As pharmacy changes and develops so have the attitudes and aspirations of those training to become pharmacists.The president of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society's official student body explains how it is evolving to cope with the changes and to maintain its status as a representative and provider organisation for tomorrow's practitioners
For over 50 years, the British Pharmaceutical Students' Association (BPSA) has been representing the welfare and interests of pharmacy undergraduates and preregistration trainees approaching qualification. The BPSA was founded by members of the students' union of the College of the Pharmaceutical Society in London. Over the years, the association grew in size and reputation and, in 1967, was formally recognised by the Council of the Pharmaceutical Society as the representative body for those training to become pharmacists.
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Jonathan Burton |
During the past two decades, the BPSA has organised an essentially unchanged annual programme of events which has included a series of regional conferences based around subjects ranging from careers in pharmacy to areas of clinical and professional interest. The annual conference, held each April, provides a focus for the activities of the association and gives student delegates their chance to influence its policy and workings.
Sporting events have also contributed a large amount to the portfolio of events offered by the association: many practising pharmacists will doubtless have fond memories of the infamous sports weekend, which even now takes pride of place as the biggest event of the year.
The range of professionally based activities on offer to students has been expanded with the introduction of a questionnaire and interview based Pharmacy Student of the Year Competition and a national patient counselling event, both of which are designed to encourage participation by undergraduates at all stages in their training.
Politically, the BPSA executive has always provided its opinions to the Society on issues directly affecting students and preregistration trainees. Examination and initial registration fee levels have been focused upon in recent years. However, what sets the BPSA aside from many of its equivalent bodies in the other professions is the contribution it allows trainee pharmacists to make to current debate within the profession and health care.
As well as providing a forum for debate among students at local and national conferences, the BPSA has contributed to the Pharmacy in a New Age consultation process and to the recent discussions surrounding the design of new preregistration competencies.
Last year, the association submitted a reply to the letter from the Secretary of State for Health (Mr Frank Dobson) calling for evidence and opinions regarding community pharmacy services.
Perhaps the most notable contribution made by the BPSA to a professional debate was its submission to the Crown review team on the prescribing, supply and administration of medicines. This focused on the elements of pharmacy undergraduate training which would make the profession an ideal early candidate for dependent and independent prescriber status. Pharmacy was the only health profession which had a case for prescribing submitted by its future practitioners - undoubtedly those who would be affected most by any of the proposed changes.
Over the past 50 years the BPSA has had to adjust not only to vast changes in the practice and teaching of pharmacy, but also to the many changes in student life which have affected the opinions and aspirations of its membership.
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The BPSA recently underwent its first rebranding exercise for 50 years. A new logo has been produced and T-shirts and rugby shirts are available in the new colours of blue and turquoise |
The problem was not perceived to be the content of the educational opportunities that the BPSA was offering its members, but with the way they were presented and the hit and miss nature of students' participation. The regional conferences based on clinical, professional or careers topics have been particularly successful in the past few years. However, it appeared that many undergraduates were failing to grasp the purpose of such events and how they fitted in with the general concepts of continuing education and professional development.
Earlier this year the foundations were laid for a joint continuing professional development (CPD) initiative between the BPSA and the College of Pharmacy Practice.
The professional development certificate (PDC) scheme (PJ, August 7, p188), as it was eventually named, involves students in building a simple portfolio of evidence collected from participation in college accredited educational conferences and events organised by the BPSA, as well as local Society branch meetings and completion of Credit for Learning exercises in The Journal. The main aim of the PDC scheme is to gradually introduce undergraduates to an atmosphere of learning from a variety of different sources outside the standard pharmacy curriculum and to planning and choosing those sources and activities independently.
The scheme will be launched throughout the country during this year.
Maintaining good working relationships with professional organisations such as the college is seen by the BPSA to be an essential component in continuing to offer worthwhile opportunities to undergraduates and preregistration trainees. As well as sustaining a healthy relationship with the Society, stronger links with the National Pharmaceutical Association are being developed. Such contacts provide invaluable advice and support on everything from postage to policy!
A more responsible and manageable approach to sponsorship is also being developed by the executive to help build the professional reputation of the association and keep vital support for the services and events that BPSA organises.
Being involved with the BPSA should be about discovering pharmacy and building a network of colleagues and friends for life. Above all, the association aims not only to represent students and trainees but to give them a closer insight into the profession in a way which is both informative and fun. The youth of the profession have forward thinking ideas and enthusiasm in abundance and the BPSA is about fostering those ambitions and giving students the confidence to take forward their ideas, often in the face of adversity.
The BPSA has provided many opportunities for future pharmacists over the years and continues to do so. With the fast pace of change in health care and in the attitudes of young entrants to the profession it must continue to adapt to survive - something it will continue to do for many years to come.
Jonathan Burton, MRPharmS, graduated from the Welsh School of Pharmacy in 1998. He is a community pharmacist and has been president of the BPSA since July 1998