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Training and development (pharmaceutical medicine)

The approved postgraduate training programme for pharmaceutical medicine is available from the GMC.

You will need to complete core training (or equivalent such as core surgical training) after your two-year foundation programme. Core training has a choice of two pathways:

• core medical training – CMT, which is a two-year programme
• acute care common stem – ACCS (acute medicine), which is a three-year programme

Pharmaceutical medicine specialty training (PMST) ST3 training takes a minimum of four years (ST3-6).

To enter PMST, trainees must hold Associate (Trainee) membership of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine of the Royal Colleges of Physicians.

All trainees must also sit and pass the Diploma of Pharmaceutical Medicine exam.

Detailed entry requirements and all essential and desirable criteria are listed in the person specification 2017 for pharmaceutical medicine ST3.

All 2017 person specifications can be found on the NHS specialty training website. Please note that these documents are updated every year in the autumn before the recruitment round opens.

There are opportunities for flexible training.

This information is correct at the time of writing. Full and accurate details of training pathways are available from medical royal colleges or the GMC.

Getting in tips

It is important to develop your practical skills and interest in pharmaceutical medicine as early as you can. This will also give you valuable experience to add to your CV.

Whether you're a medical student, foundation trainee or doing your core specialty training, there's information below to help you. 

• Medical students

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  • join your university medical society
  • attend conferences for medical students – many are free – this will give you an opportunity to network and meet your future colleagues
  • get involved with the GMC (General Medical Council), eg medical students can participate in visits to medical schools as part of the GMC’s quality assurance process
  • consider joining the specialist society for your chosen specialty as a student member, eg The Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine
  • consider becoming a student member of the BMA (The British Medical Association is the trade union and professional association for doctors and provides careers advice)
  • make your specialty decisions in good time so that you can test it out before committing yourself, eg by using hospital visits and clinical placements arranged as part of your course to ask questions and observe people at work
  • choose the topic of your supervised research project carefully to test out your career thinking

• Foundation trainees

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  • remember your first priority is to demonstrate that you have developed the personal, learning, clinical, practical and management skills needed by all doctors
  • talk to your clinical and educational supervisors about particular areas of interest to explore
  • use full placements to experience specialties that you might be interested in or apply for taster experiences if you can’t get a placement
  • talk with your peers about their career ideas and experiences – you may be able to help each other
  • listen to information and advice from more experienced doctors but make your own decisions
  • taking part in a clinical audit is important for your development as a doctor but you may be able to choose an audit project related to a specialty that interests you
  • ensure your Foundation e-portfolio has plenty of medical evidence and that this is kept properly up-to-date
  • try to gain teaching and management experience
  • look at competition ratios (ie the number of applicants to places) critically. Find out what is happening this year and spot any regional differences in competition ratios
  • view the careers resources on the foundation programme website
  • write case reports or make presentations with a focus on pharmaceutical medicine
  • enter essay prizes and competitions

• Core and specialty trainees

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  • ensure a good grounding in acute general medicine
  • join the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine and get help with navigating your way through specialty training
  • speak to pharmaceutical physicians about what the role is like
  • read as much information as you can on the websites of relevant professional bodies
  • question your own perceptions and possible negative stereotypes of the specialty
  • impress interviewers by showing that your interest in the specialty is intrinsically motivated, ie you are drawn to the work and not just attracted by admiration of someone you have shadowed (You will also be happier in your career in that specialty many years later!)
  • be prepared to move to where the vacancies are
  • undertake a research project
  • try to get some of your work published and present at national and international meetings
  • join or start a Journal Club (a group who meet to critically evaluate academic research)
  • teach junior colleagues
  • take on any management opportunities you are offered