Sarah Trust is a senior pharmacist, independent prescriber and DPP within NHS and has been a trainer for twenty-six years. As part of our Trainee ACTNow campaign, Sarah shares her best tips to make the most out of the foundation training year. Prefer to watch? Head over to our YouTube channel to hear from Sarah directly and and gain access to other wellbeing videos!

Say “yes” to every opportunity

Remember you’re supernumerary, so grasp every opportunity that’s given to you, such as watching a surgical operation, scrubbing up for theatres, shadowing a colleague or finding out how a clinic works. Observe different clinicians and consultation styles too. All of these can be the safest times to learn.

Take ownership of your own development and reflect regularly

Think about what’s gone well and what hasn’t gone well, and really try to step out of your comfort zone by asking for regular feedback. Also, consider keeping a reflective learning log and staying curious, focusing on understanding ‘why’ and not just ‘what’.

Be a team player from the start

Introduce yourself to everyone, learn people’s names and what their roles are, be approachable and never underestimate the value of being kind and reliable. Reliability is key: turn up on time, do what you say you’re going to do, act with integrity, listen first, ask questions and be willing to help. Strong relationships make learning easier and ultimately lead to overall better patient care.

Build relationships across the multidisciplinary team

This is also the time for you to start forming early connections with nurses, colleagues, social prescribers and anybody else that you’re going to be working with in the future – everybody has something to teach you. Show enthusiasm and willingness to learn from them too and you won’t go far wrong.

Prepare your finances from the beginning

Managing your budget is really important in your training year and it can feel financially challenging to do that. But remember you’ve been to university and making a simple budget really helps track your spending and prioritise essentials. Take advantage of student discounts or NHS discounts, which are aplenty and can be found on the Blue Light Card or health service discounts. You’ve got to plan for your assessment and registration costs as well as save money for emergencies, so keep separate funds for those too.

Overall, have a great time!

This is the best year of learning you’ll ever have and the time that you’ll be able to really grow into a profession that will give you a lot of fruit in the future.