Pharmacy MPharm at Kings College London

Overview

Our Pharmacy MPharm is a fully-accredited four-year pharmacy degree, based in the heart of London, that combines the study of pharmaceutical science with the practise of pharmacy. As experts in medicine, pharmacists are taking on increasingly important roles in modern healthcare teams, as well as enjoying exciting career options in diverse health settings, from hospitals and community pharmacy to working in GP practices, care homes and the pharmaceutical industry. Our courses will allow you to join this profession, as the Master of Pharmacy (MPharm) is the only UK qualification that leads to professional registration as a pharmacist.

Key benefits:

• We are ranked 7th in the world for Pharmacy & Pharmacology (QS World University Rankings by Subject 2017).
• 83 per cent student satisfaction (National Student Survey 2017).
• Career opportunities through international exchanges and work placements in industry and leading clinical environments
• Clinical placements at our partner NHS Hospital Foundation Trusts: Guy’s and St Thomas’, King’s College Hospital and the South London and Maudsley
• Teaching by internationally renowned scientists, researchers and pharmacy practitioners
• The MPharm degree is the only qualification that leads to professional registration as a pharmacist

Description

We have designed our MPharm degree to provide an integrated course that combines pharmaceutical science with the practice of pharmacy. It will train you to deal effectively with change and the increasing complexities of the pharmacists’ role. Our course adheres directly to the requirements and guidance of the professional regulatory body, the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC). We teach the therapeutic use of medicines (professional practice) throughout the four years, and you will spend an increasing amount of time on placements to consolidate this learning.

King's has an excellent reputation for inter-professional learning, and you will spend time learning alongside others, for example nursing, medical, dental and midwifery students.

Your first year will give you a grounding in the underpinning scientific principles needed by pharmacists’, as well as a sound introduction to pharmacy practice. Your second and third years will involve studying a series of modules that integrate the disease, drugs and clinical uses of medicines, as well as scientific modules specific to pharmacists. In your final year, you will study, clinical decision-making, emerging therapeutics in modern medicine and undertake a substantial research project, which we hope you will publish.

As part of King’s Health Partners, we work closely with three of London’s major teaching hospitals - Guy’s, King’s and St Thomas’. These hospitals are a unique training resource, offering you multiple locations for clinical placements and the benefit of expert teaching from staff at the hospitals.

Career prospects

Pharmacy is a rewarding, well paid, secure career with opportunities to contribute to the health and well-being of the nation.

Pharmacists are experts on the discovery, development, manufacture and supply of medicines. In addition to making sure medicines are safe and helping patients get maximum benefit from them, pharmacists provide advice on staying healthy and dealing with minor ailments. Practising pharmacists are an important part of the healthcare team that also comprises doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, dieticians and others.

Traditional settings for pharmacists to practice have included in the community, in hospitals’ and in the pharmaceutical industry. Exciting developments now include pharmacists working in GP practices, in A&E departments and in care homes to ensure medicines use across the healthcare system is safe and effective.

The vocational nature of the MPharm degree, combined with the permanent demand for qualified healthcare professionals both in Great Britain and abroad, means that there are exceptionally high graduate employment rates for MPharm graduates. The career and salary prospects are attractive, as are the opportunities for part-time work. Almost all pharmacy graduates undertake the one year preregistration training programme; the majority in community practice (60 per cent) or hospitals (about 20 per cent), with the remainder employed in industry or postgraduate studies.

Pharmacists are expected to continue learning and developing throughout their careers, In the UK pharmacists increasingly undertake foundation training and postgraduate clinical and research qualifications, including prescribing. Kings provides some of these programmes.