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Pharmacy

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What is Pharmacy?

 

Pharmacy is the study of all aspects of drugs, both natural and synthetic in origin, including their chemistry, their uses in medicines, and how they work within the body. Pharmacists work in a variety of settings – community pharmacies, hospitals, long-term care facilities, and within the pharmaceutical industry, to name just a few. In many respects, their role as a key healthcare professional is to help people achieve the best results from their medications.

 

Pharmacy: The course for you?

 

 

While this degree is an essential requirement if you wish to practise as a community or hospital pharmacist, Pharmacy at Trinity opens up a wide variety of professional opportunities in both industry and the wider healthcare sector. A strong interest in science is important to fully enjoy the course.

 
 

Pharmacy @ Trinity

 

Trinity is ranked in the top 100 universities in the world for Pharmacy and Pharmacology (QS World University Rankings by Subject 2016). The School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences has world class facilities with research space in the Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute (TBSI), which develops Trinity’s leadership position in immunology, neuroscience and cancer. The School also has purpose built teaching spaces in the Panoz Institute, including the Boots Unit, a technology-enhanced learning space which allows students to dispense drugs and develop communication skills.

 

Structured professional placements are integrated throughout the new programme. A particular strength of the Trinity programme is the research project, which may take place abroad and gives students the opportunity to develop focused laboratory or field research with one-to-one supervision.

 
 

Graduate skills and career opportunities

 

As an expert in the discovery, development and optimal use of medicines, many career paths are open to pharmacists. Your career prospects as a Pharmacy graduate are excellent. Employment opportunities exist in community, hospital and industrial pharmacy, as well as in state services such as medicines licensing. In addition, you can opt to undertake research, or apply for entry to one of the postgraduate courses in hospital, industrial or community pharmacy. See: pharmacy.tcd.ie/postgraduate/ for further details.

 

 

Your degree and what you’ll study

 
 

The Pharmacy syllabus has been designed to provide you with an all-round education in both the basic and pharmaceutical sciences and in the practice of pharmacy itself. The five-year integrated Pharmacy programme comprises a variety of approaches to teaching Pharmacy by friendly, dedicated, enthusiastic and approachable staff: lectures, seminars, tutorials, workshops, small-group teaching, problem-based learning, site-visits, computer-assisted learning, web discussion boards, wikis, online group assignments, communication skills, career planning, clinical case studies, inter-professional learning, laboratory and dispensing practicals, and a research project.

 

Modules are assessed by final examinations and continuous assessment, such as written assignments, essays, lab reports, OSCEs (objective structured clinical examinations), etc. which contribute to the overall mark in a module. There are approximately 16 hours of lectures, 6 hours of laboratory classes and 1 tutorial per week over the course of the Junior Freshman (first) year. Work experience in clinical and non-clinical settings will take place over all five years of the integrated Pharmacy programme

 
 
 

FIRST (JUNIOR FRESHMAN) YEAR

 

Physiology, Cell and Molecular Biology, Biochemistry, Organic and Inorganic Chemistry for Pharmacy, Physical Pharmacy I, Pharmaceutical Analysis I, Introduction to Pharmaceutics and Formulation, Mathematical Methods and Pharmaceutical Calculations, Practice of Pharmacy I, General Principles of Pharmacology.

 
 
 

SECOND (SENIOR FRESHMAN) YEAR

 

Properties and Analysis of Materials Used in Medicines, Physical Pharmacy, Formulation and Pharmaceutical Technology, Practice of Pharmacy II, Pharmaceutical Biochemistry and Biotechnology, Molecular and Chemotherapeutic Pharmacology, Blood, Cardiovascular, Renal Pharmacology, Clinical Therapeutics.

 

 

THIRD (JUNIOR SOPHISTER) YEAR

 
 

Medicinal and Pharmaceutical Chemistry III, Natural Sources of Drugs and Substances Used in Medicines, Sterile Products and Advanced Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, Practice of Pharmacy III, Endocrine and Reproductive Pharmacology, Respiratory and Gastrointestinal Pharmacology, Malignant Disease, Immunopharmacology, Pharmacology of the Eye, Neuropharmacology, Clinical Therapeutics.

 
 

 

FOURTH (SENIOR SOPHISTER) YEAR

 

Organisation and Management Skills, Professional Skills Development, Professional Practice, Pharmaceutical Data Analysis and Bioinformatics, Medicinal and Pharmaceutical Chemistry IV, Pharmacokinetics, Pharmacodynamics, Biopharmaceutics and Drug Metabolism, Practice and Therapeutics and Professionalism and Ethics, Research Project.

 
 
 

FIFTH YEAR (M. PHARM. YEAR)

 

Industrial Pharmacy, Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Context, Legislation, Standards and Practice, Advanced Drug Delivery and Molecular Pharmaceutics, Practice of Pharmacy and Integrated Pharmacy Skills, Addiction Pharmacy, Supply of Medicines and Organisation and Management Skills, Leading the Safe and Rational Use of Medicines, Professional Practice and Public Health, Practice Research Project.

