The way Scotland trains its pharmacists and pharmacy technicians is changing. For pharmacists there will be a significant increase in the amount of time spent by both undergraduates and qualified pharmacists undertaking ‘experiential learning’ – working closely alongside experienced pharmacists and other members of the healthcare team with patients, developing a mix of clinical and prescribing skills.

This change requires all qualified pharmacists to provide some level of supervision and enhance their skills as educators so they can support, train and mentor those developing new skills.

For the Associate Postgraduate Dean for Pharmacy at the national skills and training organisation NHS Education for Scotland (NES), normalising the role of pharmacists as educators in the workplace is a good move. Susan Roberts will tell the PM Healthcare national pharmacy conference later this month that education reforms can be a catalyst for the evolution of the role of every pharmacist.

Ever since the Scottish government published its first strategy for pharmacy, ‘The Right Medicine’, 20 years ago, the profession has been changing – broadening out from only being medicines specialists working behind the scenes, to becoming key experts in multidisciplinary hospital and primary care teams and, closer to home, the first professional to consult in your own community with a common illness or health concern.

The people studying to be pharmacists at Scotland’s two pharmacy schools are preparing for a different, more autonomous, and much more ‘hands-on’ role than that expected of their counterparts who qualified just a few years ago.

Susan Roberts says there is one skillset that is now going to be required of every new pharmacist:

“The crux of pharmacist initial education reforms is around independent prescribing.

“By 2026, the plan is that pharmacists will, on day one qualified – one year after they graduate from their four-year university course – have had the relevant education to be prescribers. They’ll have the clinical skills, the prescribing skills and a thorough understanding of the responsibilities of being a prescriber.”

The way that pharmacy students and new graduates train is now shifting to focus on building confidence and skills by learning outside the classroom:

“Particularly in the foundation training year after graduating, the year before they qualify, our graduates will be getting more and more hands-on experience through what we call ‘supervised learning events’, where they are getting direct feedback from qualified pharmacists on everything they are doing – on things like their clinical assessment skills, taking blood pressures, listening to patients, considering what all the clinical information may mean, and making decisions.”

The education reforms don’t stop at qualification and there are significant changes already underway and planned for the post registration career space. The theme of increased experiential learning continues into this phase right up until credentialing as a consultant pharmacist. 

Importantly, says NES, the skills developed will cover the five domains of person-centred care and collaboration, professional practice, leadership and management, education and research: all essential for pharmacists to release their potential as members of the healthcare team and improve patient care.

Ms Roberts says central to the success of this approach will be how experienced pharmacists continue their own professional development as educators.

She will tell this month’s PM Healthcare national pharmacy conference that the education reforms can be a ‘catalyst’ to evolving and transforming how pharmacists themselves develop their roles and contribute to the remobilisation and recovery of the NHS:

“There can be a bit of a feeling that we are having to change pharmacy because of the education reforms. My presentation is going to try to turn that on its head, to say the reforms are an enabler for us as a profession to move forward.”

Under a programme called ‘Modernising Pharmacy Supervision’, pharmacists are to be supported with training modules to develop supervision as one of their core skills and competences – not just so they have the confidence to share their knowledge with undergraduates and people in their foundation year, but also to support colleagues seeking to progress in their career to advanced and consultant roles.

The term “supervision” in the pharmacy world conjures up images of restrictions and someone watching over you. However, Ms Roberts says supervision activities as an educator are not as onerous as people might think - that they need to be "built into our day jobs" and "can bring a great deal of job satisfaction and reward".

The programme will be aimed at pharmacists and pharmacy technicians in all settings, not least those working in high pressure community practice who are currently funded as part of the Post-Registration Foundation Training Programme for newly qualified pharmacists, to give both graduates and supervisors time to dedicate to learning.

Ms Roberts says she hopes another group in the team will also benefit:

“For every two pharmacists in the workforce there is one pharmacy technician.

“However, nowhere in the UK has put in place a post-registration career framework for technicians, which is something we urgently need to rectify.

"At the pharmacy technician initial education stage, the General Pharmaceutical Council again emphasises person-centered professionalism, communication and team working, through the integration of learning and experience during the training. 

"As we reform pharmacy technician roles the need for supervision and support will be as important for pharmacy technicians as for pharmacists.

“It’s about creating a workforce where everybody sees themselves as a supervisor from the newly qualified to the Directors of Pharmacy, helping to teach those people coming through. And let's not call them students or trainees – they are colleagues.

“We need to get to a place where all pharmacists and pharmacy technicians see themselves, from the day they qualify, as having some sort of supervision role, having the confidence and competence to do that whenever they need to, at different points in their career.

“It’s a bold step for many pharmacists and pharmacy technicians to take, for everyone to have supervision skills – but it shouldn’t be a scary one.

“It allows us to move forward as pharmacists into patient-facing, autonomous roles, managing a caseload – which is where we have to be as a profession. And for pharmacy technicians, to release their potential as members of the healthcare team and leaders of medicine supply processes.”

Susan Roberts is speaking at the PM Healthcare Scotland National Conference in Glasgow on 25 October.

The meeting is free for healthcare professionals. For the agenda and to register, go to the PM Healthcare events site.

healthandcare.scot is pleased to be working as a media partner with PM Healthcare.