Group Size
?
1.) Small group (teams of 4-6)
2.) Individual Task
3.) Large Group
4.) Any
Any
Learning Environment
?
1.) Lecture Theatre
2.) Presentation Space
3.) Carousel Tables (small working group)
4.) Any
5.) Outside
6.) Special
Any
QAA Enterprise Theme(s)
?
1.) Creativity and Innovation
2.) Opportunity recognition, creation and evaluation
3.) Decision making supported by critical analysis and judgement
4.) Implementation of ideas through leadership and management
5.) Reflection and Action
6.) Interpersonal Skills
7.) Communication and Strategy
1Creativity and Innovation
2Opportunity recognition‚ creation and evaluation
3Decision making supported by critical analysis and judgement
4Implementation of ideas through leadership and management
5Reflection and Action
6Interpersonal Skills
7Communication and Strategy
A new module in its first year that draws upon established experiential pedagogies utilised within the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences in recent years.
Pharmaceutical Sciences, Pharmacy Practice and the Population is a new 40 credit module delivered for the first time in 2013 as part of the fourth year syllabus on the undergraduate MPharm programme at Cardiff University. Delivered to 126 students in its first year the module is managed by Dr. Emma Kidd with content input and delivery from a range of School of Pharmacy staff. Key enterprise learning content and approaches contained within the module have been carried over from a previous ‘industry oriented’ module developed and delivered by Dr. Emma Kidd over the past 10 years.
For graduates soon to enter pre-registration training and then the workplace as practising pharmacists, an understanding of commercial drivers, processes and ethics as they apply within the pharmaceutical sector is a valuable asset. The development of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Pharmacy Practice and the Population reflects the need from within practice and industry for graduates with knowledge and experience of good practice and strong business acumen.
The QAA subject benchmark document for undergraduate and Masters level Pharmacy published in 2002, identifies the varied roles of pharmacists across a broad spectrum of activities within industry, including the formulation and development of new products, advising on regulatory issues, marketing and the management of scale-up and large scale production of medicines – all requisite of key enterprise skills and commercial awareness.
(Cardiff University Enterprise were pleased to support by providing an expert staff member qualified in both business advice and pharmaceutical science to provide advice to students with regards to their lab to market projects).
As part of the fourth and final year of the undergraduate Pharmacy course, the module seeks to collate and consolidate prior learning whilst providing opportunity and experience to consider how such learning might be applied in the real world of the pharmaceutical industry. As the module title suggests,the content focuses on the application of pharmaceutical science through the practice of pharmacy and the students’ relationships with the general populace, in effect guiding the learner’s thinking from the lab bench towards the pharmaceutical marketplace and consumer. Module content focuses on four themes that are integral to contemporary pharmacy practice: Legal ethical, professional and regulatory aspects of pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences; Critical care and end of life; Evaluating and monitoring medicines; Developing new therapies.
Engaging a range of experiential and active learning pedagogies, a key element of the module is centred on a simulated drug development and commercialisation process. Focussing on the understanding of disease and the development of new therapies, student teams are given a specific pathology and a lead medicinal chemical compound and asked to develop a new drug and to consider various key aspects of the lab to market process as they might apply to a novel medicine, the disease and target consumer markets. Considerations include chemical synthesis and metabolism, pharmacology and toxicology, target consumer market, mode(s) of formulation and drug delivery, commercial viability and ethics.
Formative feedback is given via discursive workshops and team-based seminar sessions during which students have access to experienced staff members who are able to discuss and advise with regards to decisions taken as part of the simulated lab-to-market processes. It is within this context that Cardiff University Enterprise were pleased to be able to support and contribute to module delivery via the skills and experience of Iheanyi Ibe, our resident business advisor who also has a degree in pharmaceutical science. Iheanyi was able to advise student teams regarding commercial considerations relevant to their particular compound and pathology.
The module assessment comprises several components, the largest being a problem-solving-based examination on module-wide themes. There is a test on legal and ethical issues relating to Pharmacy practice. Students are also required to author and present their team’s solution to the lab to market simulated process as well as submit a simulation-related coursework document in the form of a summary report. Finally, students are required to consider how science is reported in the media and present a short article in the medium of their choice (e.g. video, radio, podcast, blog, newspaper article etc.).
Academic feedback included;
“The core aim of the lab to market simulated exercise is to show students how all the basic science they have learnt during their degree is integrated inthe real world. This is particularly evident in the pharmaceutical industry in the development of novel therapeutic entities. Requiring students to develop a novel drug makes them think about many different aspects of their course and allows them to consolidate their individual knowledge. We insist that the novel compounds they design are chemically unique and not covered by an existing patent so they have to create something which is completely new to science. They may also develop a novel delivery method or use an existing formulation/delivery method for a novel application.
Many of our students will work in community pharmacies, sometimes belonging to large retail groups but also to individuals including their family businesses. It is essential that these students understand how to develop new retail opportunities to improve their businesses. In addition, some students will work in the pharmaceutical industry so a number of elements of this exercise, including the development of enterprise skills, will be highly relevant to their career. This part of the exercise benefited greatly from Iheanyi’s expertise as he challenged the students to think about a number of areas from a very different perspective.
We know from feedback obtained over a number of years that students often don’t like this exercise (it is sometimes compared to Marmite as it is loved orloathed) as it is completely different to anything else they have to do and is probably the most challenging assessment of their course. However, they also appreciate that the exercise integrates information from many parts of their course and they have a sense of achievement at the end. They enjoy working with students they don’t know as the individual teams are created from a mix of students so that each group has a mixture of academic abilities. They will spend their working careers in teams so this experience of having to work together and manage many different aspects simultaneously will be very beneficial for them. In addition to the group work, the students learn many other transferable skills such as report and presentation writing to defined guidelines, giving a professional presentation and justifying their approach through answering difficult questions.” Dr. Emma Kidd – Module leader
The examples of curriculum development for enterprise related outcomes were originally outlined by Neil Coles at the International Enterprise Educators Conference under the heading 'From Archaeology to Zoology; an A-Z of enterprise in the curriculum'. For his work in contextualising enterprise for any subject, Neil won the 2013 National Enterprise Educator Award.
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Industrial Pharmacy: Under the microscope - Getting a Job - Career Planning - The Independent . 2015. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.independent.co.uk/student/career-planning/getting-job/industrial-pharmacy-under-the-microscope-413983.html. [Accessed 04 August 2015].
