Core advanced pharmacist curriculum

Core advanced pharmacist curriculum

This was originally published when the organisation was the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, some updates will follow soon.

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What is the core advanced pharmacist curriculum?

The core advanced curriculum describes the entry-level standard for advanced pharmacists working in any patient focused role. It bridges the gap between the post-registration foundation curriculum and the consultant pharmacist curriculum. It also provides a credentialing assessment to assure pharmacists have the capabilities to practise at an advanced level.

The curriculum has been developed collaboratively to create an advanced pharmacy workforce to meet future patient and service needs.

The curriculum outcomes are aligned to multi-professional advanced frameworks whilst articulating the pharmaceutical knowledge and skills required specifically of advanced pharmacists.

In line with other post-registration curricula it is made up of five broad domains aligned closely to the four pillars of practice: 

  • Person-centred care and collaboration 
  • Professional practice 
  • Leadership and management 
  • Education 
  • Research
Core advanced curriculum executive summary
Core advanced curriculum document
Access your e-portfolio
Critical care and mental health curricula

These specialist advanced pharmacist curricula sit supplementary to the capabilities defind in the RPS Core Advanced Curriculum, and the two documents should be read in tandem.

  1. Mental health
  2. Critical care
How do I get started on my credentialing journey? 

Read our getting started guidance here.

How is this different to RPS Faculty?

RPS Faculty is a retrospective recognition of the advanced level of practice of a pharmacist working in any role. It is only open to RPS members. 

RPS core advanced credentialing is a prospective assurance assessment for pharmacists working in patient-focussed roles. This means it assures pharmacists have the entry-level capabilities to deliver advanced level care to patients.  It is open to all pharmacists, including non-RPS members.

How can I find out more?
Professional validation through multi-source feedback

The feedback received in the Multi-Source Feedback for my portfolio was possibly the most professionally validating activity I have ever completed. I experienced multiple opportunities to reflect on my current and future role; what I was good at and where the strengths of my team lie so that I can make more effective use of my colleagues’ strengths and how I can effectively support them.

Anne-Marie Kitchen-Wheeler, Advanced Pharmacist

RPS advanced summit post-event resource

We recorded two videos at the advanced pharmacist summit in September 2024, of experts giving their perspectives on advanced credentialing.

  • Jennifer O’Loan, a GP practice advanced pharmacist working in Scotland, gave this short talk reflecting on her advanced credentialing journey.
  • Lindsay Morgan, an ESC member, credentialing assessor, and panel chair, gave this short talk on her experiences as an assessment panel chair.

Watch the December 2024 collaborative video, recorded by the RPS and CPPE, The road to submission: challenges and successes.

Resources

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RCPharm core advanced e-Portfolio

This was originally published when the organisation was the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, some updates will follow soon. The Core Advanced e-Portfolio is aligned to our core advanced pharmacist curriculum and allows you to record your learning and evidence against the curriculum outcomes.  To start recording evidence to demonstrate your learning, you will first need to register with the e-Portfolio. The process of accessing the e-Portfolio is slightly different for RPS members and non-members. Access your e-Portfolio How to register onto the RPS Core Advanced e-Portfolio if you are an RPS member If you are a RPS member, enter your RPS membership login details and you’ll be redirected to the e-Portfolio homepage. How to register onto the RPS Core Advanced e-Portfolio if you are not an RPS member If you are not a RPS member, scroll down the login page until you see this section and click the ‘register’ button on the bottom right-hand side of the page. You will then need to complete a short registration form. When all the fields are completed, accept the terms and conditions, and then click ‘Register’. Once registered, login to the e-Portfolio here. When can I submit my portfolio for assessment? RPS advanced pharmacist competency committees will meet remotely four times a year to review portfolio submissions. There will be a submission window and a final portfolio submission date.  2025 submission dates  Intention to submit dateFinal submission deadlineAnticipated outcome dateApplication 19 February 20269 March 20266 May 2026Application 220 April 202618 May 202615 July 2026Application 322 June 202620 July 202616 September 2026Application 421 September 202619 October 202611 November 2026 Payment Access to the RPS Core Advanced e-Portfolio is free to both members and non-members. The fee for a portfolio submission to be reviewed is £375 for each attempt. The fee for a portfolio submission to be reviewed for ASII Faculty members is £280 for each attempt.  Payment will be taken via card. We accept all major credit cards including Visa, Mastercard and American Express (AMEX). Payment will only be taken once you have submitted your portfolio for assessment. Is there a fee for resubmission and how much is it? Any reassessment will incur an assessment fee dependent on the number of domains being reassessed.  Up to three domains: Discounted reassessment fee (£225) Four or more domains: Full reassessment fee (£375) Are there any recurring maintenance fees after I have been credentialed? No. Once individuals are credentialed, there are no recurring maintenance fees. Maintenance of competence will be through GPhC revalidation.  Will I need to resubmit a portfolio to maintain my credentialing? No. Maintenance of competence will be through GPhC revalidation. Who assesses my portfolio? Portfolios will be assessed by an RPS advanced pharmacist competency committee (APCC), which will consist of at least three panel members fulfilling the following roles: Two advanced pharmacists, at least one of whom will have expertise from the candidate’s stated sector of practice. A pharmacist with appropriate research expertise. A pharmacist with appropriate educational expertise The committee will be chaired by a senior RPS representative. What are the potential outcomes of the assessment? The potential assessment outcomes of the advanced pharmacist competency committee are as follows: Standard met – If the APCC agrees you have provided satisfactory evidence to demonstrate achievement of all the core advanced pharmacist curriculum outcomes under assessment. Standard not met – If the APCC agrees you not provided satisfactory evidence to demonstrate achievement of all the advanced pharmacist curriculum requirements under assessment. Clear feedback will be provided to you as to which outcomes have not been met and why and you will need to be reassessed in one or more domains of the curriculum. You will not be required to resubmit evidence for those domains where the APCC agreed all the outcomes in that domain had been met. All candidates will receive formative feedback on their submission from the committee regardless of the outcome of the assessment.

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Collaborative supported e-Portfolio programme to advanced pharmacist practice in England

This was originally published when the organisation was the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, some updates will follow soon. Developed in collaboration with the RPS, NHSE WT&E Centre for Advancing Practice and CPPE. Provides a supported professional development programme to advanced pharmacist practice for eligible pharmacists in England, funded by NHSE WT&E’s Centre for Advancing Practice 300 funded places for pharmacists in 2023-2024 Recognises the quality assurance of the advanced practice education, training, and experience of pharmacists practicing as advanced practitioners. Who is eligible for this programme? To be eligible for this programme, pharmacists must meet NHSE WT&E’s Centre of Advancing Practice criteria and the requirements to meet the Core Advanced curriculum outcomes. To be eligible, you must: Be a pharmacist practising in England delivering NHS services Working in an advanced patient-focused pharmacist role Be working at, or close to, an advanced level of pharmacist practice (as defined in the Core Advanced curriculum)1 Be an active prescriber if working in a patient-facing role Be currently leading, or managing other team members in the workplace Be undertaking quality improvement and/or research activities to improve healthcare outcomes at a team and/or service level Have agreement from your employer to support you with the programme by providing high-quality practice supervision, including supporting with work-based supervised learning events (SLEs). 1 For those working in general practice, this may include a completed Statement of Assessment and Progression from a CPPE’s national PCPEP training pathway or equivalent. What is the programme based on? The programme is based on the RPS Core Advanced curriculum, which is fully aligned to the NHSE WT&E Advanced Clinical Practice framework.  Candidates will need to develop a portfolio of evidence against the RPS Core Advanced curriculum outcomes using the Core Advanced e-Portfolio. What support will I receive to develop my portfolio? Programme support is provided by CPPE.  If you are assigned a place on the programme, you will: Be assigned a dedicated educational supervisor from CPPE who will support you remotely developing your portfolio Have a 90-minute learning needs analysis discussion with your educational supervision with the development of an individual development plan to address any learning or experiential deficits Have two remote 1-2-1 meetings with your educational supervisor to discuss the quality of your evidence Receive peer-to-peer support to develop your e-portfolio evidence through remote group tutorials. What will the final sign-off assessment look like? The programme covers a funded final sign off assessment. Your portfolio assessment will be assessed by an Advanced Pharmacist Competence Committee (APCC) as described in the programme of assessment section of the Core Advanced curriculum. What do I get if I successfully complete the programme? Those who successfully complete the programme and credentialing assessment through the RPS will receive the following dual award: The RPS Core Advanced credential, recognising you as an advanced pharmacist. If you are an RPS member, this means you will be able to use the modified membership affix: MRCPharm(Advanced) or FRCPharm(Advanced) NHSE WT&E’s Centre for Advancing Practice’s ‘Advanced’ digital badge, demonstrating the quality assurance of your advanced practice preparation to patients, families, carers, and other healthcare professionals. This will mean you will be recognised as having equivalence in terms of level of advanced practice as those who have completed the alternative NHSE WT&E supported e-Portfolio (supported) route or a NHSE WT&E-accredited advanced practice programme. How do I sign up to be assigned to a cohort on the programme? To sign up for the programme, you need to register your interest through the CPPE website as well as through the NHSE WT&E portal. You will then be contacted by an education supervisor to arrange a learning needs analysis meeting. After this meeting, there will be a discussion about which cohort you will join.  In the meantime, we recommend that you read the getting started guidance. What is the difference between an advanced pharmacist and an advanced practitioner? >In summary, advanced pharmacists have advanced pharmaceutical clinical capabilities in addition to advanced non-clinical capabilities. The role of an advanced pharmacist could not be safely delivered by an individual from another professional group. An advanced practitioner focuses on clinical assessment skills for managing undifferentiated patient presentations within speciality areas of practice, such as emergency medicine or general practice. These roles draw on individuals' professional expertise and can be safely undertaken by individuals drawn from a range of multi-professional backgrounds. Both advanced pharmacists and other advanced practitioners practise at an advanced level and deliver complex care autonomously. Both are also experienced practitioners across the four pillars of practice. For more detail, see section 2.3 of the Core Advanced curriculum. What if I am not near to or at the advanced level of practice and/or not eligible for the programme?  If you do not currently meet the eligibility criteria for the programme but would like to commence your journey towards advanced practice credentialing, please refer to the getting started guidance. 2024 CPPE pathway submission dates  Submission window opensFinal submission deadlineAnticipated outcome dateApplication 17 January 202414 January 202427 February 2024Application 24 February 202411 February 202426 March 2024Application 37 April 202414 April 202428 May 2024Application 45 May 202412 May 202425 June 2024Application 54 August 202411 August 202424 September 2024 CPPE advanced credentialing support programme webpage Centre for Advancing Practice appeals and complaints procedure

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