Graduate Certificate of Advanced Practice and Prescribing for Pharmacists

• A highly applied and carefully refined program designed to prepare pharmacists for confident transition into prescribing practice and broader primary care roles.
• Practical, relevant and tested learning that builds advanced capability in patient assessment, history taking, physical examination, diagnostic reasoning, management planning, referral and clinical documentation.
• A strong combination of hands-on practical learning and high-quality online study that builds on your existing expertise and supports busy practising clinicians.
• A deeply engaging, strongly supported course taught by a multidisciplinary team of highly experienced clinicians and educators — including prescribing pharmacists, general practitioners, nurses, dentists and physiotherapists — and accredited in all Australian states and territories without conditions.

Expand your pharmacy practice with JCU

This Graduate Certificate can be completed in one year of part-time study, allowing you to invest in your career progression while continuing in your current role. Students most often complete one subject per trimester.

In your first trimester you will examine the relevant guidelines, frameworks, responsibilities, and legalities that guide safe prescribing, learn a systematic approach to taking a history, basic examination skills and techniques and understand how to apply the biopsychosocial model of health to patient presentations.

In your second trimester you will be taught relevant evidence-based clinical skills and knowledge needed to conduct safe, collaborative, person-centred interventions for the management of acute common gastrointestinal, musculoskeletal, and ear, nose and throat (ENT) conditions. You will also learn to provide pharmacist-led health and wellbeing interventions including contraception and weight management services, and cardiovascular chronic disease management programs.

In your third trimester you will continue to explore the clinical skills and theoretical knowledge needed to safely manage specified acute common skin conditions and wounds; as well as lead health and wellbeing services including travel health advice, smoking cessation services and chronic respiratory disease management programs.

Upskill your way with flexible learning options

Be supported to develop advanced skills without disrupting your existing responsibilities. All subjects are delivered using mixed-mode teaching methods. Your subjects will primarily feature online learning, with some required face-to-face residential sessions at one of our JCU campuses, to promote collaboration and support hands-on clinical skill development.

Be supported to learn when and where suits you best, without compromising on your access to our experienced teaching staff.

Residential requirements and dates

Pharmacists will be required to attend two face-to-face residentials in the Brisbane or Darwin area, one for PC6100 and the second for PC6200. Students should select one of the following proposed dates for each session.

PC6100 Residential – 32 hours over five days.  There are four residential weeks planned to date, for the weeks beginning:

1. 25 May 2026 (Darwin)
2. 1 June 2026 (Brisbane)
3. 8 June 2026 (Brisbane)
4. 20 July 2026 (Launceston)

You need to attend only 1 of the 4 residential weeks for PC6100 – you will be able to submit your preferred date closer to the commencement of PC6100.

PC6200 Residential – 32 hours over five days.

There are four residential weeks planned to date, for the weeks beginning:

1. 28 September 2026 (Brisbane)
2. 12 October 2026 (Brisbane)
3. 2 November 2026 (Launceston)
4. 16 November 2026 (Darwin)

You need to attend only 1 of the 4 residential weeks for PC6200 – you will be able to submit your preferred date closer to the commencement of PC6200.

Please note the residential for PC6300 is incorporated into PC6100 and PC6200 residentials.

End of course OSCE

The course has an end-of-course 7 station OSCE (Objective Structured Clinical Examination). 3 stations will be conducted online and 4 stations will be conducted face-to-face.  Examinations (OSCE) will be held in the week commencing 8 December 2025 and will be held in Brisbane and Darwin.

Inherent requirements

Inherent requirements are the identified abilities, attributes, skills, and behaviours that must be demonstrated, during the learning experience, to successfully complete a course. These abilities, attributes, skills, and behaviours preserve the academic integrity of the University’s learning, assessment, and accreditation processes, and where applicable, meet the standards of a profession. For more information please review the inherent requirements for the Graduate Certificate of Advanced Practice and Prescribing for Pharmacists.

As the scope of a pharmacist’s role in the community continues to grow, successful completion of the Graduate Certificate of Advanced Practice and Prescribing for Pharmacists will equip pharmacy professionals to deliver the best possible care within their community.

Graduates emerge with an advanced skillset that not only broadens the healthcare services they can provide, but also equips them to continue refining the high-level communication and problem-solving abilities that all community pharmacists require.

While most graduates go on to apply their learning within their careers as pharmacists, you may also wish to pursue a deeper interest in key areas of focus through a Higher Degree by Research, such as a Master of Philosophy or Doctor of Philosophy.

For Pharmacists practicing in Queensland

Queensland Government is offering a training subsidy of up to $7,000 to support community pharmacists participating in training for the Queensland Community Pharmacy Scope of Practice Pilot.  This funding will help eligible students with the cost of completing an approved Pilot training course.

The Australasian College of Pharmacy has been engaged by Queensland Health to manage the distribution of the training subsidy. They will administer training subsidy amounts up to the value of $7,000 per eligible student, making this an incredible opportunity to advance your career. For more details on eligibility and the subsidy application process please visit Australasian College of Pharmacy Queensland Pilot Training Subsidy.

For Pharmacists practicing in Northern Territory

The Australian College of Pharmacy has been engaged by the Northern Territory Government to manage the distribution of the training subsidy. As the funding

distributor, the College will administer training subsidy distribution. For more details on eligibility and the subsidy application process please visit Australasian College of Pharmacy Queensland Pilot Training Subsidy.

Fees

A variety of Scholarships are available to suit different student types.

Learn more about fees and financial support

As a practice-based qualification, there are currently no JCU Pathways into this course.

Complete an online application through our Online Application Portal.