Critical Care Pharmacy Technicians Training Programme

Overview

Teaching, learning and assessment

Learning outcomes

On successful completion of this pathway, you will be able to:

• describe the common medicines used in a critical care setting
• apply knowledge of the critical care environment to appropriately advise the multi-professional team on the safe and appropriate use of medicines
• locate and apply relevant policies and guidelines within the critical care environment
• demonstrate leadership for the safe and secure handling and cost-effective use of medicines in a critical care environment
• recognise, and where relevant use, the available digital and technological resources in a critical care setting (e.g. monitoring, organ support such as ventilation, dialysis, feeding, medicines administration, electronic records)
• demonstrate effective communication skills to deliver medicines reconciliation and medicines counselling in a critical care environment
• demonstrate appropriate prioritisation of patient care activities in the critical care setting
• perform effective facilitation of transfers of care (including discharge to other wards or organisations), including identifying medicines no longer required following discharge from the critical care environment
• produce appropriate responses to medicine information queries within own scope of practice (e.g. alternatives to solid dosage forms, interactions), liaising with the critical care pharmacist as required
• describe, and where relevant interpret, relevant clinical monitoring parameters (including biochemistry, sampling times for therapeutic drug monitoring, ideal versus actual body weight, patient observations and monitoring)
• prepare, and where relevant analyse, relevant patient information for pharmacists prior to the ward round/visit (e.g. medicines, blood results, observations)
• describe how the multidisciplinary team works and how the role of the pharmacy technician adds value
• identify and mitigate risks of medicines use in the critical care environment, reporting adverse drug reactions and documenting allergies appropriately
• contribute to the investigation of medicine-related incidents
• plan and complete an audit, service evaluation or service/quality improvement project in relation to medicines optimisation in critical care
• show a commitment to support the training of others and demonstrate knowledge in providing work-based training, including feedback and supervision

Please see the 2026 Critical Care Pharmacy Technicians Training Pathway for more details.