 

 

In the fourth and fifth year, you will undertake a research project. The following are some examples of research projects which students have undertaken in the past:

 

Medicines use and burden in people with intellectual disability

New targets for old drugs: Development of novel beta-lactams with anticancer activity

The development of dapsone cocrystals for pulmonary drug delivery

 
 

Study abroad and internships opportunities

 

We encourage our students (second and third year students) to undertake the summer research placement programme.

 

This programme allows pharmacy students carry out their research projects abroad (UK, Germany, Austria, France, US, Canada) over the summer (12 weeks) as part of their undergraduate degree programme. Students are either funded by the Erasmus programme or the School.

 
 
 

GET IN TOUCH!

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Tel: +353 1 896 2809
 
 
 
 
 
 
Twitter: @TCDpharmacy
 
What our current students say
 
 
Karen Padden, M.Pharm., 1st year, Mayo
 
 
“The School of Pharmacy at Trinity College Dublin provides a welcoming and close-knit teaching and learning environment, in which all aspects of pharmacy, both theory and practice are delivered to a degree of excellence. First year of the integrated M.Pharm programme offers a diversity of fascinating modules such as Physiology, Organic Chemistry and Practice of Pharmacy, that provided me with a solid scientific foundation and clinical experience for my future both as a Pharmacy student and a Healthcare Professional. The academic staff, along with DUPSA, the Pharmacy Society are always at hand to provide assistance and encouragement in whatever way possible, therefore making the School of Pharmacy a Home away from Home!”
 
 
 
Negoescu Eduard, M.Pharm., 2nd year, Meath
 
 
“Choosing Pharmacy in Trinity, a course that ensures a successful career, has been the best decision ever. The vast number of modules and practical laboratories closely related to the theoretical classes offer invaluable insight not only into the profession, but also into Healthcare globally, and prepare us for worldwide opportunities. To me it still seems astonishing to see how the practicalities of the new integrated Pharmacy programme come into play and I love all the placements we have undergone each year. I feel like part of a large family, thanks to the super-friendly staff and the Pharmaceutical Students’ association (DUPSA), who arrange social gatherings, wine receptions, and memorable events like the Pharmacy Ball.”
 
 
 
Mark Lyons, M.Pharm., 1st year, Longford
 
 
“What I really like about pharmacy in Trinity is how everything that you learn fits together. From day one you have a context for everything you learn, with the links between modules made clear throughout. From the chemistry of how medicines work to the practical techniques for making them in a lab and right up to the rules and regulations of how they’re dispensed, the whole course is a progression with each topic naturally flowing into the next. There’s labs and assessments throughout the year meaning you don’t have the stress of everything hinging on one big exam at the end, and the lecturers all have a genuine interest in their students doing well. If you have an interest in science, a desire to learn more about how medicines and diseases work and want to be part of one of the most rapidly expanding industries in the Country then this is the course for you.
 

Course Options

Options

 
Graduate Entry:
 
 
 
A graduate entry route to this degree is also available.

Admission Requirements

For general admission requirements please click here

Leaving Certificate O4 or H6 Mathematics H5 Chemistry H4 In one of Physics, Biology, Mathematics, Applied Mathematics, Geography, Geology, or Agricultural Science
 
 
 
GCSE Grade B Mathematics
 
 
 
Advanced GCE (A-Level) Grade C Chemistry Grade C In one of Physics, Biology, Mathematics, Geology, Geography, or Further Mathematics
 
 
 
 
 
 

Restricted entry

See Precautions against infectious diseases: https://www.tcd.ie/courses/undergraduate/infectiousdiseases/
 
 
 
Students will be required to undergo Garda vetting.
 
 
 
Note: In order to qualify to register as a pharmacist with the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland students must also complete a fifth year, culminating in a M.Pharm. degree. There will be a postgraduate fee associated with the fifth year on the postgraduate register in Trinity, payable by the student. This fee for students entering the fifth year in 2019/20 20 is expected to be €8,250 for EU students, and €16,500 for non-EU students. [All fees and charges are subject to annual review and are likely to increase each year. A full listing of fees may be found on the College website] The M.Pharm. degree carries with it an entitle-ment to apply for registration as a pharmacist.
 
 
 

Apply

To apply to this course, click on the relevant Apply Link below

EU Applicants

Read the information about how to apply, then apply directly to CAO.

Non-EU Applicants

  • Pharmacy, 4 years full-time Closing Date: 30/JUN/2018

    • Advanced Entry Applications

    Read the information about how to apply for Advanced Entry, then select the link below to apply.

    Options

     
    Graduate Entry:
     
     
     
    A graduate entry route to this degree is also available.