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Letters to the Editor
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Registration examination
Knew about the hurdles
From Mr F. A. Yusuf, MRPharmS
I am fed up with the number of published letters in The Journal from
preregistration trainees who are either disgruntled or failed registration
examination entrants, criticising the registration examination and fully
qualified pharmacists who did not have the same process of qualification.
In particular, I refer to John Morrice (PJ, 8 October, p439
PDF (120K))
and Rachael Gardner (PJ, 24 September, p371 PDF (110K)). Although
I have some compassion for their predicament and gripes, they knew at
the
outset
of their courses
of the hurdles to be negotiated in order to become a pharmacist and should
have paced themselves accordingly.
They appear to have little or no respect for the qualified or experienced
pharmacist. To compare a mortgage adviser to a pharmacist indicates the
low esteem that Mr Morrice appears to classify pharmacists — the
latter takes six or seven years to qualify (including preselected “A”-levels),
whereas a mortgage adviser takes only a fraction of intellectual capability
and training.
I remember in the early to middle 1980s we, as students, had to endure
the spectre and the reality of three million unemployed in the UK (compared
with less than half of that now). We also had a demographic blip where
there were too many “A”-level students competing for limited
degree places (as a result of the 1960s birth boom). As a consequence,
we had to be in the top 10 per cent of “A”-level achievers.
We were also told on the undergraduate course that once we had completed
our difficult degree course and our preregistration year successfully,
then (and I quote), “we had a job for life”. No mention was
made of any mandatory continuing professional development or revalidation
(although CPD was endorsed as good practice in voluntary form).
So, unlike these preregistration “whipper snappers” who knew
before their degree started about the hurdles that they had to jump in
order to qualify as a pharmacist, the latter’s hurdles appear to
be increasing without us being told five or six years in advance.
It could be argued that if in one’s early 20s (generally speaking),
when one should be at one’s physical and mental peak, one cannot
pass an examination after three attempts, then one does not have the
ability to serve the public.
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society is currently of this opinion.
Faiz Yusuf
London
|
The
Pharmaceutical Journal