How we can support your return to practice

How can we support your return to practice


Some or all of the following support tools may be of use to you in your Return to Practice journey.

Use of the RPS professional support and enquiry answering service

This service is available 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday via telephone or e-mail to answer, advise and sign-post on pharmacy issues. The RPS Support service can also advise on professional responsibility and ethical issues and welcomes all such enquiries. Whether you want to discuss the competencies required for the practice area you are returning to or simply seeking information on what professional development frameworks are available and specific to your practice, we look forward to hearing from you.

Online groups

It’s important to remember that you’re not alone. The Return to Practice online group has been established to provide peer support if you are interested in, or are following a Return to Practice programme. Our online group allows you to communicate with others and share your experiences in a safe environment. You can ask questions of other pharmacists who have returned to practice to see if they have experienced similar situations and find out how they coped with them. Use of our online groups doesn’t have to end there; you can also access the specialist groups if you feel your level of support requires more expert attention.

Local Practice Forums

In some ways, your local practice forum might be a natural progression or extension of the online group, in fulfilling your Return to Practice needs. Your LPF might be the ideal place to meet others working in your locale and perhaps, in your practice sector. A simple request, posted on your LPF pages may be all it takes to secure the work shadowing experience you’ve been looking for. This is just one of the many ways that your Local Practice Forum could help you – it could also help you identify other pharmacists in your area returning to practice. LPFs offer another support network and group of peers that you can share your experiences with and learn from theirs, helping to build your confidence as you return to practice.

Frameworks

Structure and guidance, are imperative when you are embarking on a new chapter of your professional career whether you are returning to the same place of work after a career break or transferring your skills to a different area of practice.

If you are planning to undertake work in a new area, it might be worthwhile looking into what existing competency frameworks your new employer provides.

CODEg currently offers some guidance for self-assessment. This service is still under development but it is anticipated that a full, self-evaluation service will soon be available.

The National Prescribing Centre not only delivers resources and activities to support prescribers (medical and non-medical) across the NHS, it supports frontline primary care pharmacists. 2010 saw its first practice based pharmacist conference, facilitating learning and networking opportunities.

The National Association of Women Pharmacists: This long established, successful organisation provides as part of its many professional services, career advice and a mentoring service and has extensive experience of helping those who are returning to practice.

The Centre for Pharmacy Postgraduate Education run two day return to practice courses for those who have been out of practice for three years or more.

For further information on what support and development training provisions are available for pharmacists in Wales and Scotland, please follow the web-links below;

Objectives

Defining what you want to learn and how you want to learn it is core to your decision to returning to practice. Having this focus ,be it personal or job specific, will keep you interested and keep you professional development right on track.

The Society is currently working on the delivery of a mentor/mentee support service that aims to encourage pharmacists to manage their own learning in order to maximise their potential and develop their skills.