Pearson Education Ltd · RQF Level 3
Pearson BTEC Level 3 Diploma in Pharmaceutical Science (QCF)
You don’t just earn this. You learn to use it, one-to-one, on your own real work.
- LevelRQF Level 3
- Total credits120
- Guided learning720 hours
- Units in this qualification35
Awarded by Pearson Education Ltd · on the Ofqual register
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See how this course maps onto your role
Ten quick questions, one per Future Fluency, asked against this qualification rather than a generic one.
About 5 minutes · No card · Nothing to commit to
What you’ll learn
What each unit actually teaches you to do
These are the units Pearson Education Ltd registers against this qualification. It is a catalogue, not a syllabus. Which of them you take depends on the combination the qualification requires, and that is set by the awarding body rather than by us. Every unit here is regulated, and every one you earn is yours to keep.
Action and Uses of MedicinesReal unit · Pearson Education Ltd
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the basic principles of how medicines work in the human body
- Know about the uses and limitations of medicines, including their management in practice
- Use standard pharmacy resources to research answers to pharmaceutical queries
Assemble prescribed itemsReal unit · Pearson Education Ltd
What you'll be able to do
- Prepare to assemble prescribed items
- Select the prescribed item
- Label and package prescribed items
- Complete the assembly process
- Comply with current legal and ethical requirements, organisational standard operating procedures and relevant national and local guidelines and policies
Assist in the Issuing of Pharmaceutical StockReal unit · Pearson Education Ltd
What you'll be able to do
- Assemble stock for issue
- Issue stock
- Complete the issuing process
- Comply with current legislation, policy, good practice, organisational and professional codes of practice and ethical standards
- Operate within the limitations of the job role
Assist in the issuing of prescribed itemsReal unit · Pearson Education Ltd
What you'll be able to do
- Confirm the identity of the individual
- Identify whether the individual is taking other medication
- Issue prescribed items
- Operate within the limitations of the job role at all times
- Comply with current legislation, policy, good practice, organisational and professional codes of practice and ethical standards
Assist in the manufacture and assembly of medicinal productsReal unit · Pearson Education Ltd
What you'll be able to do
- Prepare the environment, equipment, ingredients and self prior to assembly or manufacture of medicinal products
- Assist with the preparation and processing medicinal products
- Complete the assembly and manufacturing process of medicinal products
- Operate within the limitations of the job role
- Comply with standard operating procedures, health and safety and environmental monitoring policies
Assist in the preparation of documentation, materials and other items for manufacture and assembly of medicinal productsReal unit · Pearson Education Ltd
What you'll be able to do
- Follow health and safety procedures in the work place
- Assist in the preparation of the work area
- Assist in the preparation and completion of the documentation and labels for the product
- Select and prepare raw materials for the preparation of the product
- Work within the limitations of the job role
Assist in the sale of medicines and productsReal unit · Pearson Education Ltd
What you'll be able to do
- Identify customers' needs
- Refer a customer to the appropriate authority
- Understand when the sale of OTC medicines cannot be completed
- Sell medicines or products
- Know the local policy, legislation and good practice for sale of medicines
Assist with the provision of a pharmacy service to meet individuals’ needsReal unit · Pearson Education Ltd
What you'll be able to do
- Identify individual’s needs
- Provide information which meets the requirements of the individual
- Resolve individual’s issues and concerns
- Comply with organisational standard operating procedures, policies and procedures service
- Work within the limitations of the job role
Biological Principles for PharmacyReal unit · Pearson Education Ltd
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the basic structure and function of carbohydrates, lipids and proteins
- Understand the structure and functions of enzymes
- Understand the structure and functions of nucleic acids
- Understand the biological significance of water
Cardio-Respiratory MedicinesReal unit · Pearson Education Ltd
What you'll be able to do
- Understand how medicines are used to treat disorders of the respiratory system
- Understand how medicines are used to treat disorders of the cardiovascular system
- Understand how to advise patients to manage their conditions
Central Nervous System Medicines and AnaesthesiaReal unit · Pearson Education Ltd
What you'll be able to do
- - Understand how medicines are used to treat disorders of the central nervous system
- - Understand how medicines are used to treat mental health disorders
- - Understand how medicines are used in the treatment and management of pain
