Comparing our studies and jobs

Hello
I'm a French student in Pharmacy and I'd like to exchange with you about the studies and the job of pharmacist in England.
How long do the studies last in UK? When and how do you choose your course between industry, hospital and community pharmacy? What are the jobs of a community pharmacist? ...
Thank you for your answers
(PS: sorry if I've made some mistakes, I'm still learning English)

Reply 1

demetria

I've not actually started yet but the course is 4 years long (at university) plus a year of training (pre-registration) in a pharmacy setting, you get paid for this but you have an exam you have to pass at the end :smile:

Reply 2

Frenchpharma

Thank you Demetria. Do you know which subjects you'll study? Chemistry, biology (animal, vegetal biology...), pharmacology...?

Reply 3

demetria

If you mean in uni then yeah there's chemistry, biology, maths, pharmacology, lots about the laws around pharmacy, but as I haven't started yet I'm sure someone else who's actually doing the course will be able to help a bit more :smile:

How long does it take to be fully qualified in France?

Reply 4

Frenchpharma

It takes 6 years to be fully qualified in France. We spend the fifth year between hospital (in the morning) and university (the afternoon), and while the second half of the sixth year we have a practice in industry or in a community pharmacy (it depends on which course we choosed).
Merry Christmas.

Reply 5

deedee123

A community pharmacist is pretty dull, you take tablets out of a drawer and put them in a bag, take abuse off of the general public and give advice to people with health conditions. A lot also provide services like EHC and flu jabs etc.

Reply 6

Frenchpharma

Hello deedee, what's EHC?

Reply 7

F1's Finest

Original post by Frenchpharma

Hello deedee, what's EHC?

Hello

I'm a first year student and so far, the first year of the course has alot of biology involved (human physiology, living cell, microbiology, genes+chromosomes, biochemistry+synthesis). Those are the biology modules we do this year. We do organic chemistry but not as much as the biology we cover. We also have to learn how to read prescriptions and print off bag labels etc, but it's only first year so we'll be doing more interesting things later on.

We do therapautics and more pharmacology in year 2 and 3. It's a fun course if you genuinely enjoy the modules but there's alot of work to get through.

Reply 8

Frenchpharma

Do you have some practice before year 5?

Reply 9

F1's Finest

Original post by Frenchpharma

Do you have some practice before year 5?

Year 5? Do you mean the pre-registration year? The actual degree is for four years, but for the fifth year, you have to find a place in a hospital/community pharmacy to do your training year.

And yes, you do get to go on placements near the summer time. I've got mine for around July time at a local hospital. Everyone on the Pharmacy course has placements.

Reply 10

deedee123

Original post by Frenchpharma

Hello deedee, what's EHC?

Emergency Hormonal Contraception. :smile:

Reply 11

Frenchpharma

Thank you for your answers. I was meaning the pre-registration year James :smile:

(about year 5). It looks better to study pharmacy in England than in France, it's more concrete with the placements, are the placements every summer? In France we have a selection at year 1, only some students can move up in year two (the number depends on the university), do you have the same system in England or does everybody can move up to the upper year?

Reply 12

thegodofgod

Original post by Frenchpharma

Thank you for your answers. I was meaning the pre-registration year James :smile:

The summer placements are all pretty much down to the individual, i.e. they're not actually a part of the course - it's like doing a voluntary internship in order to improve your chances of finding a pre-registration pharmacist place once you've graduated.

In the UK, as long as you pass the exams, you will be able to go in to the next year.

Reply 13

Frenchpharma

ok, and is it easy to find a job as community pharmacist in UK after passing the certificate?

Reply 14

Rx_Sarcasm

I think its certainly getting more competitive applying for jobs, and locum wages are falling due to that.
I think most people get jobs eventually, so long as you keep trying!
Although I went into hospital pharmacy, so what do I know!

So what's it like to work as a pharmacist in France? Especially in hospital pharmacy?
Not too different from the UK I imagine, but I hear in Germany, for example, they do a lot of extemporaneous preparations, which we don't tend to do in the UK.

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(edited 10 years ago)