Pharmacy Act, 1974 (Act No. 53 of 1974)

Purpose:

The learning programme is for those pharmacists wishing to register as a tutor to supervise the internship of a Pharmacist Intern or the in-service training of a Pharmacist’s Assistant.

The purpose of the qualification is to prepare and fully equip a pharmacist who is eligible to serve as a tutor with the knowledge and skills required to fulfil the role of tutor.

Rationale:

A pharmacy tutor is a practising pharmacist who serves as a role model for a Pharmacist Intern and/or during the in-service training of a Pharmacist’s Assistant. In addition to serving as a role model, the tutor will be required to participate in the mentoring of, structuring of the programme, and the assessment of the intern and/or Pharmacist’s Assistant.

The quality of internship/in-service training is dependent on the tutor. In order to provide consistency in the internship/in-service training experience, it is essential that tutors are suitably qualified, experienced and prepared for their role as mentors, role models and educators of interns and/or Pharmacist’s Assistants. The tutor should be supported and provided with the necessary knowledge and skills for the successful performance of their multifaceted role as a tutor.

The provision of training to tutors has been shown to improve the perceived ability to provide feedback, assess progress and manage a trainee who is not achieving the required progress2. Additionally, the assessment of the learning component of a training programme provided to tutors was considered by the tutors to be one of the most useful sections of the training programme, and is associated with an improvement in self-rated competence post training3. This supports the need for a training programme aimed at tutors.

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