PHARMACY 764 : Medicines Information and Critical Appraisal
Medical and Health Sciences
2025 Semester One (1253) (30 POINTS)
Course Prescription
Course Overview
- effectively answer enquiries about medicines and medicines-related problems,
- identify, critically appraise and apply the medical literature to public, population and individual patient care,
- apply these skills and this knowledge in a variety of practice settings, and
- communicate the results of this process to meet the needs of a variety of recipients.
Course Contacts
Capabilities Developed in this Course
| Capability 1: | People and Place |
| Capability 2: | Sustainability |
| Capability 3: | Knowledge and Practice |
| Capability 4: | Critical Thinking |
| Capability 5: | Solution Seeking |
| Capability 6: | Communication |
| Capability 7: | Collaboration |
| Capability 8: | Ethics and Professionalism |
Learning Outcomes
- Describe the importance of MI in community and hospital pharmacy practice (Capability 3, 7 and 8)
- Develop and frame questions appropriately to obtain relevant background information (Capability 3, 4, 5 and 6)
- Develop and apply appropriate search strategies to retrieve and interpret medicines information. (Capability 3, 4 and 5)
- Utilise written and verbal techniques to communicate in an appropriate manner and context. (Capability 6 and 8)
- Demonstrate knowledge or clinical accountability and ethical issues relating to MI including but not limited to documentation and recording of activities (Capability 1, 2, 6, 7 and 8)
- Demonstrate an understanding of the quality assurance process in relation to MI (Capability 3, 4 and 8)
- Demonstrate reflective practice in a MI practice context (Capability 3, 4, 6 and 8)
- Critically evaluate research evidence in the context of public, population and individual patient care. (Capability 3 and 4)
Assessments
| Assessment Type | Percentage | Classification |
|---|---|---|
| Medicines Information Assignments | 30% | Individual Coursework |
| Medicines information Bulletin | 10% | Group Coursework |
| Critical Reflections | 10% | Individual Coursework |
| Evidence-based Medicine Assignments (POPLHLTH709) | 17.5% | Individual Coursework |
| POPLHLTH709 Midsemester Test | 15% | Individual Test |
| POPLHLTH709 Final Test | 17.5% | Individual Test |
| 6 types | 100% |
| Assessment Type | Learning Outcome Addressed | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | |||
| Medicines Information Assignments | ||||||||||
| Medicines information Bulletin | ||||||||||
| Critical Reflections | ||||||||||
| Evidence-based Medicine Assignments (POPLHLTH709) | ||||||||||
| POPLHLTH709 Midsemester Test | ||||||||||
| POPLHLTH709 Final Test | ||||||||||
Workload Expectations
This course is a standard 30-point course and students are expected to spend 10 hours per week involved in each 15-point course that they are enrolled in.
For this course, you can expect 24 hours of lectures, 24 hours of tutorials and workshops, 160 hours of reading and thinking about the content and 80 hours of work on assignments and/or test preparation.
Delivery Mode
Campus Experience
Attendance is required at scheduled activities including workshops to receive credit for components of the course.
Lectures will be available as recordings. Other learning activities including seminars/tutorials will be available as recordings.
The course will include live online events including group discussions/tutorials.
Attendance on campus is required for some assessments.
The activities for the course are scheduled as a block delivery.
Learning Resources
Course materials are made available in a learning and collaboration tool called Canvas which also includes reading lists and lecture recordings (where available).
Please remember that the recording of any class on a personal device requires the permission of the instructor.
Student Feedback
At the end of every semester students will be invited to give feedback on the course and teaching through a tool called SET or Qualtrics. The lecturers and course co-ordinators will consider all feedback and respond with summaries and actions.
Your feedback helps teachers to improve the course and its delivery for future students.
Class Representatives in each class can take feedback to the department and faculty staff-student consultative committees.
Certain elements of the Medicines Information component of the course have been moved to online videoconferences in order to remove the middle study weekend. This is designed to reduce the travel burden and increase the flexibility of scheduling for students also working full-time. While the videoconferences themselves are scheduled at fixed times the individual preparation and group collaboration leading up to these is determined by negotiation within the groups themselves.
Academic Integrity
The University of Auckland will not tolerate cheating, or assisting others to cheat, and views cheating in coursework, tests and examinations as a serious academic offence. The work that a student submits for grading must be the student's own work, reflecting their learning. Where work from other sources is used, it must be properly acknowledged and referenced. A student's assessed work may be reviewed against electronic source material using computerised detection mechanisms. Upon reasonable request, students may be required to provide an electronic version of their work for computerised review.
Class Representatives
Class representatives are students tasked with representing student issues to departments, faculties, and the wider university. If you have a complaint about this course, please contact your class rep who will know how to raise it in the right channels. See your departmental noticeboard for contact details for your class reps.
Inclusive Learning
All students are asked to discuss any impairment related requirements privately, face to face and/or in written form with the course coordinator, lecturer or tutor.
Student Disability Services also provides support for students with a wide range of impairments, both visible and invisible, to succeed and excel at the University. For more information and contact details, please visit the Student Disability Services’ website http://disability.auckland.ac.nz
Special Circumstances
If your ability to complete assessed coursework is affected by illness or other personal circumstances outside of your control, contact a member of teaching staff as soon as possible before the assessment is due.
If your personal circumstances significantly affect your performance, or preparation, for an exam or eligible written test, refer to the University’s aegrotat or compassionate consideration page https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/academic-information/exams-and-final-results/during-exams/aegrotat-and-compassionate-consideration.html.
This should be done as soon as possible and no later than seven days after the affected test or exam date.
Learning Continuity
In the event of an unexpected disruption we undertake to maintain the continuity and standard of teaching and learning in all your courses throughout the year. If there are unexpected disruptions the University has contingency plans to ensure that access to your course continues and your assessment is fair, and not compromised. Some adjustments may need to be made in emergencies. You will be kept fully informed by your course co-ordinator, and if disruption occurs you should refer to the University Website for information about how to proceed.
Student Charter and Responsibilities
The Student Charter assumes and acknowledges that students are active participants in the learning process and that they have responsibilities to the institution and the international community of scholars. The University expects that students will act at all times in a way that demonstrates respect for the rights of other students and staff so that the learning environment is both safe and productive. For further information visit Student Charter https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/forms-policies-and-guidelines/student-policies-and-guidelines/student-charter.html.
Disclaimer
Elements of this outline may be subject to change. The latest information about the course will be available for enrolled students in Canvas.
In this course you may be asked to submit your coursework assessments digitally. The University reserves the right to conduct scheduled tests and examinations for this course online or through the use of computers or other electronic devices. Where tests or examinations are conducted online remote invigilation arrangements may be used. The final decision on the completion mode for a test or examination, and remote invigilation arrangements where applicable, will be advised to students at least 10 days prior to the scheduled date of the assessment, or in the case of an examination when the examination timetable is published.