Pre‐registration pharmacist tutor training: a pilot study

BACKGROUND: The quality and variability of pre‐registration pharmacist training has been questioned in recent years, with many trainees reporting dissatisfaction with their training experiences. A pilot training event aimed at pre‐registration tutors from all sectors of practice was developed by Health Education England North East (HEENE) in 2016 to address some of these issues, with the overall aim of developing and preparing new tutors for the role of the tutor. CONTEXT: Quantitative data were collected via questionnaires given to the participants before and after training. The questions focused on participants’ perceptions of their competence as a tutor across a range of domains, such as assessing trainee progress in the workplace, providing feedback and reflective practice. Interviews were subsequently held with a subset of participants to help understand the key themes and responses. INNOVATION: Results were overwhelmingly positive, with participants reporting an increased level of confidence in their role, having made positive changes to their practice as a tutor. The only domain that did not show a positive shift after training was ‘undertaking of reflective practice’. Participants attributed this to the lack of protected time in the workplace to support reflective practice. The quality and variability of pre‐registration pharmacist training has been questioned in recent years IMPLICATIONS: Results from this evaluation imply that this tutor training event was felt to be worthwhile, met the needs that it was developed to address and has the potential to have a positive impact on the standardisation of pharmacist pre‐registration tutor training nationally. Areas for improvement centre on external factors relevant to pharmacists’ daily practice, such as being allocated time in (or outside of) the workplace to support personal development.