NEWS: Mentoring programme for pharmacists supports them with career development
12 May 2021
Mentees on the Royal Pharmaceutical Society's mentoring programme reported in an evaluation that seeking support with career progression was a key motivation for joining the programme.
The mentoring programme was evaluated using a semi structured interview process with 20 participants on the programme. The report found;
“most mentees [were] seeking advice and support on career progression either within their role, or when they sought to move between different settings of practice”.
The programme has been running since 2010, and relaunched in 2019 with a new online platform which enables the participants to connect. The programme currently has approximately 1500 participants, and the main objective of the programme is to “support the professional and personal advancement of pharmacists, with a focus on career development”.
In an article about the programme's evaluation, the Pharmaceutical Journal reported:
"The study found that mentors tended to value “being able to contribute to the development of others and give back to the profession”, and some said it helped them to “reconnect with the profession”. They also generally felt that it was not a mentor’s role to tell a mentee what they should do, but rather to offer reassurance and encouragement.
Some mentors reported feeling confident in their role even if they did not have expertise in the specific subject area that their mentee was looking for, as long as they were able to signpost to suitable assistance. However, others did not feel comfortable mentoring unless they had that specific expertise."
Read the full article at the Pharmaceutical Journal website:
