General Information

CSU Training offers two pharmacy qualifications from the Health 07 Training Package

HLT400507 Certificate IV in Hospital/ Health Services Pharmacy Support covers workers who provide a range of technical functions under the supervision of a pharmacist in a hospital or community setting .These workers may also have the role of coordinating the work of pharmacy assistants or aids. Occupational titles for these workers may include:

Pharmacy technician
Senior pharmacy technician.

This qualification is not applicable to retail pharmacy workers.

HLT31407 Certificate III in Hospital/Health Services Pharmacy Support covers workers who provide a range of varied assistance to Pharmacists in hospital and community health settings. Occupational titles of these workers may include:

Pharmacy assistant
Pharmacy technician
Hospital pharmacy technician
Dispensing technician
Distribution technician
Hospital pharmacy assistant

This qualification is not applicable to retail pharmacy workers.

About the qualifications

Both the Certificate IV and Certificate III qualifications require 15 units of competency for the award of the qualification, including:

11 compulsory units and
4 elective units

There are 7 pre-requisite units for entry to Certificate IV.

Note Trainees who work, or intend to work, in hospital pharmacies in Victoria, will also be required to satisfactorily complete a forensic module approved by the Pharmacy Board of Victoria. The trainee’s hospital will assist with access to an appropriate forensic module.

Qualification levels

General characteristics and distinguishing features of Certificate IV qualifications

General characteristics and distinguishing features of Certificate III qualifications

Delivery of the qualifications

Both the Certificate IV and Certificate III qualifications are studied on-the- job via distance education.

Trainees are required to:

Be working in a Hospital or Community Pharmacy (not retail)
Be in a position to complete the study within 24 months
Have the support of their workplace supervisor, who is:

in a position to ensure the trainee has adequate time and appropriate resources to learn on the job
authorised by the hospital/ pharmacy to sign a third party report to verify competence on the job in line with nominated criteria for each unit of study
in a position to arrange specialist coaching in specific work skills and/or access to specialist personnel as necessary and required

Nominate a workplace mentor, approved by the hospital/pharmacy, who will guide and support the trainee in learning the required competencies. Mentors are required to have completed a CSU Training Workplace Mentor Module. Ideally the mentor should not be the supervisor.The mentor could be:

A pharmacy technician or senior pharmacy technician who has HLT40507 Certificate IV in Hospital/ Health Services Pharmacy Support or HLT40502 Certificate IV in health Service Assistance (Hospital/Community Health Pharmacy technician) or
A pharmacist who is in a position to meet regularly with the trainee to discuss learning and provide coaching in the required work skills

The trainee’s role and responsibilities

Mechanisms to support students include:

Credit Transfer

Recognition will be given to units which are listed on Certificates or Statements of Attainment issued by an RTO. Credit Transfer applies only to units with the exact code and name as that listed for the qualification. Credit transfer will also be awarded for equivalent units from the HLT02 qualification, where only the version number has changed. All other recognition will be by the RPL process

Recognition of Prior Learning/Recognition of Current Competence (hereafter called RPL)

RPL is the process of providing evidence of your prior learning and current experience, knowledge and skills against the performance criteria for a particular unit of competence. The RPL process involves: