Program Design

PGY1 Rotations

Orientation (1 month)
Family Medicine Inpatient Service (1 month)
Acute Care Medicine (1 month)
Ambulatory Care (1 month)
Critical Care (1 month)
Emergency Medicine (1 month)
Pediatrics (2 months)
Pharmacy Administration (1 month)
Drug Information (1 month)
Elective (2 months; may include 1 Research month)

PGY2 Rotations

Orientation (1 month)
Advanced Family Medicine Inpatient Service (1 month)
Infectious Diseases (1 month)
Ambulatory Care Medicine (2 months)
Critical Care (1 month)
Hematology/Oncology (2 months)
Elective (4 months, may include 1 Research month)
Longitudinal Ambulatory Care Clinic (one half-day per week or one full day every other week for the full year)

Clinical Staffing

The pharmacotherapy resident must complete an average of 400 hours of staffing during the course of each residency year. This commitment is fulfilled by staffing every third weekend and for 13-15 weekday evening shifts each residency year. The weekend staffing component occurs in the Pediatric Decentralized Pharmacy in the PGY1 year. Additionally, residents are responsible for staffing during one of three major holiday blocks (Thanksgiving, Christmas, or New Year’s) and one minor holiday (Labor Day, MLK, or Memorial Day).

In the PGY2 year, weekend staffing will shift to clinical pharmacist specialist positions. The specific staffing areas will vary somewhat year to year based on departmental needs. Staffing activities during both years include, but are not limited to, verifying patient-specific orders and medications, providing pharmacokinetic consults according to departmental policy, answering drug information questions, attending codes as the pharmacy member of the code team, providing patient education, and performing transitions of care responsibilities.

Research and Publication

The pharmacotherapy resident is required to complete one group flipped research project in the PGY1 year as well as an individual longitudinal research project conducted over the course of the 24-month combined program. The flipped project is conducted via a 2-step model. During the summer, PGY1 residents are assigned to an IRB approved research project and focus on collecting and summarizing data, analyzing results, and presenting findings at a regional or national meeting. During the second half of the residency year, residents prepare a research manuscript and poster or platform presentation. Parts of these research projects will be presented at the Vizient Annual Meeting, the Research in Education and Practice Symposium (REPS) or at specified specialty meetings as determined by the project advisor. In addition to conducting and presenting research, PGY1 residents are highly encouraged to submit a manuscript for publication over the course of the year.

The longitudinal research project spans both years of the program, with a usual duration of 18 months. The expectations for this extended project are to independently develop a research question and data collection plan, achieve approval from the hospital IRB, collect data, analyze results, and present findings at either REPS or an appropriate subspecialty societal meeting. Additionally, PGY2 residents are required to submit a manuscript for publication by the end of the year. The publication usually stems from research results but may be substituted with another article or textbook chapter as deemed appropriate by the resident and RPD.

Formulary Management

The pharmacotherapy resident will complete a drug monograph or drug class review during the PGY1 year as a component of the required Drug Information rotation. Development or revision of a departmental treatment guideline, protocol, or policy is required in the PGY2 year and is typically identified during a clinical rotation or via participation in departmental committees. The finalized guideline, protocol, or policy will be presented at the Acute Care Services Pharmacy Practice Counsel for approval and inclusion on the intradepartmental Clinical Resources webpage. The anticipated length of time to complete development or review of a treatment guideline, protocol, or policy is 10 hours.

Professional Education

Required professional education includes two 30 or 60 minute ACPE-approved continuing education presentations, one delivered during each year of the program, and one 60 minute case conference presentation in the PGY1 year. Case conferences are interactive, didactic, and case-based weekly educational sessions presented by PGY1 residents to an audience consisting of their peers.

Each case conference session has a designated clinical specialist to provide guidance and topic expertise. The PGY1 resident is also required to attend weekly case conferences throughout the year. The case conference presentation requires approximately 8 hours of preparation, and the average time to prepare each CE presentation is 20 hours.

Both PGY1 and PGY2 residents are incorporated into a layered learning practice model with student pharmacists, coresidents, and clinical specialists, which affords residents the opportunity to enhance their precepting skills. Precepting expectations vary by rotation and are determined by the primary preceptor based on each learner’s relative experience.

Other educational opportunities include multidisciplinary teaching in the outpatient and inpatient settings, POD discussions, and lecture opportunities with the Schools of Pharmacy and Nursing. POD discussions are group topic discussions held among learners on rotation in similar practice areas and are led either by residents or a preceptor specializing in that topic.

Professional Meetings

All residents attend the North Carolina Association of Pharmacists (NCAP) Residency Conference in the summer and REPS in the spring. Some residents also elect to attend the ASHP Midyear Clinical Meeting in December, though they also have the option to attend an alternative professional meeting, such as the American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP) Annual Meeting.

Teaching

Each resident will earn an appointment with the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy as a Clinical Instructor and will serve as a teaching assistant for one or more selected School of Pharmacy courses. Course assignments will be based on school needs in combination with the resident’s interest areas. Residents spend an estimated 50 to 100 hours per semester on teaching assistant responsibilities, depending on the course.

Additionally, residents are offered the option to pursue completion of a teaching certificate during either the PGY1 or PGY2 year. An application process is necessary to join the teaching certificate program, and if accepted, residents will be provided guidance on lectures, portfolio development, and Pharmaceutical Care Lab participation to receive their certificate.

Leadership

Pharmacotherapy residents are offered the option to pursue completion of a leadership certificate via participation in the UNCH Pharmacy Residency Leadership Certificate Program. An application process is necessary to join the leadership certificate program, and if accepted, residents will be provided guidance on leading topic discussions, leadership in motion projects, mentorship, and other activities to receive their certificate. The Leadership Certificate Program may be completed in either the first or second year.

Community Outreach

Residents participate in activities involving community outreach through participation in Student Health Action Coalition (SHAC). The SHAC clinic is the oldest student-coordinated health service in the U.S., providing free multidisciplinary, comprehensive medical care to the underserved community of Chapel Hill. Our residents volunteer at the clinics an average of 1-2 times during the year, helping to provide care for the patients. Participation in the clinics provides an excellent opportunity for residents to help disadvantaged patients with medication-related issues, physicians with treatment decisions, and to precept students during the medication dispensing and counseling process.

Resident Evaluations

Evaluations are a large part of the residency process. At UNC, we use the ASHP-endorsed online evaluation system, PharmAcademic. Evaluations are built for each rotation as well as for presentations, research, staffing, and longitudinal components of the program. Additionally, quarterly evaluations are held with the program director and mentor to ensure progress toward longitudinal goals.

Requirements for Program Completion (PGY1 Year)

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
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 needs
Attend at least 15 hours of resident CE programming
Participate in all case conferences unless excused by RPD
Complete all evaluations in PharmAcademic, ASHP's approved tool
Provide a 60-minute ACPE accredited CE program for pharmacists and/or pharmacy technicians within and outside the Department of Pharmacy
Participate in required departmental “on-call’ services as necessary to support departmental functions
Serve on a designated hospital or health system committee as assigned by the program
Complete MUE and drug monograph/class review
Upload files to document completion of all required residency components into PharmAcademic (i.e CE, MUE, drug monograph, research project, manuscript)
Complete the data retrieval, data analysis, formal presentation (poster OR platform) at a local/regional/national forum, and creation of a draft manuscript in publishable quality. Then, propose, develop, and begin execution of an 18-month independent research project to continue into year 2 of the program
Serve as a support resource /teaching assistant at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy during both semesters of the academic year

Requirements for Program Completion (PGY2 Year)