- - Understand how medicines are used in anaesthesia
Chemical Principles for Pharmacy TechniciansReal unit · Pearson Education Ltd
What you'll be able to do
- Understand how the atomic and electronic structure of elements influences the arrangement of the periodic table and bonding
- Understand the principles behind chemical reactions
- Carry out calculations involving quantities and concentrations
Communicating in PharmacyReal unit · Pearson Education Ltd
What you'll be able to do
- Understand how to provide relevant information and advice on medicines and products
- Understand the correct procedures for the sale and supply of Over The Counter medicines
- Know about Health and Health Promotion
- Understand how to prepare for a review of medicines taken by an individual
Community Pharmacy PracticeReal unit · Pearson Education Ltd
What you'll be able to do
- Understand how to assist in the provision of appliances, dressings and other non-medicinal products
- Understand how to assist in the provision of services outside of the Pharmacy
- Know the national and local regulations and policies regarding supply of medicines to patients in care
Contribute to the effectiveness of teamsReal unit · Pearson Education Ltd
What you'll be able to do
- Explain the importance of own role and how it contributes to the team performance
- Use feedback to improve personal team performance
- Manage time and commitments effectively
- Establish effective working relationships with all members of the team
- Comply with organisational, national and European legislation
Dispensing and Supply of MedicinesReal unit · Pearson Education Ltd
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the organisational policies and standard operating procedures within the pharmacy working environment
- Understand the processes involved when dispensing prescriptions
- Order, receive, store and maintain pharmaceutical stock
Endocrine and Genito-urinary MedicinesReal unit · Pearson Education Ltd
What you'll be able to do
- Understand how medicines are used to treat disorders of the endocrine system
- Understand how medicines are used to treat gynaecological disorders and in obstetrics
- Understand how medicines are used to treat genito- urinary disorders
Ensure your own Actions Reduce risks to Health and SafetyReal unit · Pearson Education Ltd
What you'll be able to do
- Identify the hazards in the workplace
- Act upon hazards in the workplace
- Reduce the risks to health and safety in the workplace
Eye, ear, nose and dermatological medicinesReal unit · Pearson Education Ltd
What you'll be able to do
- Know how medicines are used to treat disorders of the eye
- Know how medicines are used to treat disorders of the ear
- Know how medicines are used to treat disorders of the nose
- Know how medicines are used to treat disorders affecting the mouth and throat
- Know how medicines are used in the treatment of dermatological disorders
Gastrointestinal and nutritional medicinesReal unit · Pearson Education Ltd
What you'll be able to do
- Understand how medicines are used to treat disorders of the gastrointestinal tract
- Understand how medicines are used to treat nutritional disorders
- Understand how medicines are used in the treatment of blood disorders
Human Physiology for PharmacyReal unit · Pearson Education Ltd
What you'll be able to do
- Know different types of human cells and tissue
- Understand the structure and function of the musculoskeletal system and the digestive system
- Understand the cardiovascular, respiratory and lymphatic systems in the human body
- Know how the human body’s nervous system and sensory organs function
- Know how the endocrine system and the genitourinary system function
Infections, immunological products and vaccinesReal unit · Pearson Education Ltd
What you'll be able to do
- Understand how medicines are used to treat infections
- Understand the uses of commonly available immunological products
Maintain pharmaceutical stockReal unit · Pearson Education Ltd
What you'll be able to do
- Maintain a safe storage environment
- Carry out stock checks
- Deal with stock related problems
- Comply with current legislation, policy, good practice, organisational and professional codes of practice and ethical standards
- Operate within the limitations of the job role
Making medicines for PharmacyReal unit · Pearson Education Ltd
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the legislation and guidelines controlling pharmaceutical manufacture
- Know about the environment and equipment for pharmaceutical manufacture
- Understand how medicines are manufactured
- Understand the principles of Quality Assurance and Quality control
- Understand the Aseptic preparation of pharmaceutical products
Malignant Disease, Immunosuppressive and Musculoskeletal MedicinesReal unit · Pearson Education Ltd
What you'll be able to do
- Know the behavioural difference between normal cells and malignant cells
- Understand the treatments used for malignant diseases
- Understand how medicines are used to treat musculoskeletal disorders
Microbiology for PharmacyReal unit · Pearson Education Ltd
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the structure and function of micro-organisms, including their classification
