Become a pharmacy preceptor
What is a preceptor?
A preceptor can be a person who teaches, counsels, inspires, mentors or supports the growth and development of an individual for a period of time with the specific purpose of socialising the novice into a new role.
The Sydney Pharmacy School is continuingly seeking pharmacy preceptors working in the profession to work one-on-one with our students in the professional setting.
What is required?
Preceptors are responsible for guiding and supporting clinical placement students primarily through being a role model for professional behaviour.
This includes orientating students to the work environment, looking for learning opportunities and providing feedback to the student and university regarding student progress and performance.
All preceptors are required to sign a Student Placement Agreement that defines expectations and provides the legal framework for having students on site.
Students often return to their training site after graduation as an employee. Past preceptors report that mentoring and training novice practitioners is a gratifying experience.
- Introduce student to site and other staff members.
- Provide students with Work Health and Safety requirements.
Orientation assists in making the student feel part of the team and contribute to the professional socialisation process. We provide a short checklist in your preceptor package to make this process as easy as possible.
Setting expectations and goals at the beginning of clinical placements helps to establish the tone of the rest of the clinical placement and can be used to help identify areas to focus on during the placement. This should be a two-way conversation:
- What are your expectations of the student?
- What does the student expect from their experience?
Although the student portfolio can be used to help guide this process, we appreciate that every site is different with a variety of learning opportunities on offer.
Provide students with regular feedback to help improve their learning and enrich their experience. This could be informal or more formalised depending on your preference.
Preceptors are required to complete an online student evaluation on their performance after the placement which goes towards their clinical placement mark.
Who can become a preceptor?
Preceptor opportunities are not limited to pharmacists. We welcome the placement opportunities within a range of practice settings:
- community
- hospital
- specialist medical clinics
- aged care facilities
- professional organisations
- pharmaceutical industry.
If you wish to become a preceptor or for further information, contact pharmacy.placement@sydney.edu.au, +61 2 9351 8957 or
+61 2 8627 0407.