A Pharmacy student has said the emphasis on patient care at De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) has helped her land a dream pre-registration placement working in a community pharmacy.
Shahd Abdelaziz believes the focus of the DMU course on helping patients gives students the best chance of succeeding in this competitive area.
She will begin her pre-registration training year at a local community pharmacy after graduating in July, and is excited about the training she will receive, including the opportunity to work alongside GPs at local surgeries and also being involved in public health awareness campaigns.
It was the career prospects offered by the DMU Pharmacy course that attracted Shahd to DMU. She said: "I chose to study here because the Pharmacy course had been recently reaccredited by the General Pharmaceutical Council and was one of only a couple of universities whose course had been reviewed in line with its new set of standards.
"This appealed to me personally and professionally."
During her time at DMU, Shahd has benefited from work placements in community and hospital pharmacies and has most enjoyed gaining a broader understanding of patient care.
"The patient is at the centre of everything we do," she said. "While there is competition between Pharmacy graduates for pre-registration places, DMU gives you the best chance of succeeding."
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The fourth year student has found the staff to be supportive and highly rates the personal tutor system. However, her advice to students is not just to rely on staff and tutors but to be pro-active about their learning and career, taking advantage of every opportunity.
This is the philosophy that led to her greatest achievement - co-organising a six-day conference for the British Pharmaceutical Students' Association (BPSA) in 2013. The association is the only national body that solely represents pharmacy students and pre-registration trainee pharmacists and Shahd was part of the team that won the bid to host the annual event at DMU - for the first time since 1993.
Not only did this improve Shahd's skill set, as it involved so many areas such as booking accommodation and entertainment and organising delegates, it also helped raise awareness of DMU, with 26 of the 29 BPSA member schools represented.
She said: "We had debates and hosted the chief executive of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society Helen Gordon, companies such as Boots and the National Pharmacy Association. It was a nice way to show off DMU and Leicester."
The event proved such a success that fellow final-year student Beenish Chaudry was inspired to run for the BPSA the following year. Beenish is now putting the finishing touches to a national conference taking place at DMU on Saturday.
Posted on Wednesday 9 March 2016