Program Design

Practice Areas

The residency provides rotations which can be tailored to the interests, career goals, and experience of the resident. A variety of established practice settings are available throughout the University of North Carolina Hospitals and Clinics.

Required Rotations

Required rotations are foundational cardiovascular clinical experiences. These are considered to be areas wherein the resident cannot successfully complete the PGY2 residency without acceptable mastery.

The following clinical rotations are required for successful completion of the residency:

  • Residency Orientation - 1 month (July)

  • General Cardiology (MDC-1) (Intermediate and floor care areas) – 1 month

  • General Cardiology with Cardiac Intensive Care Unit  (MDC-2) – 1 month

  • Advanced Heart Failure/LVAD (MDD-1) – 1 month

  • Cardiac Surgery ICU (SRS-1) - 1 month

  • Advanced Heart Failure & Cardiac Surgery (Intermediate and floor care areas) (MDD-2/SRS-2) – 1 month

  • Cardiology Ambulatory Care Clinics (Concentrated) - 1 month

  • Cardiology Ambulatory Care Clinics (Longitudinal) –½ day per week longitudinal, approximately 10 months of the residency year. This half day per week will be completed in one of the following clinic areas: heart failure, hyperlipidemia, hypertension, transitions of care, or CV risk reduction.

The resident may opt to repeat any of the above rotations during any calendar months that remain after selection of their desired elective months, to a maximum of 3 total months per required rotation.

Elective Rotations

Elective rotations are designed to broaden the resident’s experience in patient populations with unique problems related to cardiovascular diseases or to enhance the resident’s ability to perform in a faculty position after residency.

The following rotations are elective and are optional for successful completion of the residency:

  • Inpatient Heart Transplant – 1 month

  • Medicine Intensive Care Unit (MICU) – 1 month

  • Electrophysiology – 1 month

  • LVAD/Heart Transplant Ambulatory Clinics – 1 month

  • School of Pharmacy/Academia – 1 month

  • Benign Hematology/Coagulation Consults – 2 weeks

  • Emergency Department – 2 weeks

  • Pediatric Cardiac ICU/Pediatric Cardiology – 2 weeks

The residency year will be scheduled such that required rotations comprise the entirety of the first 6 months of the year. Elective rotations and repeated required rotations will generally be scheduled in the second 6 months of the residency year.

 

Process Improvement Project(s)

The Cardiology PGY2 resident will be expected to take a leadership role in the improvement of one or more cardiovascular medication-related processes, such as electronic medication order management (order sets, order panels, clinical pathways), medication safety activities, creation of (or updates to existing) cardiovascular medication usage guidelines, and evaluation of new cardiovascular medications for formulary inclusion via Pharmacy & Therapeutics committee approval.  Appropriate activities in this category will be identified with the assistance of the RPD and appropriate goals and deadlines will be set for the resident.

 

Residency Writing Project (optional)

The resident will have the option (after discussion with RPD to determine appropriateness) to pursue the writing of a manuscript comprising a comprehensive review of a relevant cardiovascular pharmacotherapeutic area. 

 

Teaching Responsibilities

Each resident will earn an appointment as a Clinical Instructor with the University of North Carolina Eshelman School of Pharmacy. Residents are required to participate as a teaching assistant (TA) for at least one Eshelman School of Pharmacy (ESOP) class. This class will be directed toward second or third year student pharmacists, with a planned emphasis on CV medication education. Successful completion of 1 semester of the above TA responsibilities is required for completion of the residency.

Teaching experiences are also integrated with patient care experiences as part of precepting responsibilities on clinical rotations. Residents will be given the opportunity to serve as intermediate preceptor of 2nd, 3rd, and/or 4th year ESOP students who are completing the same rotation as the resident. Emphasis will be placed on educating the resident on the core precepting principles of direct instruction, modeling, coaching and facilitating.  Successful completion of at least 2 precepting months is required for completion of the residency.

Opportunities to lead small-group recitation sessions and participate in didactic lectures in a variety of venues are encouraged. Various teaching opportunities exist within the School of Pharmacy, Medicine, Physician Assistant and Nursing curricula; the resident and preceptors will work to identify specific didactic teaching experiences for which the resident may assume responsibility.

Seminars and Professional Meetings

All residents will present 2 different 30-minute ACPE-approved continuing education (CE) seminars over the course of the year. Each ACPE-approved CE presentation is held once and is open for the public to attend. Successful completion of both CEs is required for completion of the residency.

Each resident is encouraged to attend the American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP) Annual Meeting (usually in October or November) and a national cardiology meeting (e.g., American College of Cardiology).  The resident’s research project results will be targeted for presentation at one of the national cardiology meetings.

Requirements for Program Completion

In order to receive a certificate of Residency completion, residents must complete all requirements specified in the appointment agreement:

  • Complete all scheduled learning experiences
  • Receive an evaluation score of “Achieved for the Residency” (ACHR) for at least 85% of PharmAcademic objectives required by the program
  • Complete a one year research project or a pre-specified part of a multi-year research project, including all of the following: data retrieval, data analysis, formal presentation (poster OR platform) at a local/regional/national forum, creation of a draft manuscript in publishable quality, project proposal submission, creation of a data collection tool, and IRB submission (if appropriate).
  • Prepare and submit for publication consideration a minimum of one manuscript based on work conducted during the residency year
  • Contribute approximately 400 hours of staffing support to the department through weekday, weekend, day/evening and holiday clinical and/or operational staffing requirements based on departmental need
  • Attend at least 8 hours of resident CE programming
  • Complete all evaluations in PharmAcademic, ASHP's approved tool
  • Provide 2 x 30-minute ACPE accredited CE programs for pharmacists and/or pharmacy technicians within and outside the UNC Department of Pharmacy
  • Participate in required departmental “on-call” services as necessary to support departmental functions
  • Serve as a support resource/teaching assistant at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy during at least one semester of the academic year
  • Serve on a designated hospital or health system committee as assigned by the program
  • Complete a medication use evaluation or quality improvement project
  • Document completion of the PGY2 Cardiology program appendix as required by ASHP
  • Completion of all PGY2-focused POD topic discussions (unless absence approved by RPD)
  • Independently teach four PGY1/PY4 POD sessions
  • Assist a preceptor with the peer review of an external manuscript submission
  • Act as a preceptor for a UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy student or UNC PGY1 resident (under supervision of primary preceptor) for a minimum of 2 rotation months
  • Upload files to document completion of all required residency components into Pharmacademic (CE, MUE, research project, data collection tool, manuscript, IRB, research proposal, appendix completion, etc.)

For more information, contact:

Ian Hollis, PharmD, FCCP, BCPS

Residency Program Director, Cardiology Specialty Residency