The Pharmaceutical Journal Vol 267 No 7174 710-713
17 November 2001

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Letters to the Editor

Pharmacy recruitment

Appealing websites not the answer

From Mr C. Cheung

Although I agree with the need for better and more available information, as expressed by Duncan Cripps (PJ, 10 November, p679), and Dr Tony D'Emanuele and Dr Rachel Elliott (PJ, 3 November, p647), I believe the problem of pharmacy recruitment goes beyond that of an appealing website.

The profession should be more active in attracting students, and adopt policies to widen pharmacy participation. To begin with, there needs to be greater access to the pharmacy course, and in this respect academic institutions should develop initiatives to increase applications from backgrounds that traditionally have little or no history of obtaining pharmacy school places.

Furthermore, gaining pharmacy-related experience can be difficult for some pupils. Hence, community and industrial pharmacy companies may wish to inform schools about work placements for those pupils showing an interest.

In order to raise the aspirations of academically able students, and encourage them to apply to pharmacy, the Society should be developing links with schools, not only to inform about the roles of the pharmacist but also to promote a greater level of interest towards studying sciences.

Finally, it should be recognised that finance can be a deciding factor, especially since the duration of pharmacy studies has increased. Bursaries and other funds need to be established to assist disadvantaged students through the pharmacy programme.

These ideas are not new; in fact, other vocational courses have been employing such schemes for many years. At present, pharmacy school quotas can easily be filled even if this means offering places to those for whom pharmacy is not their first-choice. Attracting deserving students of the calibre needed to develop and improve the image of the profession will require a more dedicated and integrated effort from all sectors of pharmacy.

Chi Cheung
Final-year Student, School of Pharmacy, University of London

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