We’re pleased to share that all our Foundation Pharmacists from the 2023/24 intake passed their registration exams, with three of them remaining with us here at NBT. Hear all about Catherine’s experience as a Foundation Pharmacist at Southmead Hospital, and what she’s looking forward to in her new role as a Band 6 Rotational Pharmacist, in this blog.
Why did you decide to become a Trainee Pharmacist at NBT?
I completed my training at a nearby university and many of the students have said how much they enjoyed their placements at NBT and had good experiences here. I knew NBT had quite a big pharmacy department and the specialties at the hospital interested me. I had previous experience working in community pharmacy and GP practice and I wanted to round out my training by having some experience of hospital, GP and community before becoming a qualified pharmacist. I had moved away from home for university and the location of NBT made it easy for me to travel home when I could to visit family and friends and still travel around easily as part of my commitments outside of work. The NBT foundation pharmacist programme also has a 100% pass rate for previous years of trainee pharmacists which helps when choosing a preference!
What is something that sticks out to you about your experience as a Trainee Pharmacist? (this could be a challenge you overcame, something you learnt, a memorable experience etc.)
As a trainee pharmacist NBT have a great programme which allows you to rotate through the different specialties offered here so you can see all the different roles and jobs the pharmacists are involved in at NBT. A particularly memorable experience was helping the antimicrobial team run an antimicrobial awareness stand as part of antimicrobial awareness week and helping to educate staff and patients about the importance of appropriate antibiotics and our penicillin de-labelling service. I also got to attend specialist clinics, Multi-Disciplinary Team (MDT) meetings and work on quality improvement projects. I also worked on a ward level with rotational and specialist pharmacists helping them with tasks and problems as they arose, this was particularly rewarding as you could try and find answers to the problem, present this to the team and then see parts of that plan implemented and be able to contribute to patient care in a meaningful way, even as a foundation pharmacist.
It was challenging to move to a new city to finish training and studying at the same time in a fast passed environment but the group of trainees here with me were lovely and supportive of each other which made it enjoyable. The whole pharmacy team, especially the trainee supervisors, were lovely and helped make sure we were managing well throughout the year, having regular teaching and meeting with us, helping us with revision at the end of the year.
Why did you decide to stay on at NBT following your traineeship?
I chose to stay at NBT after my traineeship for a few reasons. One of the biggest ones was that I really enjoyed working in the team here! Pharmacists are often working on their own on a ward, but I really liked how supportive the team was at NBT and felt that it would be a good environment to start my pharmacist career with lots of other pharmacists around to support me if I needed, but also grow in my own leadership and clinical skills.
What are you looking forward to most in your new role as a Band 6 Rotational Pharmacist?
I am looking forward to applying all the things I have learnt! I am looking forward to having a more permanent part of a ward on my longer rotations as a band six and starting to apply the clinical skills from the last five years of training. Being able to use my knowledge to make interventions and work with the MDT like the pharmacists I observed and assisted as a trainee. It is also nice to stay in the team that you finished your training with, to become an active part of the team that helped and supported you whilst you finished your training.
What advice would you give to someone interested in training to become a Pharmacist?
I think my advice would be to get as much experience seeing other pharmacists working and seeing what they do, how they talk to patients and work in their respective teams. That could be in a hospital, community pharmacy, GP practice or through volunteering, however you can! Pharmacists can have very varied roles so getting to see just how much pharmacists do is a great thing to do if you’re interested!