Advice & Insight From Pre-Registration Recruitment Exam Specialists
The ninth, and final, attribute in the Framework for Professional Pharmacists is Pharmacy in Practice. This is a very short domain made up of only three attributes, although two of these attributes in particular are very relevant in the context of the SJT.
Questions here would likely feature either a lack of understanding on your part, or a lack of understanding on a colleague’s part. That lack of understanding will cover either how clinical practice works, and how one might expect people to work within practice, or more likely cover business responsibilities and the broader pharmaceutical landscape. Given that pharmacy is an area of healthcare in which it’s very common to end up running your own business, it’s understandable that an awareness of the importance of business and finance could appear in the SJT.
A typical question here might consist of something along the following lines:
You are working in a community pharmacy, which is run by an elderly pharmacist who is soon to return. He owns a group of pharmacies across the area. As the owner has been taking more time off, one of the pharmacists has been increasingly taking on his duties. However, you have noticed that there are far fewer customers, and the shelves are often lacking common products that rank among the store’s typical bestsellers.
Here, it’s evident that the pharmacist who’s taken over the owner’s responsibilities is failing to follow good business practices, with dwindling customers and lack of supply of goods. As such, you’d need to make it obvious that you’re aware of this – a good first option to select would be one that involves taking the new manager aside and speaking to them about the issue in private. Perhaps they’re aware of it, for example, but are only slowly becoming aware of how to run the store. Either way, you should demonstrate that you’re aware that success of the business is important here. Next, you should consider options in which you take more direct steps. That might involve speaking to the owner yourself and highlighting the issues, or taking on some of the business responsibilities yourself if this seems role-appropriate and it’s suggested that you have the time to do so. Options that fail to recognise that a pharmacy like this is a business, and therefore ignore the issues, would be ranked lowly here.
Another question here could involve a colleague who shows a lack of awareness of pharmacy itself and their potential career through it. Perhaps they fail to recognise that they’ll have to continue learning in order to progress in the career in the NHS. Good options here would involve speaking to the colleague and helping them to understand the broader pharmaceutical landscape and career, providing resources that allow them to better understand the career, and emphasising the importance of being aware of how the career works. Poor options would include allowing the colleague to continue in ignorance, or showing condescension towards them.
Learn the best Pre-Reg Oriel strategies and practice with reflective questions & worked solutions.
9.1 Understands and appreciates pharmacy workflow and dynamics of clinical practice
The core knowledge – how you ought to work and the processes you should be aware of – could well be tested in an SJT. However, overall this is a relatively more vague attribute that is unlikely to form the basis of a question.
9.2 Understands the broader pharmacy landscape, its position and interaction with the wider healthcare context and the progression of a person’s journey through this
This could form the basis for a question, like the one above. You should show that you place importance on knowing about pharmacy in general, and how pharmacy sits into the entire healthcare landscape. That might include how it interacts with other professions like Medicine and Nursing.
9.3 Demonstrates an awareness of the business and financial responsibilities within healthcare
This is the most likely attribute from this domain to be tested in an SJT. As prompts feature both hospital and community settings, it’s entirely possible to get a question in a community setting that focuses on the business or financial aspect of pharmacy. You might also be tested on the use of resources in the NHS, perhaps through someone being wasteful – in which case it’s important to select options that emphasise that you are aware of the importance of efficient and sensible spending.
