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Reflection on practice: are you a professional?

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Reflection on practice: are you a professional?

Appraisals are a good opportunity to gain feedback from your employer, says Joanne Taylor, but it’s equally important to evaluate how you view yourself

Now that we are well into 2015 and heading towards the end of the financial year, many companies take this time to roll out staff appraisals. Some staff can be wary of appraisals, but they often run alongside Personal Development Plans (PDPs), which are an excellent way of looking at your own role and how you can improve. Many companies use what’s called a 360 degree appraisal, where feedback from colleagues is also considered. But perhaps the real question is: how do you view yourself? Are you proud to be a registered pharmacy technician? How do you prove yourself to be an integral part of the pharmacy team?

As a registered pharmacy technician, you should consider yourself to be a professional, but do you? ‘Professional’ is defined as ‘belonging to a profession; skilful and conscientious; doing something for payment, not as a pastime. A professional worker or player’, while the term ‘profession’ is defined as ‘occupation requiring advanced learning; people engaged in this’. Therefore, a pharmacy technician definitely fits into these definitions. Some people consider that part of being a professional is belonging to a professional body, and pharmacy technicians in the UK are fortunate to have such a group – the Association of Pharmacy Technicians UK (APTUK). APTUK provides a chance to network with likeminded pharmacy technicians, attend the annual conference and perhaps join a local branch – which are all opportunities for educational activities and CPD, as well as for building your PDP and contributing to your appraisal process.

So could being a part of your professional body make a difference to you or your career? Why not have a look on the APTUK website and see what the association may be able to do for you. APTUK aims to work on behalf of pharmacy technicians and in partnership with other pharmacy organisations to help deliver professional excellence. It has five commitments to members. These are:

  1. Respond to the needs of pharmacy technicians
  2. Provide CPD support and professional development
  3. Actively pursue professional networking and sharing of knowledge
  4. Promote pharmacy technicians through active response to healthcare policy
  5. Support advanced roles for pharmacy technicians. Find out more at the APTUK website

Joanne is a registered pharmacy technician and ACPT, and is professional standards lead at Vittoria Healthcare. She is national secretary for the Association of Pharmacy Technicians UK (APTUK), and is a member of the Medicines Rebalancing Programme Board at the Department of Health as well as TM’s editorial advisory panel.

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