1. Title of the Course:
Master of Science in Pharmaceutical Medicine

2. Main University organising the Course:
Hibernia College

3. Address of Secretariat of the Course:
2, Clare Street
Dublin 2
Ireland
Telephone number:    +353 (0)1 661 0168                         
Fax number:              +353 (0)1 661 0162                           
E-mail address:          academicaffairs@hiberniacollege.net
Web site:                   http://www.hiberniacollege.net

4. Year of Foundation of the Course: 2005
Language of the Course: English

5. Seminars/Modules:
Number of Seminars/Modules: 10

Module 1          Leadership & Authority
Module 2          Discovery of New Medicines
Module 3          Clinical Pharmacology and Drug Development  
Module 4          Clinical Trials; Data Management and Statistics
Module 5          Safety and Risk Management 
Module 6          Information Technology and e-Medicine           
Module 7          Business and Pharmaceutical Ethics           
Module 8          Regulatory Affairs and Knowledge Management
Module 9          Health Economics, Business Administration & Medical Affairs
Module 10        Research Project

Of these 10 modules 7 are taught on-line, 2 are taught on-site and 1 consists of working on a research project and the writing of a dissertation.
Each of the 7 on-line modules is available for study on-line for 16 weeks. They are running 2 by 2 in parallel totalling 4 x 16 weeks distributed over 2 years.
The 16 weeks of each on-line module are used as follows:

• - Week 1: Induction week
• - Weeks 2 - 13: Each week the students are expected to learn a lesson taking an average of 3 hours, to look at a live tutorial taking 1 hour and to spend 6 hours on private study. Thus the students spend 10 hours study time each week i.e. 120 hours over the 12 weeks.
• - Weeks14 and 15: are devoted to the reading of study material provided by Hibernia College which is taking an average of 10 hours per week i.e. a total of 20 hours for the two weeks.
• - Week 16 is spent on the assessment of the knowledge gained.

The on-site modules are:

• o Module 1: "Leadership and Authority" taught at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard.
• o Module 7: "Business and Pharmaceutical Ethics" taught at the College of Surgeons in Dublin

Each on-site module takes 36 hours teaching plus an assessment. The on-site modules are not compulsory. They can be learned on-line by those students who cannot attend the courses in Harvard and/or Dublin.  

Frequency of seminars/modules: 2 modules/semester

The seminars/modules are spread over 2 years

The full course contains 432 hours of teaching distributed as follows:

Seminars (didactic lectures): 3 x 12 x 7 = 252 hrs
Workshops: Leadership (36) + Ethics (36) = 72 hrs
Group discussion: 1 x 12 x 9 = 108 hrs
Private study: ((6 x 12) + 20) x 9 = 828 hrs
Thesis: 280 hrs (estimate)
Distance learning or home work:                                          yes

The programme covers all items mentioned in the IFAPP Syllabus and the syllabus of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine in London.

6. Hours of teaching:

Clinical Research: 88 hrs                                            
RegulatoryAffairs:         24      "                                                 
Pharmacovigilance:        48  "                                                    
Statistics:                                 20   "                                        
PharmacoEconomics:               28 .."                                              
Marketing&Business matters:    71   "

7. Teachers:

Total number of teachers participating in the programme: 46

Of whom:
From Industry:                                      14
From CRO's                                             5
From academic institutions:                    17
From Regulatory Authority:                      0
From other organisations:                      10*

* Private pharmaceutical consultants or small consultancy companies.

8. Course material

The course material consists of paper documents as well as of electronic media.

The course material is prepared by each teacher.

9. Students

Average number of students registering each year:

To the full course:                              40
To individual seminars::                     N.A.
To the examinations:                         40

Requirements to register for the course and the examinations
MDs, Physicians and PHDs in biosciences (veterinary, pharmacy, biology).
Participants must satisfy normal HETAC (Higher Education and Training Awards Council (http://www.hetac.ie/) entry requirements, i.e.: Honours Bachelor degree in a science subject.

Applicants should also be working in the pharmaceutical industry or a CRO.

10. Examinations:

Each module is assessed by a combination of continuous assessment (usually an essay or case study) and an examination at the end of the module. The marks awarded for  continuous assessment and examination are usually in the ratio of 40:60. The final course award is based on the cumulative grades from all of the individual course modules. Students must pass each module.

The  examinations are only written. The written examination includes Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs). at each session. The number of questions varies since some module examinations consist of a number of assessment strategies of which MCQs represent only one tool.

The number of correct choices varies according to the assessment strategy of the module. Short questions or short dissertations are also employed in the assessment.
Each teacher individually, overseen by the Course Director and an External Examiner, prepares and updates the MCQs.
The duration of the written examination is 3 hours.
Attendance to the course is compulsory for sitting the examination.

11. Recognition:

The course is recognised by HETAC (see above) and it is planned to have it recognised also by the National Health Authorities, the National Academy of Medicine, the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine, the Regulatory Authorities and the Employers.

12. Fees:

Fee for the attendance to:
The full course:                    20,000 Euro
Single modules/seminars:     N.A.
The examination:                 Included in the fee for attendance.

No fee is requested for awarding the diploma.

SUMMARY
Hibernia College, in association with Pfizer Inc. has developed a new web-based masters program in Pharmaceutical Medicine. This is the only ONLINE Master's course in Pharmaceutical Medicine.

The syllabus for this course incorporates all of the recommendations of the Council for Education in Pharmaceutical Medicine (CEPM) of the International Federation of Associations of Pharmaceutical Physicians (IFAPP). The syllabus also covers the content required by the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine, Royal College of Physicians, UK.

In addition to the core content required by these bodies, the Hibernia course offers education in a broader area of expertise, including leadership and negotiation, the fundamentals of IT and technological advances in the pharmaceutical industry, eMedicine, business ethics, intellectual property protection regulations, health economics and finance. There is also a research project and dissertation aimed at answering mission critical issues within the students' individual areas of employment. This research project provides students with an opportunity to synthesise the course as a whole in to a single piece of high quality research.

The course is taught by academics from some of the world's leading Universities and from specialists from within the pharmaceutical industry from companies such as Pfizer, AstraZenaca and SmithKlineBeecham.

The course is open to both physicians and non-medical specialists who are employed in the pharmaceutical industry in areas such as Pre-Clinical Pharmacology, Clinical Monitoring, Data Management, Drug Safety and Clinical Project Management. The course provides the opportunity for career advancement and cross-specialisation in the area of Clinical Development.