Business Practice and Commercial Awareness in Pharmacy

Overview

This course aims to critically evaluate, develop and apply business practice and commercial awareness in the marketing of pharmaceutical services.

Summary

This course provides participants with the fundamental principles of business practice, commercial awareness and staff management and the opportunity to critically evaluate these principles within the context and application of pharmacy practice.

About

Many pharmacy students will aspire to managing and owning their own community pharmacy business. In order to be a success, any owner/manager will need to have a knowledge and understanding of business practices, the importance of commercial awareness and staff management.

The aim of this course is to enable students to critically evaluate, develop and apply business practice and commercial awareness in the marketing of pharmaceutical services.

Online lectures cover:

• ​Legal and ethical requirements of employment legislation.

• Managing workplace conflict. Employee rights. Grievance issues. HR dilemmas.

• Communication in meetings etc. Effective and behavioural interviewing.

• Understanding relevant finances. Sources of finance.

• NHS remuneration Drug Tariff.

• Principles of accounting. Analysis of accounts. Recording and reporting financial data.

• Customer expectations. Market research. Risk management.

• Service design. Service delivery. Audit.

• Planning and selling. Strategic Plan, SWOT / PEST analysis. Business plan. Working with others.

• What is marketing? Marketing influence on sale. Understanding the healthcare market.

• Access to the pharmacy. E-Pharmacy. Customer profiling. Customer interaction.

• Creating advantage, Creating a marketing plan. Delivery and implementation of marketing plan.

Linked programmes

MPharm (Hons) Pharmacy, PgCertPD Professional Development

Assessment

Written Assignment (Coursework) [100%]

A written piece which will involve a critical evaluation of evidence and production of supporting documentation to support a new business enterprise, including reference to staff training and management requirements. (2000 words).

Attendance

This course is delivered fully online for 12 weeks, during Semester 2, starting 06 January 2025, with no on-campus attendance requirements.

* Please note, dates and timetabling may be subject to change.

Entry requirements

Any undergraduate degree.

English Language Requirements

Applicants whose first language is not English must meet the minimum English entrance requirements of the University and will need to provide recent evidence of this (certified within the last two years).

Most of our courses require a minimum English level of IELTS 6.0 or equivalent, with no band score under 5.5. Trinity ISE: Pass at level III also meets this requirement.

Teaching, Learning and Assessment

Attendance and Independent Study

The content for each course is summarised on the relevant course page, along with an overview of the modules that make up the course.

Each course is approved by the University and meets the expectations of:

• the relevant generic national Qualification Descriptor

• the applicable Subject Benchmark Statement

• the requirements of any professional, regulatory, statutory and accrediting bodies.

Attendance and Independent Study

As part of your course induction, you will be provided with details of the organisation and management of the course, including attendance and assessment requirements - usually in the form of a timetable.

For full-time courses, the precise timetable for each semester is not confirmed until close to the start date and may be subject to some change in the early weeks as all courses settle into their planned patterns.

For part-time courses which require attendance on particular days and times, an expectation of the days and periods of attendance will be included in the letter of offer. A course handbook is also made available.

Courses comprise modules for which the notional effort involved is indicated by its credit rating. Each credit point represents 10 hours of student effort.

• Undergraduate courses typically contain 10, 20, or 40 credit modules (more usually 20) and postgraduate courses typically 15 or 30 credit modules.

  The normal study load expectation for an undergraduate full-time course of study in the standard academic year is 120 credit points.

• This amounts to around 36-42 hours of expected teaching and learning per week, inclusive of attendance requirements for lectures, seminars, tutorials, practical work, fieldwork or other scheduled classes, private study, and assessment.

• Teaching and learning activities will be in-person and/or online depending on the nature of the course. Part-time study load is the same as full-time pro-rata, with each credit point representing 10 hours of student effort.

  Postgraduate Master’s courses typically comprise 180 credits, taken in three semesters when studied full-time. A Postgraduate Certificate (PGCert) comprises 60 credits and can usually be completed on a part-time basis in one year. A 120-credit Postgraduate Diploma (PGDip) can usually be completed on a part-time basis in two years.

  Class contact times vary by course and type of module. Typically, for a module predominantly delivered through lectures you can expect at least 3 contact hours per week (lectures/seminars/tutorials). Laboratory classes often require a greater intensity of attendance in blocks. Some modules may combine lecture and laboratory.

• The precise model will depend on the course you apply for and may be subject to change from year to year for quality or enhancement reasons. Prospective students will be consulted about any significant changes.

Assessment

Assessment methods vary and are defined explicitly in each module. Assessment can be a combination of examination and coursework but may also be only one of these methods. Assessment is designed to assess your achievement of the module’s stated learning outcomes.  

You can expect to receive timely feedback on all coursework assessments. This feedback may be issued individually and/or issued to the group and you will be encouraged to act on this feedback for your own development.

Coursework can take many forms, for example: essay, report, seminar paper, test, presentation, dissertation, design, artefacts, portfolio, journal, group work. The precise form and combination of assessment will depend on the course you apply for and the module.

Details will be made available in advance through induction, the course handbook, the module specification, the assessment timetable and the assessment brief. The details are subject to change from year to year for quality or enhancement reasons. You will be consulted about any significant changes.

Normally, a module will have 4 learning outcomes, and no more than 2 items of assessment. An item of assessment can comprise more than one task.

The notional workload and the equivalence across types of assessment is standardised. The module pass mark for undergraduate courses is 40%. The module pass mark for postgraduate courses is 50%.