Intern Training Programme and Supervised Practice (PSNZ ITP)
What this domain tests
This domain checks that you can describe how the New Zealand intern year is structured, what "supervised practice" actually requires, and how your competence is evidenced to the Pharmacy Council. OSCE stations here are usually scenario-based: a proposed placement change, a supervision gap, or a question about what still stands between you and registration.
Core rules
- The internship is a minimum of 52 weeks full-time equivalent of supervised practice in a practice setting approved by the Pharmacy Council.
- You must hold an approved internship position and be supervised by a Council-approved supervising pharmacist holding a current APC. Not every registered pharmacist can supervise.
- Enrolment in the Pharmaceutical Society's Intern Training Programme (ITP) is compulsory and runs alongside the year: structured learning modules, workshops, workplace-based assessments and a learning portfolio.
- Supervision is active, not nominal: the supervisor must be on site and available, you must not be the sole pharmacist on duty, and supervision meetings and feedback must be documented.
- Part-time internships are pro-rated, so the calendar time stretches; the FTE total does not shrink.
- Registration requires all of: ITP completion, supervisor sign-off, and passing the Pharmacy Council's assessment (written plus OSCE).
Worked example
An intern six months into a community internship is offered a hospital rotation. Reasoning: a change of setting and supervisor needs prior approval from the Council, and the hospital pharmacist must be an approved supervisor. The 52-week FTE clock continues only if the new weeks are approved supervised practice, and ITP enrolment continues. The intern should raise it early, not after starting.
Traps
- Assuming any APC-holding pharmacist can sign you off.
- Thinking part-time work shortens the internship.
- Treating ITP completion as equivalent to registration.
- Letting supervision meetings go undocumented - unverifiable weeks can be disallowed.