PDA Early Careers Network Newsletter – August 2023

In this issue:

• What is the PDA Early Careers Network?
• PDA Education Summer School 2023 
• Supervision Practice Group – update and outcome
• Support available for those sitting the November 2023 assessment
• Helpful guides and resources to support you in the workplace
• First ‘Shaping your career in pharmacy’ event is a success
• Championing Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion early in your pharmacy career
• Get involved

What is the PDA Early Careers Network?

The PDA Early Careers Network provides a space for trainee pharmacists and pharmacists in the first five years of their careers to connect with each other on the issues which matter to them.

PDA members who are trainee pharmacists or pharmacists in the first five years of their careers are automatically eligible to join the network and have their voices heard. To ensure that you do not miss out on all that is on offer for our Early Careers PDA members, please email organising@pda-union.org to find out how to get involved.

As Early Careers PDA members, you have access to FREE PDA Education events and programmes specifically designed to support you during this crucial stage of your career. You have more opportunities to become involved in the PDA with regular meetings of the network on relevant topics where PDA members can work together to improve the lives of all pharmacists. You also have a community to talk to other PDA members at similar stages of their careers and a space to share information and support with your peers.

PDA Early Careers Networking Event

We’ll be holding an online meeting for PDA Early Careers members as an opportunity for you to meet like-minded pharmacists, talk about your career, and share your successes and challenges in an informal setting.

Date: Tuesday 3 October,
Time: 7.30pm to 8.30pm
Place: Online

Register for the networking event here.

• Building and maintaining relationships
• Being a mentee
• CV writing and interview skills
• Developing effective team working

There will also be opportunities to practise critical reflection and build a portfolio that can be used as part of your professional development. You will also have the opportunity to review your skills and knowledge development.

For more information and to register for any of the above courses, click here.

PDA Education also has three other events coming in the Autumn term which may interest you:

• November assessment revision programme, opens 1 September
• Locum Matters, online webinar, 17 October. Register now
• The Science Behind Wellbeing, online webinar, 26 September. Register now.

Please check the events section of the PDA website regularly to find out more.

Supervision Practice Group – update and outcome

Organisations from across the community pharmacy sector, who have come together to look into the future ‘supervision’ in community pharmacy, have produced their final report.

Over the course of nine collaborative and positive workshop-style discussions the Supervision Practice Group aimed to provide recommendations to reframe legislation, regulation, and professional standards and guidance to achieve a new vision for community pharmacy. The group has produced a report which makes several recommendations on the subjects of:

• The legislation relating to ‘supervision’
• The temporary absence of the Responsible Pharmacist (RP) from the pharmacy
• Delegation
• The preparation and assembly of medicines when the RP is not signed in.

Support available for those sitting the November 2023 assessment

Here at the PDA we are committed to supporting trainee pharmacists on their final step of their journey to becoming a qualified pharmacist and throughout the rest of their career. As part of this commitment, we will be releasing a range of articles offering advice and guidance for those sitting the November 2023 assessment. You can keep up to date will all articles here.

We will also once again be running a revision programme designed to support PDA members revising for the November 2023 assessment. This programme is exclusively for PDA members and will be available from Friday 1 September 2023. Trainees, be sure to check your inbox or the events section of our website on 1 September to register for the programme.

This programme will include:

• Practice revision questions and case studies
• Two one-hour timed mock exams
• Tips for revising successfully
• Support videos to help you navigate the process.

Don’t just take our word for it, here is member feedback from the last PDA Revision Assessment Programme:

“Thanks for all your help this past year! I found the programme helpful because it provided informative and interesting bitesize sessions which were beneficial for people working full-time.”

Helpful guides and resources to support you in the workplace

As you start your career it is important to know where you can find useful guides and resources to support you in any workplace issue that you may have. One of the ways we help pharmacists is by releasing a series of FREE factsheets and guides to support pharmacists in their working lives. Some of our factsheets include topics on stress, bullying, and discrimination.

Below are just some of our FREE factsheets that you may find useful as you start your career:

• Guide to: Managing your Wellbeing in the Workplace
• Guide to: Discrimination in the Workplace
• PDA urges pharmacists to stay safe and take adequate rest breaks
• It’s Time to Address Stress
• It’s Time to Tackle Bullying in the Workplace
• It’s Time to Stay Safe at Work
• Redundancy – a guide for PDA members

You can also find a range of factsheets and guides on topics such as health issues, race and ethnicity, and sexuality and gender. You can find all of our free factsheets and guides here.

Those needing any advice and guidance can also contact the PDA Member Support Centre here.

First ‘Shaping your career in pharmacy’ event is a success

Our first ‘Shaping your career in pharmacy’ event delivered sessions to members in the early stages of their careers on non-clinical skills that are crucial to the pharmacy role. This included communication skills, resilience, and the ability to adapt to change.

For some attendees, the event was the first face-to-face event of this type they had attended since the Covid-19 pandemic.

Pharmacy students, trainees, and early career pharmacists were invited to the event, which was designed to support them, as their learning and development were most affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

To fulfil our commitment to supporting members throughout their careers, we set up this event to ensure that these members finally had an opportunity to meet face-to-face to form networks and learn from each other, as well as offering sessions on non-clinical, but important skills.

Championing Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion early in your pharmacy career

Get involved