Tomorrow's Pharmacist October 1999 p74-76
Edited by Pamela Mason

Holiday work

Student holiday work

By Cath McClelland, BSc, MRPharmS, and Roy Daisley, PhD, FRPharmS

As a pharmacy undergraduate you will have a number of opportunities to work during your vacations, particularly in the summer. This article outlines the opportunities.

Blackpool Tower The four year MPharm degree offers three summer vacation periods which may be used for employment (assuming successful progression through the course).The first two periods will be before you consider your preregistration training. During the third year of the course companies and organisations which are prepared to offer preregistration training will visit schools of pharmacy and encourage applications to be made to them. It is usual for this process to be completed before the end of the summer term and application forms to be submitted by, or soon after the end of term. Consequently, before you start vacation work during the third summer, you should have made decisions regarding the branch of the profession in which you want to undertake your preregistration training. This should encourage a more focused application procedure and should save time for both you and the company or organisation.
There appear to be two schools of thought regarding the breadth of experience gained during vacational employment. One is that repeated vacation work at the same or a similar establishment shows loyalty to that company, organisation or branch of the profession. The other is that a wide range of experience in more than one branch of the profession indicates that you have made an informed choice. Similarly, vacation employment in other fields may demonstrate a wider experience.

Points to consider

holiday work Points to consider when selecting a potential employer within pharmacy should include, for community and hospital pharmacies, the types of services the pharmacy provides and the potential for involvement in these services. If possible visit the pharmacy before making an application. This may not be possible because of the geographical location of the pharmacy relative to the school of pharmacy. At the very least, arrange a visit before accepting an offer of employment. This visit is not only to see the premises but to meet the employer and/or line manager and potentially meet prospective colleagues. Alternatively, a telephone call, or letter may be appropriate.

Salaries

Vacation employment should be enjoyable and rewarding both professionally and financially. Clearly, financial reward should be considered as student grants, subsidies and scholarships cannot be relied upon to support you entirely throughout both term and non-term time. Current salaries are around £8,000 per annum, paid pro rata. This is equivalent to around £155 per week or around £4 per hour.
Many students do not need to pay income tax, but you must pay national insurance contributions. Providing an employer with a national insurance number, or P45 form from a previous employer may ensure that you do not pay any unnecessary income tax; in any case, this will subsequently be repaid.
Pharmacy undergraduates should ensure, before starting employment, that they have a written agreement or contract with the employer which states, at least, the number of hours that they will be expected to work each week, when they will be expected to work, and the salary that they will be paid.
The local Citizens' Advice Bureau may be a good first point of contact regarding advice on contracts; telephone numbers are listed in the Yellow Pages directory. You may then be directed to another agency should the bureau feel that this is appropriate. Note that advice on the contract cannot be obtained from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society.
There may be occasions when as a student you choose to work on a voluntary basis. This may be when the establishment is unable to offer paid vacation work, and you feel that the experience that may be gained is invaluable in consolidating knowledge gained and skills learned within the pharmacy undergraduate course, or that the experience which may be offered cannot be gained in any other way. However, since you are not an employee in these circumstances, you do need to ensure that, while working on the premises, you are covered by the organisation's insurance.
Some employers, primarily community pharmacy multiples and hospital pharmacies, offer a structured vacational programme. This may require you to be in the organisation's employment for a fixed or flexible time period. Even those organisations which may appear to be less able or willing to offer flexibility in employment may be approached with alternative arrangements for specific reasons. These could include working hours which fit round child care arrangements or occasionally a split experience to fit round children's holidays.
With the wide acceptance of mature students and individuals with differing religions or ethnic origins, many employers recognise that some degree of flexibility in working may be required. It is, of course, wise to inform your employer of such circumstances as early as possible, preferably during the application and placement procedure.

Exploring the possibilities

In all universities there are one or more individuals who spend part of their time as teachers in the university and part of their time working as a pharmacist, usually in a community or hospital setting. These individuals are available to provide advice for undergraduates on vacation work experience within their organisations.
This may be done on an informal or formal basis. You may need to take a pro-active approach to obtaining information. Not all organisations are represented by personnel within the university. Alternative sources of information on vacation work may be the notice board or you can contact organisations directly. Always identify the individual responsible for recruitment within the organisation by job title and, ideally, by name. This is particularly important for larger organisations.

