Supporting pharmacy team members in their personal development

Pharmacy type

Community

Pharmacy context

This is a community pharmacy in the centre of a smallvillage. 

Relevant standards

• 2.4 - There is a culture of openness, honesty and learning

Why this is notable practice

The pharmacy encourages all of its team members to commit to identifying and completing ongoing learning. It does this through the use of continuous appraisal process. And through experienced team members mentoring other members of the team.

How the pharmacy did this

Pharmacy team members benefitted from protected learning time. And they had access to ongoing learning via an e-learning portal. The pharmacy had a structured appraisal process with formal appraisals taking place every six months. It also encouraged its team members to complete ‘How am I Doing?’ forms at regular intervals. The forms supported reflective practice through team members identifying how they performed in their roles.

This provided continuous opportunities to discuss learning, share good practice and set professional goals. For example, a pharmacy technician had used the form to set out their goal of progressing to become a qualified accuracy checking technician. Another team member had identified they needed to improve their knowledge of various minor ailments, so they could be better at helping people with these conditions. The process had been particularly successful in supporting newer team members settle into their roles by identifying learning as they settled in. Experienced team members acted as mentors to others through an internal buddy system. This approach helped newer team members complete their identified learning with appropriate support.

What difference this made to patients

Pharmacy team members are fully committed to engaging in continuous learning relevant to their role. This means people using the pharmacy receive up-to-date and relevant advice from knowledgeable team members.