My time on the pharmacy work experience placement and my time in spent in the group work project have both helped to prepare me for my future roles in the pharmaceutical industry. Teaching me about the practicalities of working in the field and the importance of teamwork, respectively, these two experiences have proved invaluable.
During my time on my work experience placement at the community pharmacy, I learned a great deal which will prepare me for my future role as a fully qualified pharmacists. Firstly, I gained a lot of knowledge about the practical workings of a pharmacy. For example, I quickly discovered that the system is arranged alphabetically. Furthermore, I was able to familiarise myself with medications that were present and also to learn about controlled drugs, which were always locked away in a cabinet.
While on this placement, I also learned a great deal about the process care homes go through in order to get the medication for their patients. The pharmacy I was placed in had a whole area dedicated to care homes and there were systems in place specifically with them in mind. I was also able to familiarise myself with the prescription process, including private prescriptions.
Spending time at the community pharmacy was enormously helpful in preparing me for my future role in the pharmaceutical profession. I feel that the placement taught me the basics about the running of this type of pharmacy and, as a result of this, I will be better able to hit the ground running when I am working full time in the field.
As my work experience placement served to prepare me for my future role in the pharmaceutical industry, so did the practical team work exercise in the organ bath. As part of the project, students had to form groups with which to work and, in addition, each group member had a specific role in the task. Although this was a challenging task, it taught me a great deal about the benefits and potential difficulties of working in a team.
I learned that there are many advantages to group work. For example, having many different ideas, rather than just one, greatly enhanced the effectiveness of our project. Also, as each member had the success of the project in their interest, everyone worked very positively together in achieving a common goal. These elements of team work are all directly relevant to the pharmaceutical industry, in which there is a heavy reliance on working well as a group with shared central goals.
This group project taught me how to be an effective team player, while also being able to work independently on my individual tasks within the group. This will help me greatly in my future professional roles as I am already prepared for the potential advantages and disadvantages of working in a close knit group.
Both my work experience placement and my time on the group work project have prepared me for my future roles as a professional. Without these two separate times in my life, I would feel less ready for the working life that lies ahead.
