February 15–16, 2011, Washington, DC
This conference provided a forum for identifying ways to bring the supply of accredited pharmacy residency training programs in better balance with the demand for such training.
Participants [PDF] from a variety of health care settings reviewed current issues affecting expansion of residency programs, identified opportunities for expanding program capacity, explored new and current residency models, and made recommendations to accelerate the rate of expansion to meet the needs of the public and the profession.
The convenors were the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP), working with their partner organizations in accrediting pharmacy residency programs: the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP), American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP), Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP), and American Pharmacists Association (APhA).
All participants were selected by the stakeholder organizations because of their experience with pharmacy residency programs and/or ability to influence pharmacy residency change. They represent a wide variety of practice settings and/or organizations interested in accredited pharmacy residency programs.
Presentations and Survey Data
Presentations provided background information for the participants. Additionally a survey was sent in January 2011 to all the participants and all the residency program directors (RPD) in programs in the ASHP Accreditation Process.
Recommendations
Three different break out groups looked at various issues surrounding increasing capacity. All groups were to make sure that competencies of residency graduates were not compromised while making their recommendations to increase capacity.
- New Models Recommendations related to development of new pharmacy residency models that received high feasibility and high impact from the participants included:
- Increasing ratios beyond the current 1:1 preceptor to resident ratio
- Introducing the concept of an “attending pharmacist” similar to the medical model that would oversee several residents
- Introducing the concept of the resident is a “practitioner learner” as the resident is already a licensed pharmacists advancing themselves, perhaps autonomy occurs sooner in the residency training
- Allowing new administrative oversight to help more programs develop
- Use of distance technology to support remote rotations
- New Models Discussion prior to Recommendations [PDF]
- New Models recommendations [PDF]
- Existing Models Recommendations related to maximizing existing residency models that received high feasibility and high impact from the participants included:
- Development of tools to start to expand residencies, targeted by different practice settings
- Develop an outreach programs for targeted areas of expansion (300-500 bed hospitals, colleges of pharmacy not involved in residency training, chain drug stores, managed care organizations, etc.)
- New Models Discussion prior to Recommendations [PDF]
- New Models recommendations [PDF]
- Future Needs Recommendations related to future needs were the most controversial and had fewer areas where the participants agreed that recommendations were highly feasible and had high impact. The one area the participants thought met these criteria was that the profession needed to create a coordinated pharmacy imperative to expand capacity (residency support, advocacy, etc.)
Reference Readings
Reflections
Residency Funding Opportunities
New opportunities for funding residencies are occurring in 2011, a brief summary of these opportunities can be found below