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I'm
sure most of you have spoken to people from the year above you,
or those two years above. While there is tremendous excitement
at the prospect of leaving the lecture theatres and tutorials
with the allure of "real pharmacy work", you may receive
a shock when you do in fact get to this place of practice.
Research
is the key.
Finding the right pharmacy and preceptor for you can be difficult.
Advertise yourself.
Go to PSA continuing education evenings, shake hands, network.
You will be surrounded by pharmacists who are there wanting to
enhance their knowledge.
These are the pharmacists from whose experience you will benefit
(the master should always know more than the apprentice!!).
Place your name and details on the I2P site under "positions
wanted".
If
there is a community pharmacy that you are perhaps interested
in doing your graduate year with, go in, mystery shop.
Purchase a packet of Mersyndol Forte or one of the other schedule
three medications and see how (if at all) you are counseled.
If you are less than impressed with the level of service, availability
of the pharmacist etc, pursue it no longer.
It is these standards and practices that you will be stepping
into next year.
Another
key to choosing the right pharmacy for you is working out exactly
what aspect of pharmacy interests you the most.
If you have an interest in complementary therapies, smoking cessation,
psychotropic medications, diabetes, patient counselling etc mention
these to the potential employer, and see what the reaction is.
If the response is not supportive, that means that there is a
fair chance that you may not be covering this area in your graduate
year.
Patient
counselling is indeed becoming one of the most important functions
of both community and hospital pharmacist alike.
This counselling needs to be done at a place that is comfortable
to both the patient and the pharmacist. If, when searching for
the right pharmacy for you, you duly notice the counselling desk
covered with either dust or double ply toilet rolls on special
at $1.99, a sit down counselling area may not necessarily be available
to you in your graduate year.
As
with most things, self motivation can be very difficult during
the graduate year.
You will have gone from cruisy fourth year to working upwards
of thirty five hours per week.
You will come home absolutely stuffed, and be expected to then
open your books and consolidate the knowledge that you have, and
refresh your memory of what you should know from university.
It is also possible that you get so mesmerized by doing all the
paperwork and concentrating your efforts on speedily getting through
the prescriptions.
By the end of the day, you may not have learnt a single thing!
What a waste of eight supervised hours!!
You should aim to learn at least one new fact every two hours.
A motivated preceptor will help you achieve this, and help make
you a better pharmacist.
Lastly,
be reasonable.
This goes for both preceptor and graduate.
In terms of pharmacy, the graduate cannot expect to start at the
top, and the preceptor cannot be expected to be there to hold
the graduates hand the whole way through the graduate year.
When discussing the expected duties, double check what is required
in terms of Webster packing, doing the claim, unpacking of orders
etc.
While these are menial activities, someone has to do them, and
as long as they do not cut into the majority of one's work hours.
One day a week spent on these tasks seems reasonable.
Longer may be acceptable if the preceptor is willing to give higher
rewards in terms of more than expected counselling opportunities.
It
is very important to remember that you (the graduate) and only
you are responsible for your development as a pharmacist.
Go out there with a "Look out world" attitude and reap
the rewards.
Best
of luck.
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