- Understand the growth of micro-organisms, including the biological, chemical and physical requirements for growth
- Understand microbial control of the environment
- Understand the transmission of infectious disease
Order Routine Pharmaceutical StockReal unit · Pearson Education Ltd
What you'll be able to do
- Accurately order stock
- Process orders
- Complete the ordering process
- Comply with current legislation, policy, good practice, organisational and professional codes of practice and ethical standards
- Operate within the limitations of the job role
PharmaceuticsReal unit · Pearson Education Ltd
What you'll be able to do
- Understand how to perform accurate calculations for pharmaceutical formulae
- Understand how to accurately weigh and measure ingredients for pharmaceutical products
- Understand factors that effect the formulation of pharmaceutical products
- Prepare pharmaceutical products
Pharmacy Law, Ethics and PracticeReal unit · Pearson Education Ltd
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the laws regulating the sale and supply of medicines and non-medicinal poisons
- Understand the laws governing the supply of controlled drugs
- Know other laws that relate to the legal and safe delivery of pharmacy services
- Know the organisations and staff groups relating to the delivery of pharmacy services
- Understand the factors affecting standards in pharmacy services
Prepare aseptic productsReal unit · Pearson Education Ltd
What you'll be able to do
- Monitor the working environment
- Prepare and maintain suitable working environments
- Prepare a range of aseptic products
- Comply with current legislation, policy, good practice, organisational and professional codes of practice and ethical standards
- Operate within the limitations of the job role
Prepare documentation, materials, components and other items for the preparation of aseptic productsReal unit · Pearson Education Ltd
What you'll be able to do
- Prepare, monitor and maintain suitable working environments
- Complete documentation accurately
- Prepare starting materials for the preparation of aseptic products
- Comply with current legislation, policy, good practice, organisational and professional codes of practice and ethical standards
- Operate within the limitations of the job role
Professional Development in PharmacyReal unit · Pearson Education Ltd
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the importance of effective communications with the customers of the pharmacy
- Perform as part of an effective pharmacy team
- Understand the importance of supporting own learning and that of others
- Understand the importance of continuing professional development
Receive Pharmaceutical StockReal unit · Pearson Education Ltd
What you'll be able to do
- Receive stock
- Correctly store stock
- Complete the receipt of stock
- Know about the current legislation and good practice for receipt of stock
- Comply with current legislation, policy, good practice, organisational and professional codes of practice and ethical standards
- Operate within the limitations of the job role
Receive prescriptions from individualsReal unit · Pearson Education Ltd
What you'll be able to do
- Ensure that the prescription declaration is complete
- Complete financial transaction procedures
- Provide the individual with relevant information
- Comply with current legislation, policy, good practice, organisational and professional codes of practice and ethical standards
- Operate within the limitations of the job role
Undertake an in-process accuracy check of assembled prescribed items prior to the final accuracy checkReal unit · Pearson Education Ltd
What you'll be able to do
- Confirm the prescription is suitable for dispensing
- Check dispensed items
- Resolve dispensing errors and near misses
- Confirm an in-process accuracy check
- Comply with current legislation, policy, good practice, organisational and professional codes of practice and ethical standards
- Operate within the limitations of the job role
The honest bit
You’ve started things before
Most courses were built for a room full of people who aren’t you. A cohort moves on whether or not your week allowed it, and by the third week the thing you’re behind on becomes the reason you stop opening it.
There’s no cohort here, and no timetable to fall behind. Before anything starts, Zavmo asks when you’re sharpest and how long you can realistically sit down for, then builds the sessions around those answers. A bad fortnight changes your pace. It doesn’t put you behind.
And you only pay once you start learning. Searching and planning are free, and you can cancel any time — so the cost of finding out is an afternoon, not a year.
Your passport
Every credit is a stamp you keep
Level 3 credits are regulated. They don’t vanish when a subscription ends or a website closes. They travel to any employer, and Zavmo keeps the map of what you’ve earned and what’s next.
Each stamp is a real unit registered against this qualification.
Who’d teach you this
The Evidence Evaluator
Assessor
Helps you show what you can actually do, gathering the evidence that proves it as you learn.
