September 2002
People

Pharmacy students enjoys journalistic experience

Former Pharmacy student Kathryn Marsh has enjoyed a months-paid placement at 'Chemist and Druggist' magazine, in London, where she gained an invaluable insight into pharmaceutical journalism.

Kathryn wanted to gain some experience in writing articles before she began her new job as the editor of the BPSA's 'Future Pharmacist' magazine.

Kathryn said: "It was important to be aware of what would be involved by having some first hand experience of the writing techniques, magazine production, dealing with deadlines and commissioning articles. A month in print helped me to keep up to date with this and community pharmacy."

At first Kathryn said the style was not an easy one to adopt as she found her style was too 'scientific' and had to take some constructive criticism to put her on the right tracks. 'Chemist and Druggist' had to be in a clear style for the readers to relate to and understand. Through this she found out a lot about what the public were interested in reading.

A month of work experience proved very important in developing the skills she gained from her degree course and to be able to use her qualifications in different ways.

Kathryn said: "I couldn't imagine using my Pharmacy degree in a way not directly involving patients."

Kathryn said it proved to be a great career move and would highly recommend it because it gave her more ideas of the opportunities her Pharmacy degree offered. At the same time she gained a lot of independence from living in the busy capital.

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