The Albany Medical College Pharmacy Practice Residency program is designed to accelerate resident growth beyond entry-level professional competence in acute direct patient care and practice management.
The residency provides experiences to meet all required outcomes for American Society of Health System Pharmacists (ASHP) accreditation. The program is designed to access the best learning experiences available at Albany Medical College, and is based on the ASHP standards.
Additionally, the residency experiences are individualized when possible to meet the resident's areas of interest and learning needs. Learning experiences will consist of a combination of rotational and longitudinal.
Emphasis is placed on progressive development of clinical judgment and professional competence. Learning experiences are scheduled when appropriate, to provide the appropriate background experiences and skills to best learn from subsequent activities.
An important goal is to help the resident prepare for their next professional step after completion of the residency program. The residency schedule is structured so that a variety of core learning experiences occur, including areas of resident interest, by the winter months when decisions are typically made regarding future professional pursuits.
Duration: 52 weeks
Typical starting date is on or about July 1 of each year and concludes on or about July 1 of the following year.
Accreditation Status: Full ASHP Accreditation (effective 7-1-2007)
Pharmacy residents complete learning and work experiences designed to achieve the outcomes and goals of the residency. Many experiences reflect the actual work environment and occur concurrently and continuously throughout the residency. Specific rotational experiences will provide opportunity for focused learning.
Inherent in all experiences are the expectations that residents incorporate, integrate, and participate in ongoing activities throughout Albany Medical Center and across patient populations throughout the residency.
Patient care duties involve, but are not limited to:
- Participating in interdisciplinary patient care activities
- Maintaining organized, patient-specific databases
- Assessing pharmacotherapy of individual patients
- Identifying and addressing drug related problems
- Developing, recommending and monitoring evidence-based pharmacotherapy regimens
- Education of health care providers, patients & families
- Perform computer order entry, prepare, check & dispense medications according to all regulations, standards & policies
- Appropriately oversee activities of technical staff and students
Curriculum
- Hospital orientation (Day 1) – Human resources
- General orientation
- HIPAA
- Code of conduct
- Hospital Pharmacy Practice Orientation – June and July
- Residency orientation
- Residency Program Overview
- Purpose and structure
- Residency Manual
- Policies
- Learning experiences
- PharmAcademic
- Strategies for maintaining wellbeing and resilience
- Reviewing hospital resources
- Residency Program Overview
- Order entry, product preparation, and dispensing
- Resident boot camp
- Introduction to Drug Information and Cystic Fibrosis Clinic longitudinal rotations
- Residency orientation
*Some experiences may be modified or waived based on prior experiences or familiarity with Albany Medical Center.
- Pharmacy department processes & practices
- Electronic health record
- Medication use systems
- Active participation in pharmacy services provisions
Residents will be oriented to, and routinely utilize, medical informatics and automation in their work:
- Basic computer skills (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Access)
- Pharmacy systems (e-MAR, order scanning system)
- Robotic dispensing technologies (Med Carousel)
- Unit-based cabinets
- Barcode medication administration system
- Medication compounding technologies
- Online information resources
Required experiences
Rotational (4 weeks)
- Antimicrobial stewardship/infectious disease
- Anticoagulation management
- Children's Hospital
- Clinical administration
- Coronary Care Unit
- Hospital pharmacy-orientation
- Internal Medicine
- Medical or Surgical Intensive Care Unit
Longitudinal (47-52 weeks depending on experience, some are self-paced)
- Cystic Fibrosis Clinic (one Tuesday per month)
- Drug information
- Hospital pharmacy longitudinal (see Staffing section on this page)
- Improvement project
Elective experiences (not an all-inclusive list)
Rotational (4 weeks)
- Cardiology-Ambulatory
- Emergency Medicine
- Hematology and Oncology
- HIV medicine
- Solid organ transplant (renal)
Longitudinal (47 -52 weeks depending on experience, self-paced)
- Teaching and learning program
Pharmacy Quality Improvement Project
Residents will conduct one primary research project suitable for presentation at a regional (e.g. Eastern States Residency Conference) and a national meeting. The project must be completed (data collection, presentation to department, written summary in publication format) by the end of the residency year.
Residents will be provided with suggestions for potential projects as well as encouraged to pursue his/her own ideas. Projects will have useful outcomes and not be conducted solely to academic exercise. A project write-up and presentation is required.
Residents are expected to provide concise, applicable, comprehensive and timely responses to requests for drug information from health care providers and patients. Residents will become proficient in the use of multiple drug information resources. This will occur throughout the year, during learning experiences, and the hospital pharmacy (staffing/clinical) experience. In addition, residents will have the following responsibilities related to drug information skill development:
- Clinical Pearl presentations
- Drug information question write-ups for the department
- In-services for staff
Residents are expected to work every other weekend. One weekend a month will be staff in the central pharmacy providing distributive functions. The other weekend will be clinical services working with the clinical pharmacist. Initially will work directly alongside one of the clinical pharmacists with progressing autonomy.
Our residents are not responsible for on-call coverage.
Residents will provide education experiences throughout the residency, including:
- Continuing education program
- Patient medication education/discussions
- PharmD student co-preceptorship
- Conduct in-services for physicians and nursing. In-services will be observed by the rotation preceptor.
- Teaching & Learning program
- Additional teaching experiences:
- Albany Medical College
- Albany College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences
- Other educational institutions or organizations
Salary
$49,000
Benefits
- Residents are provided with the standard benefits and benefit options available to Albany Medical Center exempt staff in their first year of employment. See our Careers webpages for more information.
- ASHP membership fees
- Professional meeting travel, lodging, and registration support
- To attend ASHP Midyear and NYSCHP Annual Meeting/Eastern States Residency Conference
- ACLS/PALS certification
- Residents are provided with 15 days combined leave time per Albany Medical Center policies
- This time is to be used by the resident for personal time (e.g., days off, vacation, professional time, sick time, job interviews).
- All scheduled leave time (e.g. days off, vacation, professional time, job interviews) are to be approved by the Residency Director.
- In the event of the need for extended leave from the residency (e.g., prolonged illness, family leave, professional leave), modification in the residency duration and schedule may be made at the discretion of the Residency Director to allow the individual to complete the residency program.