Overview: Philosophy & Goals

Philosophy

The PGY1 residency program provides in-depth professional, patient directed training and experience at the post-graduate level. It offers the resident the opportunity and stimulus to develop, to the highest degree attainable, his/her professional expertise as a clinical practitioner, emphasizing skills required to optimally deliver pharmaceutical care. In addition, the resident will be exposed to the management of a pharmacy department and gain insight into the responsibility one has toward accepting leadership and making a contribution back to the profession of pharmacy.

A basic tenet of our philosophy of training is that while being experientially based and focused, the residency program does not exist exclusively to provide service to the department or hospital per se. All service components of the department’s program can function in the absence of residents’ participation. Residents are critical to our department’s vitality and professional development.

They are expected to contribute substantially to the achievement of the department’s mission through active and innovative participation in assigned projects which also meet residency training objectives. We do not believe that these are mutually exclusive.

An overarching goal of the residency training program is the development of a personal philosophy of practice which will facilitate the provision of pharmaceutical care in their respective careers. This is guided by critical thought and patient advocacy in all aspects of drug therapy.

The residency program is designed to comply with the officially published accreditation standards of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP). Efforts to provide the specific training and guidance that is optimal for a particular resident are extended whenever appropriate, feasible and mutually agreed upon by the resident, Program Director and Pharmacy Director. A demonstrable desire to learn, a sincere career commitment to pharmacy practice, and a dedication to fully meeting all objectives and requirements of the program and the department are basic expectations of all residents.

The PGY1 residency program is designed and structured to provide the organized health care practice community and the pharmacy profession with knowledgeable, creative and resourceful practitioners who will be able to fulfill a range of pharmaceutical care responsibilities.

Residents are expected to actively and directly participate in a balanced array of clinical and practice management activities during required assignments. This participation may take the form of weekend/holiday presence and/or projects directly related to the provision of patient care services and/or participation in Department of Pharmacy programs.

Preceptors are responsible for assuring that this participation provides the resident with a high degree of project and/or patient specific case management involvement. Projects are assigned or selected with the dual purpose of benefit to patients and learning/experiential value to the resident. Appropriate guidance and instruction is provided by the preceptor while the resident is participating in such activities, as well as during learning experiences such as lectures, conferences, in-services and seminars. Other relevant activities include departmental evaluation, planning, and clinical service implementation efforts, and interdepartmental activities.

Mission and Goals

The primary mission of the PGY1 residency program is to train the resident to be a competent, patient-oriented pharmacist who can optimally contribute to a pharmacy department and to a clinical practice that embraces the concept of pharmaceutical care.

To achieve this, the program provides:

1. Experiences to develop expertise in the identification, resolution and prevention of pharmacotherapeutic problems to achieve desired therapeutic outcomes.
2. Opportunities to formulate concepts from accumulated knowledge and experience and to apply and extrapolate these concepts to the improvement of pharmacy services and professional practice.
3. Opportunities to gain insight into the formulation of research questions and in the methodology involved in answering the questions.
4. Insight into the management of a Department of Pharmacy in a large teaching medical center and how clinical services are documented and justified.
5. Opportunities to develop teaching and communication skills in designated areas of practice.
6. Conferences, lectures and selected practice experiences designed to give a proper perspective of pharmacy practice as it relates to the total health care needs of patients.
7. An awareness and limited experience in integrating the goals and objectives of pharmacy services with hospital-wide and/or health system goals and objectives.
8. Experience and development of pre-determined levels of competence in applying professional knowledge through direct interactions with other health professionals and patients.
9. A means of providing for the continued development of pharmacy staff through educational and professional example/leadership.

**Specific objectives within the residency rotations appear in separate sections of the manual.