Advanced Pharmacy Practice (Clinical)
The clinical pillar seeks to define the skills, knowledge and behaviours required to deliver high-quality patient care to patients with complex needs through extensive knowledge of pharmaceutical considerations and disease states, effective communication skills, physical examination skills and clinical decision making including differential diagnosis.
Advanced Pharmacy Practice (Clinical)
Historically, pharmacists have not used extensive physical examination skills however skills for basic observation are now incorporated into the independent prescribing course. For core advanced pharmacist curriculum, physical assessment skills are expected to be beyond those gained when undertaking the independent prescribing course and equivalent to those acquired on an advanced clinical examination and assessment module delivered by a higher education institute.
Examples of delivering advanced clinical practice include:
- community pharmacists assessing and diagnosing upper respiratory tract infections, lower respiratory tract infections or ear infections through Pharmacy First Plus service
- primary care pharmacists assessing peripheral pulse and foot checks in diabetic clinic along with titration of oral and injectable medicines
- secondary care pharmacists undertaking abdominal assessment in gastro-intestinal ward as part of ongoing care
- cognitive impairment assessment as part of polypharmacy review in care home residents
- assessment of COPD patients as part of a hospital at home service
For supporting resources to develop knowledge and skills visit Domain 1 | Turas | Learn (nhs.scot) and Domain 2 | Turas | Learn (nhs.scot)
Advanced Clinical Pharmacist role
Leanne Black Lead Clinical Pharmacist in Frailty in NHS GGC showcases her advanced career pathway. Leanne has shared a series of case examples to showcase her role in the care homes.
A transcript of the video is available here
Useful Resources
The National Clinical Skills for Pharmacists Programme supports registered pharmacists take on new and extended clinical roles through a combination of face-to-face teaching, simulation and personal study.
National Clinical Skills for Pharmacists Programme | NHS Sco (nhsscotlandacademy.co.uk)
The NES pharmacy podcast | NHS Education for Scotland
The podcast aims to provide updates on developments in pharmacy education as well as linking in with pharmacy teams in Scotland. There are 5 episodes currently available.
