Keele Pharmacy 2014

Anyone in first year pharmacy at keele in sept??

I'm going into second year in september if you have any questions

I am

Yes! I felt like I was the only one in the world haha

Yes.. Im starting in Sept first year..How was the first year? Was the work load intense and did you have placements? Any tips

Thanks

Hi

First year in my opinion was much better than the nightmare that was A levels! There was more things to complete: pre lab sheets, essays, report, projects, etc but it was easier to get a good mark in them. First year is concentrated on getting everyone up to the same level so they start right at the basics all over again.

We had one community pharmacy placement and one hospital pharmacy placement it was in a group and just observing and filling in a booklet on what we learnt.

My biggest tip! Don't leave things for the last minute and do most of your pebblepad portfolio (a diary kind of thing where you reflect on situations and talk about your feelings and what you learnt from them) in cycle 1 where you'll have more time. Cycle 2 was full of deadlines (but still not too bad don't panic!). Oh and also I think it's much better to print out the lecture slides (4 to a page and double sided to save money) before each lecture so you can write notes directly on top of it. I found making notes in a blank notebook difficult and often gave up half way through the lecture which isn't good. Then I started printing them out and it definitely helped

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Thank you so much!! Very helpful..

About placement...The community and hospital locations were far to travel? Do they provide transportation?

No they don't provide transport but it was just two days so its fine. The community pharmacy was the boots in festival park which is near to the university you can take two buses there but I took the taxi with 4 other people and we shared out the fare so it was cheaper than the bus.

With the hospital one it depends which hospital they choose for you mine was the nearby UHNS you can take one bus there but I took the taxi again as a group with other course mates.

You'll find if you have a group with you getting almost anywhere near Keele ends up cheaper and more convenient with a taxi (except alton towers that's cheaper by bus). There are bus routes to a lot of areas though.

You can get a 10 trip student bus pass for £14 so each trip comes to £1.40 instead of £1.70 and theres no time limit on them.