NZ Pharmacy Intern OSCE study plan

Map the Pharmaceutical Society intern training programme (ITP) requirements against your own placement: list the competency sign-off points, the required supervision level at each stage, and who countersigns what.

Explain the difference between supervised, indirect, and autonomous practice as they apply to an intern, and identify which tasks in your current workplace fall into each category.

Draft a one-page personal learning plan that names three competency gaps you already know you have and how you will close them during the placement.

Set up a weekly evidence log template (date, activity, competency domain, supervisor initials) that you will actually maintain for the whole year.

Summarise the intern assessment and sign-off process end to end, including who conducts each assessment, when it occurs, and what happens if a competency is not met on the first attempt.

Describe the roles and responsibilities of the intern, the preceptor, and the workplace against the ITP requirements, and identify where responsibility shifts between them.

Identify the documentation an intern must keep and the retention/confidentiality expectations that apply to it.

List the common reasons interns fail to progress on schedule and the early-warning signs a preceptor would see.

Convert your evidence log into three written reflective entries, each linking a real workplace incident to a named competency and stating what you would do differently.

Identify the boundary between an intern's scope and a pharmacist's scope for dispensing, counselling, and clinical checking, and write out how you would escalate a task that sits outside your scope.

Explain what 'fitness to practise' means under the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act framework and how the three components (health, conduct, competence) differ in the way they are assessed.

Draft a script for telling a preceptor that you are not coping with workload or a personal health issue, using the language of fitness to practise rather than apology.

Describe the Pharmacy Council's competence assessment pathway: what triggers an assessment, who conducts it, what evidence is considered, and what the possible outcomes are.

Explain how a health matter is handled differently from a conduct matter, including who is notified, what confidentiality applies, and what interim conditions may be imposed.

Outline the practitioner's obligations around notification of a health condition or a change in circumstances, and the consequences of not notifying.

Distinguish competence concerns from conduct concerns using three realistic scenarios and justify each classification.

Summarise the professional and ethical standards expected of a pharmacist in New Zealand and translate five of them into concrete observable behaviours in a community or hospital pharmacy.

Describe how complaints are received and handled, including the difference between a complaint to the employer, to the Council, and to the Health and Disability Commissioner.

Explain the principles of open disclosure after a dispensing error and write the steps you would take in the first 24 hours.

Identify the record-keeping and privacy obligations that apply when a conduct or health matter arises, including what you may and may not disclose to colleagues.

Rehearse two OSCE-style stations aloud: one on supervised-practice/ITP process and one on a fitness-to-practise scenario, timing each to the station limit.

Practise structuring answers using a consistent frame (identify the issue, state the relevant standard, describe the action, state the escalation) until it is automatic under time pressure.

Write model answers for five high-yield questions spanning both domains and reduce each to a 30-second spoken version.

Get verbal feedback from a colleague or preceptor on your spoken answers and log the specific weaknesses they name.

Complete a full mock OSCE under exam conditions covering both domains, with no notes and strict timing.

Mark your own performance against the published station criteria and identify the two stations where you lost the most marks.

Re-teach the weakest two areas from memory, then check your explanation against source documentation and correct any errors.

Build a one-page 'if I freeze' recovery sheet covering the key frameworks for both domains.

Re-run the two weakest stations from week 7 and demonstrate measurable improvement against the same criteria.

Consolidate your evidence log and reflective entries into a final portfolio check against every ITP requirement, flagging any gap.

Rehearse the opening 20 seconds of each station type so you start confidently without rambling.

Write a short pre-exam routine covering logistics, timing, and what you will do in the first minute of each station.