The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 268 No 7198 p683-685
18 May 2002

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Letters to the Editor

Education

Support students in need of work experience

From Mr B. Shooter, MRPharmS

In order for students to maximise the benefit of the pharmacy practice modules of the undergraduate course at the School of Pharmacy, London University, each of the 600 or so undergraduates needs to be exposed to the different facets of the profession by undertaking work experience.

As far as community pharmacy is concerned the multiples participate fully, offering students paid work experience at weekends and during the vacations. This arrangement is mutually beneficial, fulfilling the students' educational needs and furthering the employers' human resource management strategy.

However, students have some difficulty obtaining experience in independent community pharmacies, mainly, I suspect, because they find it uncomfortable "cold calling" pharmacies asking for work.

I have been approached while on duty at the school and I am able take on some students, but with only four pharmacies I cannot in any way satisfy the demand.

I would be happy to draw up and circulate a list of pharmacists willing to be involved. The advantages for small groups of pharmacies and individual pharmacists are the same as for the multiples. They include the possibility of eventual new pharmacist recruits, a foretaste of what it might be like to be a preregistration tutor, employing an intelligent young person and, of course, the vain attempt to turn the clock back to relive our own student days!

May I invite any pharmacists who have premises in a Greater London borough and who are prepared to offer paid work experience to a pharmacy student to get in touch with me, preferably by e-mail, with all their contact details.

The students also prefer to use e-mail as their initial means of communication. The multiples pay around £5 per hour.

Barry Shooter
38 Links Avenue
Romford,
Essex RM2 6ND

(tel 01708 760286,
fax 01708 727002,
e-mail barryshoot@aol.com)

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