units

PAC1322

Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences

Monash University

Undergraduate - Unit

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2013 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

print version

6 points, SCA Band 2, 0.125 EFTSL

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LevelUndergraduate
FacultyFaculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences
OfferedSunway Second semester 2013 (Day)
Parkville Second semester 2013 (Day)
Coordinator(s)Dr David Kong (Parkville); Dr David Wu Bin Chia (Sunway)

Synopsis

This unit aims to provide first year students with the basic foundations required to successfully complete later year units of the Bachelor of Pharmacy course.

The unit aims to:

  1. Enhance students' knowledge and understanding of a range of topics relevant to the practice of pharmacy (ie. The Health Care System, The Pharmacist and The Patient);
  2. Develop students' skills in communication and problem solving;
  3. Develop students' dispensing skills and knowledge;
  4. Develop students' ability to apply statistics and pharmaceutical calculations in the practice of pharmacy and health care;
  5. Introduce students to statistics and basic concept of statistics;
  6. Develop students' generic skills in critical thinking, communication, problem-solving and working in teams.
  7. Provide students with the basic foundations related to health psychology and human behaviour that are crucial for
    1. pharmacist-patient and pharmacist-health professional interaction
    2. understanding human behaviours, especially during illness
    3. understanding patient adherence to recommended treatment regimens
    4. strengthening and maintaining optimal mental health of the individual
    5. the pharmacist's role as a member of the healthcare team.

Students will undertake self-directed learning, submit assignments, participate in tutorials and practicals, all of which will enhance their learning experience.

Outcomes

At the end of this unit students will be able to:

  1. Describe the use of some commonly prescribed medicines;
  2. Retrieve, interpret and communicate (orally or in writing) basic information about medicines or health care issues, and apply it to pharmacy practice;
  3. Dispense simple dose forms of medicines;
  4. Perform basic pharmaceutical and statistics calculations;
  5. Describe the different pharmacy organisations (including their roles and objectives), ethical practice (at basic level) and what is continuing professional development;
  6. Describe the basic concepts of statistics and know when to use the appropriate analyses;
  7. Critically examine the influence of their own experiences, background and culture on their attitudes towards illness and medicine and their ability to learn, and contrast these with the values and beliefs of others in the community;
  8. Critically examine the influence of patient's experiences, background and culture on their attitude towards medicine and health professionals;
  9. Develop strategies for maintaining or optimising their own mental health status, and that, of their patients;
  10. Discuss the different perspectives on health, illness and healthcare practice;
  11. describe the impact of cultural diversity on health status and principles of cultural responsiveness;
  12. Describe the association between health and illness and social influences like age, disability, social position, gender, ethnicity, ecology and access to healthcare;
  13. Consider appropriate adaptations of healthcare practices to suit cultural and social circumstances;
  14. Examine the similarities and differences between personal and professional behaviour.

Assessment

Online pharmaceutical calculation test (minimum requirement for this component is 80%); 10%; essay: 15%; open book dispensing examination: 15%; end of semester written exam: 60%.

Chief examiner(s)

Contact hours

Contact hours for on-campus students:
Thirty three 1-hour lectures
Six 2-hour tutorials
Two 1-hour tutorials

Additional information on this unit is available from the faculty at: