A new Faculty handbook for community pharmacy has been created by the RPS to support pharmacists working in the community who wish to join the professional recognition programme. It was developed following feedback from members who had asked for further guidance relating to community practice, and supplements the main RPS Faculty handbook. It should be used in conjunction with other Faculty resources and support tools.
The new handbook describes how to access the Faculty resources and get started on building an advanced practice portfolio and submitting for assessment. The RPS has also included examples relevant to community pharmacy practice for each cluster of the Advanced Pharmacy Framework — a cornerstone of the Faculty programme. For instance, pharmacists can give examples of using national clinical guidelines and protocols as evidence for the “expert professional practice” cluster.
There are also examples of how pharmacists can start with a piece of evidence for their portfolio and map that to relevant clusters. For example, someone providing medicines use services could map that work to the “expert professional practice”, “collaborative working relationships” and “leadership” clusters. The examples are not comprehensive, nor are they mandatory, but they are designed to prompt ideas for evidence so RPS members will feel more confident about building their Faculty portfolios.
Faculty handbooks for hospital and industry are currently in development and will be available later in the year
The RPS will be making relevant updates to the handbook to keep it current. It is also welcoming feedback from members and, in particular, it is seeking community practice examples to help expand the resource.
“We plan to develop similar handbooks for other pharmacy sectors. Faculty handbooks for hospital and industry are currently in development and will be available later in the year,” says Helen Chang of the RPS Support team.
“The Faculty handbook for community pharmacy supports members in community practice to be the best they can be, as experienced, excellent, or exceptional practitioners.”
