An analysis of mentoring needs of pharmacy students, pharmacist foundation trainees, and pharmacists in Scotland

The abstract below was accepted and presented at NES - NHS Education for Scotland Annual Conference, 2022.

Authors: Kina Vyas and Helen Chang, Royal Pharmaceutical Society, UK.

Title of Abstract: An analysis of mentoring needs of pharmacy students, pharmacist foundation trainees, and pharmacists in Scotland.

Introduction

Mentoring has been shown to enhance the learning experience of healthcare trainees and registered professionals¹. It has also been used in academia and the corporate environment to develop knowledge, talents, and capability². The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) mentoring programme provides their members with access to mentors within the pharmacy profession across all career stages and pharmacy settings.

This study identified and compared mentoring needs of pharmacy students, pharmacist foundation trainees, and pharmacists in Scotland.

Methods

Demographic data and information about the mentoring needs of Scotland based students, foundation trainees, and pharmacists registered on the RPS mentoring platform as mentees were collated. Descriptive analysis of the data was performed within Excel to identify areas of commonality and differences.

Results/Discussion

Between 1 September 2019 and 31 January 2022, 56 Scotland based students, foundation trainees, and pharmacist registered as mentees on the RPS mentoring platform (3% of total mentees). Of these mentees, six were students, 11 foundation trainees, and 39 were qualified pharmacists. The majority of mentees (51.79%) wanted support with their careers.

Many mentees were also seeking mentoring in the areas of with professional development (35.71%), and educational skills (35.71%).

Other areas of need were management and leadership (23.21%), and collaborative working relationships (14.29%). Research and evaluation were areas of expertise that appeared to be low in demand (7.14%). Furthermore, the areas in which mentees are pursuing mentoring support seem to vary for stage of practice and pharmacy setting.

Conclusion

This study highlights that students, foundation trainees, and pharmacists in Scotland require most support with their careers and the least with research and evaluation skills. This aligns with previous studies about the mentoring needs of mentees across GB³.

 Future research should explore the development needs of specific skills associated with these broader themes, to inform the creation of guidance and resources.