Many participants had a self-confessed lack of knowledge of undergraduate MPharm programmes, with one employer even stating that they knew more about the medic programme than pharmacy. Participants sometimes referred back to their own undergraduate education. Whilst they acknowledged the course had probably changed since then they knew little about how it had changed.
HP11: “It’s difficult not knowing a huge amount about the course
now…”
HP4: “…I’ve got a better idea almost of how some of the medical
school curricular works because it is so integrated…”
CP12: “I’m not familiar with how the course is set out and how they’re
run…”
HP1: “…we’ll always think about the undergraduate course as the one
that we experienced, you see
Pre-registration employers stated that collaborative working could be improved by better informing tutors about the content of the MPharm
programme. In doing so employers could ensure continuity in education and potentially have greater trust in graduate abilities if they know certain
elements have been covered at undergraduate level.
HP2: “I don’t know if there’s any way that you could give pre-reg tutors
a better understanding of the MPharm degree and what actually is taught…if I did know I would be able to tailor more their work experience when they come out…I would feel like I would know where to pick up from where things have left off”
HP1: “I’m just literally thinking of an A4 sheet with a plan of what the
modules are, quite high level, and maybe with a second sheet of bullet points about the content of the course so people could see where calculations ran through it or communication ran through it, and that they would then pitch their pre-reg training at the appropriate point… If they were aware of that sort of detail about how the course has developed that would give them confidence, wouldn’t it, to maybe loosen the leash a little bit on the pre-reg trainees.”
HP8: “…maybe we hold people back too much because we don’t know what’s covered at university.”
Some employers expressed that they would like to know more about their pre-registration trainee prior to them starting their training year in order for them to plan and prepare. Having such knowledge was thought to aid the transition of student to pre-registration trainee through tailoring support offered.
HP7: “…it would have been nice maybe from the university to know
about these types of characters and know what type of support, obviously I know it would be very difficult to do because it’s such a big year group to then be telling the pre-reg tutors and I guess that’s the type of information you try and tease out with interview isn’t it…”
Some employers commented that schools could work more closely with them in order to gauge the knowledge, skills, attitudes and values required in practice. Employers expressed that schools would also be able to identify areas of their curriculum that may need to be addressed through obtaining feedback on their graduates and how they perform in practice, thus moving towards a symbiotic relationship between schools and employers.
HP8: “…the university is preparing what they think a pharmacy
graduate should look like. I think the world of pharmacy has changed so much, we are involved in so many more different roles than we were so should the university be looking at what the workplace requires um so every now and again maybe there should be discussions or like workshops on what we are looking for.”
HP3: “I think it would be good to be able to feedback to help you guys
keep developing the undergrad course to, kind of, make out what we want. So if there are any glaring obvious… and I suppose that needs to be for all universities. I’ve certainly seen a difference this year from one university to the other”
HP4: “…this is, you know a collaboration. It’s got to be both ways and
I, yeah, maybe if I had a better understanding of how things are working then we could say well hey, that’s made a difference in your graduates or vice versa…”
HP5: “if you guys don’t know about say the MI answering queries or
the fact that they know the theory but cant put it into practice then you guys are never going to tailor the course to what we think needs happening… and equally if you turn around and say – we did this and you don’t feel like its helped the student or say it didn’t help them then we can say ok well we tried and it didn’t work or we’ll try something else”
There is currently a perceived lack of communication between schools of pharmacy and employers. Various mechanisms of improving this were identified by employers such as face-to-face discussions, online channels
and through teacher practitioner input. Employers deemed a time point early in the pre-registration trainee’s training year as most suitable for schools to obtain feedback on their graduates, before the effects of the training
delivered by the pre-registration provider becomes apparent.
HP1: “…sorry I’ve struggled with that question because I thought well
what is really provided to work places about courses? I would say, yeah that there wasn’t…but I think this is a potential gap at the moment from my perspective.”
HP4: “I…there could be some sort of feedback mechanism quite early
on, I would say, because that’s when there some, mostly, you know, the graduate experience is obviously the most pronounced in those first few months.”
HP8: “maybe they there should be discussions or like workshops on
what we are looking for.
BB: how would you like to see those kind of discussions take
place? What kind of format?
HP8: there’s no point having a talking shop is there? But you do gain
a lot from face-to-face discussions”
HP2: “…electronic communication of some of that information would
be a really good starting point. I wouldn’t be expecting like a lecturer to be calling me up…the mechanism of teacher practitioners whether that might work…but I think that would rely perhaps on these teacher practitioners knowing the students quite well.”
The geographical location of the training was identified by employers as a potential barrier to increased collaborative working, however some
acknowledged that this could be overcome by using e-mail or telephone.
HP2: “…School of pharmacies all around the country, isn’t it? It’s not
like pre-reg tutors can all come to a particular school of pharmacy and learn a little bit more about what’s going on.”
HP5: “because of distance I’m happy for e-mail, telephone. Telephone
might be easier as well because you can hear tone of voice but you know…”
An alternative mechanism of collaboration was suggested by another
participant, who suggested that graduates providing feedback directly to the university on their preparedness would be beneficial. Chapter Five will focus
on this notion, as the perceptions of recent pharmacy graduates on their preparedness for pre-registration training will be explored.
HP5: “…the pre-reg’s themselves, do they feedback to you? Because
I’d have thought they’d have been the best people to ask because they are the ones who have gone from undergraduate to the actual pre-reg job…”