Meet all twelve tutorsWhere this connects
Where these credits take you
A qualification is never a dead end here. See the jobs its credits open, the national occupational standards its units map to, and the future skills they quietly build.
- 03_Monitor and follow aseptic procedures in a biomanufacturing environment
- Determine methods for Pharmaceutical Manufacture
- Develop Clinical Protocols for the Delivery of Anti-Cancer Therapy
- Dispense Aliquots of Radioactive and Non-Radioactive Medicinal Products for Immediate Use
- Dispense Patient-Specific Anti-Cancer Therapy Doses
- Dispense herbal medicines and products
- Dispense homeopathic remedies for an individual
- Ensure the Manufacturing Processes meet Licensing Requirements
Where this can lead
Associate Pharmaceutical Sales Representative
Your journey starts here, but where it goes is really up to you. We're committed to giving you the tools, training, and opportunities to build a truly impactful and rewarding career, whether that's becoming a top-tier individual contributor or leading a team. Show us your drive, and we'll help you get there.
See the whole journey →Showing 6 roles, drawn from 26 job records mapped to this qualification.
Skills it covers
What the job actually needs. These are the standards the units are built against, in the words employers and awarding bodies already use for the work itself.
How you’ll actually learn this
One-to-one, on your own real work
A qualification is usually something done to you: sit the class, sit the exam, hope it sticks. Here it’s the opposite. You learn it one-to-one with a companion, on your own real work, and you keep going until you can use it, not just recall it.
Applied to your work in any of these jobs
- Remember
- Understand
- Apply
- Analyse
- Evaluate
- Create
Built for Pearson BTEC Level 3 Diploma in Pharmaceutical Science (QCF)
35 units in this credential, in the order it lists them, awarded by Pearson Education Ltd.
- Action and Uses of Medicines
- Assemble prescribed items
- Assist in the Issuing of Pharmaceutical Stock
- Assist in the issuing of prescribed items
- Assist in the manufacture and assembly of medicinal products
- Assist in the preparation of documentation, materials and other items for manufacture and assembly of medicinal products
and 29 more in the full unit list below.
One to one, not one to many
No two people run this the same way
A course is written once and handed to everyone. This is assembled around you, and keeps changing as it learns you. Five things it reads, and what each one changes.
- Your actual work Every unit is taught against a live piece of your own work, not a worked example from a textbook.
- What you already know The first conversation finds your starting point, so you skip what you can already do and spend the time on what you cannot.
- The conditions you learn under Not a learning-styles quiz. The evidence does not support those. The dimensions the research does back, read once and used to shape the plan.
- How far you got last time It picks up mid-thought. The tutor knows what you said, what you struggled with, and what it asked you to try.
- Which tutor suits the moment Twelve of them, each for a different kind of thinking. The one who walks you through a first idea is not the one who stress-tests it.
See how you learn, free. Eight questions, no sign-up. A directional taster; the diagnostic inside Zavmo goes deeper and keeps adapting.
Why it sticks
Most courses stop at remembering
There’s a well-known ladder of how deeply you learn something, called Bloom’s Taxonomy. Most courses get you up the first two rungs: you remember some facts, you pass a test, you forget it. Real skill lives at the top. Judging, deciding, creating. And this isn’t a generic ladder: every rung has a named Zavmo tutor who walks you up it.
- 6CreateThe Creative Catalyst
- 5EvaluateThe Evidence Evaluator
- 4AnalyseThe Analyst
- 3ApplyThe Coach
- 2UnderstandThe Connector
- 1RememberThe Builder
Where most courses leave you Where Zavmo takes you
The value
Why the companion is worth £70 a month
You’re not paying for the units. They’re regulated, and the same wherever you earn them. You’re paying for the one thing that decides whether you actually get there: a companion that makes them stick, on your real work.
That is one-to-one on this qualification, every day, on the work you already do, for £70 a month. Your first module is free, so you can see the teaching before you pay for any of it. Billed monthly, cancel any time and billing stops.
Earned on your own work, taught to the top.
Everything you just read, learned one-to-one on the job you already do. Your first module is free, so you can see the teaching before you pay for any of it.
Build my plan, freeNo card. See how this qualification maps onto your role and meet the tutors who’d teach it, free. The learning begins when you subscribe. It’s £70 a month, billed monthly. Cancel any time and billing stops.