Kyle Stevens - Professional Profile
A Self-Summary
Hello, my name is Kyle. I am a Foundation Pharmacist working within the Cardiff and Vale area. I have a great interest in Clinical Pharmacy, bolstered by my experiences on placement that I underwent within secondary care throughout Wales. The application of science in healthcare is one of my biggest interests, and I believe that utilising that daily in the interests of patient well-being will lead to a satisfying and valuable career to both myself and the NHS. A core value that I hold is that nothing happens without reason, and that root cause should always be addressed if possible. This allows for the correct management of issues regarding both medical treatment and barriers in communication.
University Experiences
As one of the first to undertake a prescribing course integrated with my foundation year, I have seen the transition throughout my years on the MPharm towards a highly clinical role. Cardiff University prepared us for this with many weeks of clinical placement, undertaking an active role in each environment, being empowered to make supervised judgements on patient care.
My time at university was an enjoyable learning experience, but also a time of great personal growth. I undertook positions within the Student Staff Panel and the Mentoring Scheme. I had two reasons to volunteer for these roles:
- I believed in helping others to feel represented and supported, to benefit the next generation of Pharmacists in their development.
- I wanted to undertake experiences that would push me outside of my comfort zone, as I identified that my public-speaking and communication skills were not as strong as I wanted them to be.
Whilst I was glad to help others in pursuing their degree, the personal development I received through taking on these roles helped me become a more confident person, and a more effective communicator. This showed tangible benefits within my OSCEs when speaking to simulated patients, and whilst speaking to patients and staff on placements.
My efforts within the university resulted in myself being short-listed for the Student Leadership category at the Welsh Pharmacy Awards 2024. This was an incredibly proud moment for myself - and showed me all of the various ways in which pharmacy teams were being recognised for the provision of outstanding services and care. It was a great formative experience overall.
I was awarded the Christine Davis Prize upon graduating, for my contributions to life within the School of Pharmacy at Cardiff University, which I was honoured to receive. This recognised my role as the Chair of the Student Staff Panel, of which I was a member for 4 years, and the various responsibilities that this involved; such as making sure that information was communicated widely to the approx. 500 students of the MPharm, running a study skills lecture for first-year student pharmacists, and chairing regular meetings to interface between student representatives and a panel of staff members.
Placement Experiences
Alongside the many weeks of placement that I had throughout the duration of my degree education, I underwent two optional placements, one consisting of six weeks as a paid dispenser-equivalent in a Well Pharmacy as part of their summer placement scheme, and the other consisting of a week's observational summer placement in Torbay Hospital.
The six weeks at the Well Pharmacy were really enlightening, and took place after my first year at university. It helped me to work on my confidence providing person-centred care, whilst it gave me a great understanding of all the different processes that take place in a smaller community pharmacy. Whilst I was there, I did a mix of counter work and the dispensing process, and gave customers advice under supervision of the Pharmacist. I was given some free time that I decided to use to re-organise the layout of the pharmacy shelves in order to improve productivity, and relabelled them to improve clarity in workflow.
The week that I spent at Torbay Hospital was used to learn and explore various wards, and to see whether Hospital Pharmacy was right for me ahead of my Oriel choices prior to the fourth year of the MPharm. It was a productive experience which steered me in the direction of secondary care, whilst brushing up on my clinical knowledge for my final year.
Foundation Year Pharmacy
As I took part in the first Welsh prescribing foundation year, I had three placements throughout the year. The first was 3 months in a GP in Barry called West Quay Medical Centre, the second was 3 months in Boots - Cardiff Queen Street, and the third was 6 months in the University Hospital of Wales.