatment, and intervene if necessary
LO4. establish an appropriate treatment plan, for primary care within scope of practice
LO5. prescribe pharmacist-only and pharmacy medicines
LO6. dispense prescribed medicines using commercially available software programs
LO7. detect, resolve and communicate dispensing errors (and near misses) in dispensed products
LO8. counsel patients (and their caregivers) about their medicines and health conditions
LO9. communicate interventions and recommendations to prescribers, dispensers and patients both verbally and in written formats
LO10. document the outcome of patient interaction

Graduate qualities

The graduate qualities are the qualities and skills that all University of Sydney graduates must demonstrate on successful completion of an award course. As a future Sydney graduate, the set of qualities have been designed to equip you for the contemporary world.

GQ1	Depth of disciplinary expertise Deep disciplinary expertise is the ability to integrate and rigorously apply knowledge, understanding and skills of a recognised discipline defined by scholarly activity, as well as familiarity with evolving practice of the discipline.
GQ2	Critical thinking and problem solving Critical thinking and problem solving are the questioning of ideas, evidence and assumptions in order to propose and evaluate hypotheses or alternative arguments before formulating a conclusion or a solution to an identified problem.
GQ3	Oral and written communication Effective communication, in both oral and written form, is the clear exchange of meaning in a manner that is appropriate to audience and context.
GQ4	Information and digital literacy Information and digital literacy is the ability to locate, interpret, evaluate, manage, adapt, integrate, create and convey information using appropriate resources, tools and strategies.
GQ5	Inventiveness Generating novel ideas and solutions.
GQ6	Cultural competence Cultural Competence is the ability to actively, ethically, respectfully, and successfully engage across and between cultures. In the Australian context, this includes and celebrates Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, knowledge systems, and a mature understanding of contemporary issues.
GQ7	Interdisciplinary effectiveness Interdisciplinary effectiveness is the integration and synthesis of multiple viewpoints and practices, working effectively across disciplinary boundaries.
GQ8	Integrated professional, ethical, and personal identity An integrated professional, ethical and personal identity is understanding the interaction between one’s personal and professional selves in an ethical context.
GQ9	Influence Engaging others in a process, idea or vision.

Outcome map

Learning outcomes	Graduate qualities
Learning outcomes

Responding to student feedback

This section outlines changes made to this unit following staff and student reviews.

This year the assessment outcomes for PHAR4812 have changed from Pass/Fail to a graded mark. The mark will now contribute to an overall weighed average mean (WAM) for the BPharm degree. All categories of performance for PHAR4812, from Pass through to High Distinction will be reported. Three assignments will contribute 60% to the overall grade, with higher weighting given to later assignments, and the final examination will contribute 40%. A single rubric has been devised for grading both the assignments and the final examination. The rubrics are designed to motivate students to continually improve their clinical-decision making and documenting their planning comprehensively, yet concisely. The time available to document clinical notes in the final stage of Final examination is lengthened from 30 mins to 60 minutes. These changes are the result of: a) listening to students, within class and during informal and formal consultations including qualitative interviews; b) reviewing the USS outcomes over three years; c) reviewing the teaching and learning literature in relation to the clinical work of pharmacists and other health professionals; and d) consultations with tutors, academics and pharmacist practitioners.

Additional information

Disclaimer

The University reserves the right to amend units of study or no longer offer certain units, including where there are low enrolment numbers.

To help you understand common terms that we use at the University, we offer an online glossary.

Current students

Overview

Overview

Unit details and rules

Teaching staff

Assessment

Assessment

Assessment summary

Assessment criteria

Late submission

Academic integrity

Learning support

Learning support

Simple extensions

Special consideration

Using AI responsibly

Weekly schedule

Weekly schedule

Attendance and class requirements

Study commitment

Required readings

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes

Graduate qualities

Outcome map

Responding to student feedback

Responding to student feedback

Additional information

Additional information

Disclaimer

On this page

Useful links

Media

Student links

About us

Connect

Current students

PHAR4812: Integrated Dispensing Practice

Semester 1, 2020 [Normal day] - Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney

Overview

Overview

Unit details and rules

Teaching staff

Assessment

Assessment

Assessment summary

Assessment criteria

Late submission

Academic integrity

Learning support

Learning support

Simple extensions

Special consideration

Using AI responsibly

Weekly schedule

Weekly schedule

Attendance and class requirements

Study commitment

Required readings

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes

Graduate qualities

Outcome map

Responding to student feedback

Responding to student feedback

Additional information

Additional information

Disclaimer

On this page

Useful links

Media

Student links

About us

Connect