Q: What Is a Pharmacy Residency?

A: A pharmacy residency is an organized, directed, postgraduate training program in a defined area of pharmacy practice. It provides the knowledge and experience that pharmacy practitioners need to face challenges in today's complex health-care environment, while also providing essential skills to meet the practice demands of the future. Increasingly, many employment opportunities indicate a strong preference for individuals who have completed an ASHP-accredited residency.

Q: What Types of Residencies Are There?

A: Residency training can take place in a variety of settings - some of which include hospitals, community pharmacies, home care and long-term care facilities, ambulatory care settings, managed care facilities, and others.

The type of residency you select will depend upon your career objectives. Are you interested in providing pharmaceutical care to a broad mix of patients? Pursuing a career in pharmacy management? Becoming a specialized practitioner or educator? Based on your interests and experience level, you will need one or more of the following types of residencies:

1) Postgraduate Year One (PGY1) Pharmacy Residencies

Purpose: Residents in PGY1 residency programs are provided the opportunity to accelerate their growth beyond entry-level professional competence in patient-centered care and in pharmacy operational services, and to further the development of leadership skills that can be applied in any position and in any practice setting.  PGY1 residents acquire substantial knowledge required for skillful problem solving, refine their problem-solving strategies, strengthen their professional values and attitudes, and advance the growth of their clinical judgment.  The instructional emphasis is on the progressive development of clinical judgment, a process begun in the advanced pharmacy practice experiences (APPE or clerkships) of the professional school years but requiring further extensive practice, self-reflection, and shaping of decision-making skills fostered by feedback on performance.  The residency year provides a fertile environment for accelerating growth beyond entry-level professional competence through supervised practice under the guidance of model practitioners.  Specifically, residents will be held responsible and accountable for acquiring these outcomes competencies:  managing and improving the medication-use process; providing evidence-based, patient-centered medication therapy management with interdisciplinary teams; exercising leadership and practice management; demonstrating project management skills; providing medication and practice-related education/training; and utilizing medical informatics.

2) Postgraduate Year Two (PGY2) Pharmacy Residencies

Purpose: PGY2 residency programs are designed to develop accountability; practice patterns; habits; and expert knowledge, skills, attitudes, and abilities in the respective advanced area of pharmacy practice. PGY2 residencies build upon the broad-based competencies achieved in a PGY1 residency, deepening the resident's ability to provide care in the most complex of cases or in the support of care through practice leadership.  Therefore, PGY2 residencies provide residents with opportunities to function independently as practitioners by conceptualizing and integrating accumulated experience and knowledge and transforming both into improved medication therapy for patients.  A residents who completes successfully an accredited PGY2 residency should possess competencies that enable attainment of board certification in the practice area, where board certification for the practice area exists.

Typical Programs:  ASHP-accredited (PGY2) pharmacy residencies are offered in each of the following areas:  ambulatory care, cardiology, critical care, drug information, emergency medicine, geriatrics, infectious diseases, informatics, internal medicine, managed care pharmacy systems, medication safety, nuclear, nutrition support, oncology, pediatrics, pharmacotherapy, health-system pharmacy administration, psychiatry, and solid organ transplant.

Q: Why Do I Need an ASHP-accredited Residency?

A: ASHP administers the only process that grants accreditation status to residencies. The accreditation process requires that each of these residencies are conducted in sites that demonstrate compliance with established standards of practice and offer a program that meets the requirements of training.

For prospective residents, this process ensures that accredited programs are peer-reviewed and that they fulfill requirements needed to provide a state-of-the-art practice environment. Likewise, prospective employers routinely seek graduates of ASHP-accredited residency programs since these individuals must obtain proficiency in a set of defined outcomes and training experiences to complete such a program.

Q: How Long Will It Take To Complete a Residency?

A: A pharmacy residency is a full-time commitment that requires a minimum of 12  months to complete. Some residencies are offered in combination with a postgraduate degree (e.g., M.S., MBA, MPH), and may take an additional year to complete.

Q: Will I Earn a Salary?

A: All ASHP-accredited residency programs provide the resident with a stipend. The amount varies from program to program and depends upon such factors as geographic location, value of any fringe benefits provided, and whether or not it's academically affiliated.

It is important to note that payment of college tuition loans may be deferrable during a residency; you should discuss loan deferment with your banking or lending institution.

Q: What Are the Requirements for Admission?

A: 1) You must be a graduate of an ACPE-accredited college of pharmacy or otherwise be eligible for licensure.

2) You will need to demonstrate your interest in and aptitude for advanced training in pharmacy.

3) Some residencies require that you be licensed to practice before you enter the program. Others will accept you while you pursue state board licensure.

4) For residencies that are combined with a graduate degree program, you must satisfy the requirements of the college of pharmacy or graduate school for admission to the advanced degree program. In addition, you will need to satisfy the residency requirements.

Q: What is the Resident Matching Program and How Do I Apply?

A: ASHP contracts with National Matching Services Inc (NMS) to operate a Resident Matching Program for pharmacy residencies. The matching program ensures that each pharmacy residency program will be matched with the preferred individuals who have applied and who have selected the program as an acceptable site in which to train.

To apply for a pharmacy residency, you must sign up for the Resident Matching Program. Concurrently, you should peruse the ASHP Residency Directory on ASHP's web site. In it you'll find descriptions of all accredited residencies, along with important contact information. (Note: you must have completed or be in a PGY1 residency to be eligible to participate in the matching program for a PGY2 residency.)

After consulting the Residency Directory and identifying programs of interest, you will need to request application forms from individual programs directors, not from ASHP. Most programs require that you visit the site to complete the application process; however, application procedures may vary by program.