New standard for pharmacy residency programs approved

Recently, the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) and the American Pharmacists Association (APhA) approved a new standard for PGY1 community-based residency training programs. 

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Both organizations, which are responsible for accrediting community-based residency training programs, said the new standard would increase focus on patient needs and the future of pharmacy.

The education and training requirements in the new standard is focused on developing the knowledge and skills needed for individual pharmacists rather than the practice settings where care is provided.  

Mandatory implementation of the new standard is expected by July 2017. The Community-based Pharmacy Residency Accreditation Taskforce is expected to release a guidance document later this year.

“The new standard keeps pace with current trends in pharmacy practice and the need for additional training opportunities in diverse outpatient and community settings,” James Owen, APhA’s vice president of practice and science affairs, stated in a release.

“Additionally, the standard provides enhanced flexibility to organizations with the desire to engage in residency training. This will potentially lead to an increase in the number of residency programs and positions within this sector of pharmacy practice,” Owen said.

Community needs vary

Marv MooreMarvin R. Moore, PharmD, president/owner of The Medicine Shoppe in Two Rivers, Wis., and a member of the Drug Topics' editorial advisory board, said adding more flexibility to the residency standards is a good idea.

“Presently, the standards are a bit cumbersome and probably a little over prescriptive…I think one of the challenges for a pharmacy that's interested in creating a community pharmacy residency program is that when they look at the current standards they may [think] I can't guarantee my resident will get these particular experiences, so maybe we aren't a good fit for this," Moore said.

“If the standards can tell us what the end result should look like, provide some examples of what's been successful in the past, and then let each of us figure out how we are going to get to that finished product, I think that would be great,” Moore said.

Janet Silvester, ASHP’s vice president of accreditation services, said the goal of community-based residency programs is to help develop practice leaders who improve the health of patients in the communities they serve.

“These pharmacist practitioners can serve as an access point to care in those communities,” Silvester said.