The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 279 No 7475 p472-473
27 October 2007

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Developing an interest in pharmacy practice research — where to now?

In this article, Linda Sheldrake, research strategy co-ordinator, and Beth Allen, research programme co-ordinator, at the Pharmacy Practice Research Trust, explain how the trust’s awards and bursaries offer one route to overcoming barriers in accessing academia and practice research

SUMMARY

Decisions on career pathways made at the point of qualification, as many of us know, are not always set in stone. Interests and priorities can change over time. For many health care professionals, including pharmacists, the opportunity to take time out due to work or personal commitments rarely comes along.

Furthermore a desire to pursue alternative career pathways or personal career goals demands drive and commitment and is often difficult to maintain and, indeed, to fund.

Career pathways often assume a career intention at the onset of education or completion of undergraduate education. They are more commonly associated with the decisions that students make either before, during or immediately after qualification on which sector of pharmacy to choose.

This is particularly true of academia where decisions to undertake a PhD are often made before graduation or on completion of preregistration training.

However, experience in the field can sometimes lead to a specific interest or desire to pursue a change in career.

With this in mind, there is an increasing call for career pathways, not just in pharmacy but in the world of health care and, indeed, work generally, to be flexible enough to enable practitioners to move across or between sectors of choice and progress in disciplines entered later in life.

This is facilitated by providing opportunities (gates) or entry points to training programmes and additional qualifications that are not time-bound or constrained by inflexible funding models. This has been recognised in medicine with the recommendation to “uncouple” specialist training from early career intention to allow change of career later in life.

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