Information

Good sources of addresses include the Chemist and Druggist Directory, the Register of Pharmaceutical Chemists and the British National Formulary. The first two are published annually and the BNF biannually. The current copies are usually located in the library. The learning resources officer for the pharmacy course may be able to help if you are unable to locate these reference sources using the library catalogue.
An additional source of information is the web site of organisations. These sites may have information about companies, their services and products. Some companies have direct links to the school of pharmacy web site. This information source also provides additional information about potential employers. It is always wise to find out as much about a potential employer before application, and certainly before an interview.

Benefits

Potential activities and benefits of vacation work within the community and hospital pharmacy setting are:

Increased knowledge of prescribed medicines, including active ingredients, mode of action, drug interactions, contraindications and side effects
Development of dispensing skills
Increased knowledge of the law relating to medicines and patients
Consideration of ethical dilemmas
Working with specific patient groups (eg, patients with diabetes, hypertension and coeliac disease)
Increased knowledge and skills in dealing with Controlled Drugs
Working as a member of a team
Communication with other health care professionals

Vacation work within the community setting may offer additional opportunities to :

Visit residential homes
See and work within protocols on responding to symptoms
Contribute towards a health promotion campaign

Vacation work within the hospital setting may offer additional opportunities to :

Experience ward rounds
Prepare total parenteral nutrition (TPN) solutions
Manufacture sterile products

The number of employment opportunities available within the pharmaceutical industry is relatively low when compared with either community or hospital pharmacy. However, opportunities do exist within drug design, development, formulation, clinical trials and marketing. Some companies approach schools of pharmacy with employment opportunities, the details of which may be displayed on undergraduate notice boards. Many industrial based placements are initiated as a result of pharmacy undergraduates making a pro-active approach to a company.
What will the company or organisation provide? This will vary, depending not only on the organisation involved but also very much on the individuals concerned, particularly the line manager and their team. This may also depend on the needs of the pharmacy undergraduate.

Training

Some employers will literally offer "hands on" training, and even as an undergraduate, you will become integrated within the pharmacy team, This will continue throughout the time spent in the pharmacy setting, and learning will take place as a range of differing opportunities present themselves as part of day-to-day practice. In addition, some organisations may offer structured learning packages, often in the form of a booklet, which direct you towards specific tasks which may be work based or reference source study.
Some organisations may arrange for pharmacy vacation students to meet other health care professionals and some may offer off job study days, when several vacation students from a large organisation or a group of collaborating small organisations, will meet for additional training, and to exchange ideas and experiences.
Some larger organisations allocate the pharmacy undergraduate a tutor who may, or may not, be the student's line manager. Throughout the vacation experience there should be frequent, preferably regular, two way communication between yourself and your tutor.
The tutor plays a similar role with the pharmacy undergraduate to that of the preregistration tutor with the pharmacy graduate. The tutor may be involved in coaching, mentoring, providing feedback and identifying training needs.
What does the employer expect? Clearly if the organisation is paying a salary there is likely to be an expectation that you will make some contribution towards achieving the aims and completing the tasks of the pharmacy team. The work may prove to be both physically and mentally demanding.
The vacation work experience is an opportunity for you to decide if you are working in an environment in which you would like to undertake your preregistration training experience and, ultimately, to start your career as a pharmacist. It is also an opportunity for a potential employer to assess your suitability for preregistration training. Consequently, reports may be produced and filed for future reference.
What is important is that those individuals best suited for preregistration training are not always those undergraduates who perform well from the start of their vacation work experience but are often those who develop most during their vacation experience.

Work permits

As the main aim of the vacational employment is to gain experience which consolidates the knowledge and skills gained during the academic year, the employment has a major training component which complements the pharmacy undergraduate course. It is therefore not normally difficult for students to obtain work permits for this type of work providing all other paperwork, such as visas, if appropriate, are in order. You should obtain the appropriate forms from the local job centre (telephone numbers are in the Yellow Pages directory). Pharmacy undergraduates requiring work permits should inform their potential employer as the employer may be able to help in the procedure.

Miss McClelland is teacher-practitioner at Sunderland School of Pharmacy and Dr Daisley is head of pharmacy division, school of pharmacy and biomolecular sciences, University of Brighton

Tomorrow's Pharmacist October 1999 p74-76 Edited by Pamela Mason