Learning from role models

Participants were all exposed, to varying degrees, to both positive and negative role models whilst on their placements. Depending on the participant and their values and personality, they took various things from this. Most participants

saw things they admired in positive role models and aimed to 'be like that one day’, and used the negative aspects to determine how they did not want to be. The process of learning from role models can also be described in terms of its properties and dimensions, as shown in the table below:

Table 8.5: Table summarising the properties and dimensions of learning from role models

Property Dimension

Appraisal of role model Disapproval---Approval (unprofessional) (professional) Emulation of role model Do not emulate---Emulate

Participants observed the role model’s behaviour and made a conscious decision about how they want to be as a pharmacist. Role models were usually another senior member of staff in the pharmacy, but they could also be family members;

“My mum’s an accountant, she’s self-employed and she’s always going out in suits and things” #5, p7.

“What’s wrong with strappy tops and mum said well it’s not very professional is it?” #4, p20.

8.3.2.1. Appraisal of role model

Examples of role modelling that participants viewed as positive and therefore approved of, included effective communication with colleagues and patients, good knowledge, professional dress, being part of the team and going the extra mile:

“He used to always ask them and communicate with them like are you OK, how are you feeling today, how’s this, how’s that so

he used to like proper try and get to the bottom of everything […] I wanna go that little mile extra not just do the basic job” #1, p7. “That’s what I liked about him and he’s really like organised in his way of thinking and how he’d check prescriptions and everything.” #3, p11.

“They want to see her because they know it would get resolved […] So whenever supervisor was talking I always observe(d) the conversation and I would think oh OK we could do it this way” #6, p16.

“The acute pharmacist, she was just so good. I was like, she’s like my, she’s like my role model for what I want to become when I’m a pharmacist.” #7, p9.

One participant summed all of the qualities of a professional pharmacist up in one statement, a description of what he called his ‘all round pharmacist’:

“(Someone) who people want to work with […] Somebody who always does things professionally like they’ll perhaps come in when they’ve got a day off or something because they know that if they don’t do this job that nobody else has got the training to do it […] It’s clear they’ve got a lot of knowledge ‘cause they know all the background about it […] If you go on a ward round with them as well then they can speak to patients in a normal way. They can like be chatty, gets patients to be forthcoming with information rather than having to drag it out of them and I suppose you could almost say that’s being an all-round pharmacist.” #8, p16.

Participants were also clear about how they had come to these conclusions about the characteristics of a good pharmacist:

“I’d have to say it’s largely come from my experiences seeing other pharmacists such as the one I just described […] I’m just thinking one person in particular but I will have been influenced in what I view a good pharmacist to be in other ways from different people.” #8, p17.

All participants were also able to discuss examples they had seen of role modelling, which they had disapproved of, with examples such as a lack of punctuality, organisation and knowledge, and the pharmacist only wanting to check dispensed items:

“I think he’d forgotten because he was a locum and he’d been locuming for six or seven years […] So he’d lost, I think he’d lost his clinical knowledge. “ #2, p12.

“One pharmacist who used to come in like so late, and like late as in 45 minutes late, like almost every day and then used to have breaks for like 40 minutes. He never used to take his bleep with him and like everyone used to be like where is he? Where is he? And it was like so unprofessional.” #1, p9.

“If all you’re doing is checking prescriptions and doing the odd MUR and NMS, I’d say you’re not really doing the professionalism a lot of justice” #10, p16.

Participants also became aware that pharmacists could be very professional in one sense of the word, but have what they considered to be unprofessional traits. This caused some difficulties to participants as they realised that there was not a clear distinction between professional and unprofessional pharmacists:

8.3.2.2. Emulation of role model

Participants thought explicitly about how they wanted to be when qualified, and all aimed to emulate pharmacists who they considered to be very professional and good role models.

“I used to always look at him and think that’s the kind of pharmacist I want to be.” #1, p7.

“Sometimes you do watch other people’s consultations and think that that’s a good way to do it so maybe I’ll try that next time.” #4, p5.

“So if I was with them and we saw something that we both didn’t have a clue about and then I could watch what they did in order to solve that.” #2, p9.

“I want people to say she’s the approachable one and I don’t mind asking her for help because there’s no, that’s how problems get solved. I wouldn’t want people to be worried about coming to me with anything and I want a good reputation so people trust my decisions.” #7, p9.

No participants wanted to behave unprofessionally, that is, none of the participants interviewed said that they had seen ‘professional’ role modelling on placement and actively decided that they would behave in the opposite manner

One participant however, was particularly interesting with respect to her response to seeing what she considered to be unprofessional behaviour in pharmacists, such as unprofessional dress and lateness. She began to behave in this negative way, despite feeling it was unprofessional herself:

“We were late […] I’d see pharmacists coming in five or ten minutes late as well” #2, p31.

She was clear that this was due to the way she had seen qualified pharmacists behave;

“They’re sort of our role models aren’t they so we just sort of do follow what they do whether it’s right or wrong.” #2, p37.

She felt that as a student she could behave a certain way, be knowingly unprofessional, but that when she became a pharmacist she would change:

“We kind of took advantage (Respondent: and Interviewer: laughing)

OK so as students you can take advantage of that?

Yes (laughing)

But you wouldn’t take advantage of that as a pharmacist?

Probably not no” #2, p33.

This was a conscious process the participants undertook (see Section 9.1.3); what was not clear, was whether the mentors they encountered were aware of the effect their behaviour had on the participants. This could be summarised as the “do as I say, not as I do” effect.