Pre-reg year compared to university/working life

[BellaNotte]

Well amjon.. thanks for that input. I'm sorry to hear you're hating your pre-reg year (and the whole profession) so much.. you could try to get into a different area of pharmacy?

[Pharmanaut]

Well amjon.. thanks for that input. I'm sorry to hear you're hating your pre-reg year (and the whole profession) so much.. you could try to get into a different area of pharmacy?

Advice is always get through the year and get on the register.
Then work our your strategy.
Remember - you need not take a full-time job - plenty of options for you.
Most of them require further study, but are worth it.
Look at your degree like a set of skills and not just dispensing scripts and "Lawfully Conducting a Retail Pharmacy".
Different areas of pharmacy...
Regulatory affairs.
MHRA
NPSA
PCT
Healthcare computing.
Proofreading.

[bleepholder]

some good pearls of wisdom there pharmanaut!
depends on how long it takes to work out your strategy...may not be worth the £400 and something to remain on the register whilst working out what you want to do lol...but at least you can earn some pocket money until you work out what you want to do!

[Pharmanaut]

some good pearls of wisdom there pharmanaut!
depends on how long it takes to work out your strategy...may not be worth the £400 and something to remain on the register whilst working out what you want to do lol...but at least you can earn some pocket money until you work out what you want to do!

At least you can claim some of it against tax.
Another tip would be to network as much as possible.
That's how the 'great and the good' remain so.

[amjon]

Advice is always get through the year and get on the register.
Then work our your strategy.
Remember - you need not take a full-time job - plenty of options for you.
Most of them require further study, but are worth it.
Look at your degree like a set of skills and not just dispensing scripts and "Lawfully Conducting a Retail Pharmacy".
Different areas of pharmacy...
Regulatory affairs
MHRA
NPSA
PCT
Healthcare computing.
Proofreading.

Yeah I've already got an industry placement lined up for a forthnight, couple days with the local CDT, and a couple of other things in the pipeline that don't involve FP10's.

[Pharmanaut]

Yeah I've already got an industry placement lined up for a forthnight, couple days with the local CDT, and a couple of other things in the pipeline that don't involve FP10's.

Go for it then.
The more Pharmacists doing non-FP10 jobs, the more employers realise that we have a 'swiss army knife' skill set, which creates more opportunities for the rest of us.

[amjon]

...more opportunities for the rest of us.

More opportunities for what? To do MUR's and the other advanced/enhanced services THAT YOU DON'T GET PAID FOR!!! Has pharmacist's pay actually increased on average over the last 10 years? You're going to have to hope a hell of a lot more pharmacists pull out of the FP10 jobs with the amount of backwater glorified polytechnics churning out pharmacists
these days.

[Fleegle]

It's awful. After a few weeks you'll realise that more than 90% of what you learnt in uni is useless and the 10% that is applicable is the boring social pharmacy/ dispensing module that you did your living best to forget once walked out of the exam hall. What’s more you'll soon realise that MUR's are not "coning the NHS" like you might of thought at university. Instead they are an implement that has been cynically designed to create so much pressure and friction in the work place that pharmacists will soon be begging for a reduction in dispensing responsibilities. Once this occurs ACT's (aka cheap labour) will take over with remote supervision following not soon after. Also you'll get a weekly dose of propaganda in the form of the Pharmaceutical Journal that will be more than happy to tell you of the delightful enhanced services that you will be providing in the future, naturally there will be no mention of the renumeration we will receive for doing GP's work(just aswell as any money that does come our way will be going directly into the contractors pocket). After you come to terms with how inherently flawed/ rotten to the core our profession is you will then begin to get to know the public. I could spend the rest of the night regaling you anecdotal tales of idiots , fat messes, chavs that would make Vicky Pollard look the Duchess of York and so on. The one thing I will tell you is that you should never underestimate the stupidity of the public: I generally assume that everyone who walks into the store is an asthmatic who smokes 60 a day, is addicted to co-codamol, fills their children with anti-histamines before trotting off to the pub for a cheeky 20 pints, and eats light bulbs in their spare time. As for work load, if you can stand to open the BNF after 8/9 hours of the above you'll doing very well. So all in all its pretty god dam bad compared to uni, hopefully I'll never be able to compare it with working life as a pharmacist as once/if I can be bothered passing my pre-reg I'll be looking for work elsewhere or getting JSA.

Epic post. I felt exactly the same way 23 years ago when I did my pre-reg. My tutor died half way through, and was replaced by another one who could fart for Scotland. Our 'computer' was a typewriter, and all ancillary warning labels had to be manually stuck to the containers, using a number code from 1 to about 40. Extemp preps were commonplace, including water baths for glucose in glycerine nose drops, and powder-folders for when you had to manually dispense 100 powders, all folded to the same size, after formulation using a mortar and pestle. Liquid dilutions were commonplace, and Brompton cocktails were still commonly prescribed, which involved dispensing Brandy, Whisky and Gin, formulated with heroin, for terminal cases. Cocaine was also prescribed, although relatively uncommonly. Coal tar and salicylic acid ointments were prepared daily by spatula on a slab as a matter of routine. The heat in the dispensary was provided by a stand-alone calor gas heater which probably contributed to my first tutor's early demise.

After all that...I still had a ball!

As an aside, I now always have two BMWs and I think I deserve them, because I worked for them. Do the same. You will not regret it.

Fleegle.

[Pharmanaut]

More opportunities for what? To do MUR's and the other advanced/enhanced services THAT YOU DON'T GET PAID FOR!!! Has pharmacist's pay actually increased on average over the last 10 years? You're going to have to hope a hell of a lot more pharmacists pull out of the FP10 jobs with the amount of backwater glorified polytechnics churning out pharmacists
these days.

OK, you caught me on an optimistic day.
Now see what you've done to my good spirits!

[bleepholder]

i miss those wednesday afternoons of doing nothing at uni.....better than being stuck in work.....

someone sounds a little bitter..amjon???????? i'm guessing pharmacy isn't for you?