ASHP: Residency matches are up in 2015

More than 3,600 pharmacy graduates or soon-to-be graduates were matched with a residency position, according to the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP).

ASHP released the results of its 2015 pharmacy Residency Matching Program last Friday, according to a news report on its website.

This year, more than 5,000 pharmacy students and graduates participated in the Match program, with 2,811 securing a PGY1 residency and 497 a PGY2 residency. ASHP reported that this was a 6.5% increase in filled PGY1 positions and a 12.5% increase in PGY2 positions.

“Over 300 additional residency positions were added to the 2015 Match, including 219 PGY1 and 114 PGY2 positions,” ASHP noted in its report. “For PGY1 residencies, the rate of growth for available positions (8 percent) outpaced the growth in demand from applicants (5 percent), signaling the initial success of efforts to increase the number of residency positions to meet the sustained demand from students and practitioners.”

For the 1,547 participants who did not match for a PGY1 residency, there are 270 positions still available for the post-match process. For 208 who did not match for a PGY2 residency, there are 112 positions still open. Potential candidates who did not match can try again to secure a match for the open positions, using the Pharmacy Online Residency application process