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Letters to the Editor
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Registration exam
Why only three attempts?
From Mr A. Bentley, MRPharmS
I have become aware that preregistration trainees are only allowed three
attempts at the registration examination. Consequently, I have become
concerned, not so much as a pharmacist but as a motorist, since presumably
there are thousands of people driving around the country who have taken
more than three attempts to pass the driving test. I suppose at least
it is an objective measurement of an individual’s ability to drive
to an acceptable standard on a particular day, and since anyone can have
an off day people are free to take as many tests as necessary until they
pass.
The registration examination, which, unsurprisingly, was introduced by
pharmacists who did not have to take the examination, is, I believe,
to ensure that pharmacists now and in the future will be of an appropriate
standard to practise in the profession. The degree course has increased
to four years, presumably because the knowledge base to practise effectively
has increased. Why do preregistration trainees therefore have to go through
this paper exercise, and why only three attempts?
Does the Society not trust the preregistration tutors who spend up to
a year training their students and must declare that they are sufficiently
competent to be registered as pharmacists?
Having run this examination for the past 10 years, does the Society now
have the evidence to prove that pharmacists who have taken this examination
are better equipped to practise as pharmacists than their predecessors?
A. Bentley
Margate, Kent
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ROBERT DEWDNEY, head of education, Royal Pharmaceutical Society,
replies:
Any comparison of new registrants today with those 10 years
ago would
be flawed — so much has changed. It is certainly the case that many
preregistration trainees who have struggled at the registration examination
have also struggled in practice. They are not registered until they can
master both — competence in practice and the requisite underpinning
knowledge. The principles underlying the examination have been tested
in the High Court and the Court of Appeal and found sound. |
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Pharmaceutical Journal