What is the Intern Foundation Program?
Providing a structured program so you can fast-track the skills development of your interns.
The Intern Foundation Program (IFP) is an extension program that interns undertake concurrently with the Intern Training Program (ITP). The IFP is a requirement for interns enrolled in our Bachelor of Pharmacy (Hons) / Master of Pharmacy course. The IFP can also form a component of obtaining a Graduate Certificate of Pharmacy Practice.
Throughout the IFP, interns complete workplace-based activities to help refine their core pharmacy skills and develop additional skills in service delivery, leadership, and innovation. Our team works with your site to structure a program that supports intern development in a manner that is relevant for your workplace.
For community and hospital pharmacy sites, the IFP provides opportunities to accelerate your intern’s development so they can provide greater value sooner.
To participate in the IFP, we require completion of a simple IFP-credentialing process.
Two of the main components that interns complete at your workplace as part of the IFP are a series of workplace based assessment activities (e.g. history taking) as part of a structured workplace learning plan and a research project supported by the IFP team.
Find out more about these and the credentialing process below.
To become an IFP-credentialed site relies on three key elements: the workplace, a Clinical Educator and the intern.
Workplace – Our team will ask your workplace to complete a brief survey and submit evidence (e.g. QCPP certification) that they are committed to provide a supportive learning environment
Pharmacist – We will work with you or a nominated pharmacist to develop a structured program specific for your workplace and to complete training to become a Clinical Educator. See below for more details about becoming a Clinical Educator.
Intern – We require the intern to enrol in the IFP, commit to the agreed workplace program and drive completion of the IFP activities at your site.
Become a Clinical Educator
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The workplace learning plan is a structured series of workplace based activities and assessments that help refine the intern's core pharmacy skills (e.g. history taking) and provides opportunities to develop skills in more advanced areas of practice (e.g. business management, professional services etc).
The IFP team will work with you to develop a workplace learning plan that caters to the services you provide and the outcomes that are most relevant for your site and the intern's development.
A component of the IFP is completion of a research project. Under the guidance of the IFP team, interns select a project that is relevant for their workplace (e.g. investigating the efficacy of a professional service). We recognise that pharmacists have a varying degree of experience supervising research projects and therefore we ensure that the project is driven by the intern with support from the IFP team. We ask that you allow the intern to engage in an approved project at your workplace.
