Hospital pre-reg - current and former pre-regs

[Asterix]

How did you feel about working in say aseptics, for example I have only had 1 day at uni in my 4 years there and do worry how I would cope.

Secondly, clinical knowledge, is the clinical knowledge you learn at uni anywhere near enough to start pre-reg. I feel like I have totally forgotten everything I learnt in the past 3 years tbh. What do people think, what are the ads of doing pre-reg in hosp rather than comm?

[bleepholder]

when i did my pre reg in hospital i spent 6 weeks in aseptics..loved every minute of it! we had an aseptics module from uni but it in no way prepares you for what i did! they don't throw you into the thick of it on day 1 and expect you to know what you're doing!!

as for the clinical knowledge..of course its enough...you have learnt the theory, now you get the chance to put it into practice, which is somewhat different from the theory side of things....but again they won't expect you to be a clinical pharmacist on day 1, you will know at least the basics, at uni where you would ahve just looked at heart failure, you will see patients who ahve heart failure, diabetes, and asthma, so you look at the whole picture and not a specific disease state!...the pre reg is there for you to learn and expand on what you already know! you will think you have forgotten it, but you won't..when put on the spot it will all come flooding back to you!

as for pre reg in hospital, you will probably use more of your clinical knowledge than if you went into community, but its what you want to do at the end of the day. some people are ebtter suited to hospital and others community!

even when you come to work on day 1 as a pharmacist you will think you won't know enough, but you get on with it and surprise yourself that it is possible!

[Asterix]

thanks for that bleepholder, appreciate any info. If you don't mind me asking, how much effort did you put in for calculations, i am panicking over that, i have only been tested on a few occasions during my degree without the use of a calculator. Secondly, did you recap your work from uni when you started? any tips in general for hosp pre-reg, its definetly what I want to do but I still don't understand a lot of hosp. I have only had 2 weeks of exp within hospital and was confused by looking at a drug chart!

[bleepholder]

like i said, they won't expect you to know everything on day 1...even the end of my pre reg i still didn't know everything...i wouldn't worry about recapping before you start pre reg...the first few weeks, i spent getting used to working 9-5 and having evenings free not having to do coursework etc. if anything just keep your clinical notes to hand and the odd clinical textbook to hand..useful if you ahve seen something on the ward and want to look into it further...failing that wikipedia is a useful tool

as for calculations, worry about them nearer the pre reg exam.....i onyl really looked at them few weeks before the exam...throughout the year you will have training days and time to get the practice in.....

as for general tips..just enjoy it

[johnep]

When I was teaching, students often protested that their calculator must be right even when it was obvious that the answer was rubbish.
I suggested that they reduced everything to 10s or 100s etc to give an approximation. ie 457 x 123 is reduced to 450 x 100 ie answer should be near to 45,000. (actually 56,211) but at least the 10s are near enough. decimals and fractions also cause problems as do grms, mgms and mcgs.
johnep

[Nik]

how much effort did you put in for calculations, i am panicking over that... I have only had 2 weeks of exp within hospital and was confused by looking at a drug chart!

Why panic ? You are 2 years away from that yet. Continue to enjoy the remainder of your uni days, get plastered every night and worry about pre-reg calcs when the time comes. Everyone applying for hosp pre-reg is in the same boat in terms of experience - I only had 1 week last year and I got a pre-reg place in hospital so don't lose hope yet.

[Asterix]

What did people write for the professionalism question on pharmalife, I mean I have all the other skills but to demonstrate professionalism during uni time is a bit confusing?

[Nik]

I don't remember that question being specifically about uni, you could write about your experience working part time maybe ?

[Asterix]

That's not really being professional though is it, I mean if I took a patient into a counseling room as they wanted medication for cystitis maybe but that's what the pharmacist does.

[johnep]

A question for you Asterix for a change.
What would you need to ascertain regarding a patient with cystitis?
johnep