Ayoub is a Pharmacist Support ambassador who recently graduated from Swansea University. He’s just started his trainee foundation year in south Wales on a multi-sector split placement. Over the next year, he’ll be documenting his journey of the trainee year – from how he’s balancing working, revising and wellbeing, to how he’s getting mentally prepared for his assessment … and everything else in between!

In this article, he shares why he got into pharmacy and his reflections for the year ahead. Prefer to watch? Head over to our YouTube channel to hear directly from Ayoub and gain access to other wellbeing resources!

Hello, my name is Ayoub. I recently graduated from Swansea University, and I am about to begin my foundation training year in South Wales on a multi-sector split placement.

The reason why I wanted to pursue pharmacy is because of my interest in science and healthcare, but what’s kept me here is the opportunity to make a real difference in patients’ lives through communication and empathy and clinical knowledge. Over time I’ve become especially interested in hospital pharmacy and education, and one of my professional goals in the future is to hopefully become a teacher practitioner where I can combine my clinical work with hopefully training the next generation of pharmacists.

My hopes for this training year are to build confidence in my clinical decision making and hopefully give me a clear picture of where I see myself long term. My worries for this training year are, like many others, I do feel a bit nervous about the transition and adapting to new environment as well as managing the workload and evidences. To overcome these challenges, I plan to stay organised and reflective, ask questions early and often and lean on my support networks of friends, family and supervisors.

The piece of advice that I’d give to someone struggling with the start of the training year is to take things one day at a time and remember that no one expects you to know everything straight away. Most importantly, I’d say if you’re struggling, make sure to reach out for help because chances are someone else has been through the same thing and can support you.