I don’t think many people dream of becoming a pharmacist when they’re young. They might want to be a doctor, superhero or actor, but not a pharmacist. At one point, I wanted to become a singer - but being tone deaf put a stop to that.

And now I’m studying for my next-best dream: to become a pharmacist. I’m in the process of applying for summer placements next year, in preparation for my pre-registration year.

I feel very fortunate because I have had lot of extra work experience during my time at university. I have been able to work in a hospital pharmacy and in a number of community pharmacies – both independent and multiple.

So, you would think I would know exactly where I would like to undertake my pre-registration year. But, no – what I have learnt is that there are pros and cons to community and hospital settings.

Reading the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) survey of pre-registration students, I was surprised to see the difference in experiences between the two settings. The survey results suggested hospital pharmacy outperforms community in pre-registration placements: 89% of hospital trainees rated their quality of training as good compared to 74% of their community counterparts. I would really like to know more about why these differences occurred.

One of the points raised by dissatisfied students was that trainees aren’t always treated as such. I spoke to a community pharmacist recently and, to my disappointment, she agreed with this statement. I can see how easily this can happen from my time in busy community pharmacies, where prescription volume is high and targets need to be met. Although the pharmacists were keen to engage with students, work pressures made it very difficult for them to find the time to do so and the trainees found themselves being used as an extra pair of hands.

This may also explain why, according to the GPhC findings, nearly one in five community pharmacy trainees rated their quality of support as poor or very poor. The time needed to feed back to a tutee is hard to fit in around a demanding schedule, when your skills as a pharmacist are needed elsewhere.

It was hard for me to read that only 69% of trainees felt the pre-registration year prepared them for the qualifying exam and 78% felt it prepared them for their role as pharmacists. Although the percentages aren’t low, I had expected them to be higher. The thought of being a pharmacist and not feeling confident in my knowledge and skills or adequately prepared worries me.

Reading the GPhC survey has definitely opened my eyes and I now realise what I want to get out of my pre-registration year. I may not know exactly where I want to practice or what type of placement it will be, but I know what I want to avoid. And anything that leaves me feeling unprepared to pursue my ambition of becoming a pharmacist will definitely not count as a successful pre-registration year.

Hannah-Mair James is a third-year student at the University of Bath School of Pharmacy

Read more by Hannah-Mair James

What was your pre-reg year like?