Tomorrow's Pharmacist
2007:12-13
January 2007
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How to survive the preregistration year |
By Nesta Thomas |
One minute you find yourself crawling out of bed at lunchtime to watch afternoon television, the next you are getting up at 7.30am five mornings a week to go to work. The preregistration year is a sudden change in lifestyle from university life. To find out how to get the most out of this year, read on. What is the purpose of the year? Contrary to the beliefs of undergraduates, the preregistration year is much more than just examination preparation. It is a continuous learning cycle that needs to be constantly reflected upon in order to gain maximum benefit. Essentially, the purpose of the year is to transform you from a student with lots of theoretical knowledge into a confident health care professional with the ability to communicate effectively with a wide range of professionals and members of the public. At the beginning, the preregistration year is a daunting prospect. Do not be too hard on yourself at first when you feel like you do not know anything and cannot do anything. Everybody feels the same at the beginning. Your confidence will grow throughout the year. Get to know other preregistration trainees in the area so you do not feel alone. Entry onto the Royal Pharmaceutical Society's Register of Pharmaceutical Chemists is dependent upon a passing the registration examination and being declared competent by your tutor. You are eligible to sit the examination after a satisfactory 39-week progress report and having completed 45 weeks of training. At the start of the year you will have to sign a learning contract with your tutor to commit to responsibilities as a trainee. Likewise, your tutor will be committing to training you. The responsibility for the success of the preregistration year is shared by you and your tutor. The role of your tutor is to help you develop the skills, knowledge, attitudes and values necessary to become a good pharmacist. The tutor sets goals and gives feedback; this is done formally at each 13-week progress report. Work in partnership with your tutor — this year is an opportunity to observe pharmacy and to practise and develop your skills in preparation for the time that you will be a registered pharmacist yourself. Make the most of all the other learning opportunities available to you — technicians, health care assistants and other professionals all will have valuable knowledge and a unique insight into pharmacy. Providing evidence to meet the performance standards is an essential part of your learning cycle for the preregistration year. The year is designed to test competence and compliance with these performance standards to ensure that: • You can behave in a professional manner and comply with the
Code of Ethics You will need to gather written evidence to prove that you can comply with the performance standards. It is best to familiarise yourself with the standards early in the year so when you are performing tasks you can relate it to a particular standard. Gather and write down your evidence as you go along. If you leave it until just before your 13-week assessments you just will not remember half the things you have done! After about half way through the year you will need to start concentrating on the performance standards for which you have not got any evidence. Start then to arrange specific tasks to meet these particular performance standards. It is important that you make the most of every experience. The more you get involved, the more you will learn and the more evidence you can collect. First, do not panic. Passing the examination should be the expected outcome if you have worked conscientiously throughout the year. If you have embraced all opportunities available to you there should be no need to do any “cramming” for the examination. Arrange regular weekly protected study time with your tutor, and try to stick to this, although some flexibility will be needed. Ask your tutor for feedback throughout the year so you can monitor your own progress. The examination is in a multiple choice format; make sure you are familiar with the different styles of question. The more complex style is nearer the end, these take more time to complete. Timing is the key to success; do not split your time equally between questions because this will leave insufficient time to answer the more complex ones. Remember, if you do not know the answer to one question then move on. It is better to devote more time to the remainder of the questions and return to any difficult questions at the end, if there is time. Do plenty of mock papers under examination conditions and get used to ticking the correct box on the answer sheet — this can be confusing if you are not familiar with it. The calculations section is the area that most people worry about. Identify early on in the year if you have trouble with calculations and practise, practise, practise all year. Do not just bury your head in the sand. With effective, continuous preparation all year you should be fine. Also, learn how to do long division and practise this! A planned programme of revision does give many people the extra confidence they need. Here is some advice from recently qualified pharmacists on how to prepare yourself: • Really get to know the BNF — especially the appendices
at the back and the guidance on prescribing at the front The year will fly by, but on the way remember there are plenty of people
to turn to for help. • www.rpsgb.org — for general information and sample
examination papers |
