Case studies: Community pharmacist: Nina Wood

After graduating with an MPharm degree from the University of Nottingham, Nina completed her pre-registration year with Weldricks, a small regional multiple pharmacy, and is now a Branch Pharmacy Manager.

It was a Saturday job in a local chemists when I was 16, and the enthusiasm the pharmacist had for his profession that influenced me to pursue a career in pharmacy. I was trained up and was soon working in the dispensary.

Currently, I am undertaking a postgraduate diploma in community pharmacy by distance learning with Keele University. I study on my day off which means managing my time in order to combine study with my role as a pharmacist and managing the staff in my branch. I am also a pre-registration tutor, with my third pre-registration trainee this year, which involves supervising the training and development of trainees to meet Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain (RPSGB)  standards of competence in order to register to practise as a pharmacist.

My degree course prepared me well for working in community pharmacy, developing my communication and IT skills, as well as my knowledge of drugs. The use of IT skills continues to be important with the need to understand and put into practice NICE guidelines and continually research information on drugs as a result of which I have built up a database of information I am able to use in practice.

Whilst dispensing is still the dominant function of the community pharmacist the role is changing to include other services such as Medicine Use Reviews, minor ailments and emergency hormonal contraception. I find that I can be pulled in several directions at once and am aware of the need to meet targets and complete audits as well as writing Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), which I may have to do in my own time.

Getting experience, even if it is only a couple of weeks in community and hospital pharmacy, before deciding on where to do your pre-registration training is essential. I have also found that it is not uncommon for students to lack confidence in their knowledge of Over the Counter (OTC) medicines, as this is not covered in depth at university and taking advantage of opportunities to develop this knowledge would be beneficial.

In the future I see myself moving away from dispensing to more of a clinical role and would like to work for a GP practice or possibly for the PCT in medicines management.