Atrium Health - Carolinas Medical Center PGY2 Ambulatory Care Pharmacy

Purpose

PGY2 pharmacy residency programs build on Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) education and PGY1 pharmacy residency programs to contribute to the development of clinical pharmacists in specialized areas of practice. PGY2 residencies provide residents with opportunities to function independently as practitioners by conceptualizing and integrating accumulated experience and knowledge and incorporating both into the provision of patient care or other advanced practice settings. Residents who successfully complete an accredited PGY2 pharmacy residency are prepared for advanced patient care, academic, or other specialized positions, along with board certification, if available.

Program Overview

The PGY2 ambulatory care pharmacy residency program at Atrium Health offers residents a unique and well-rounded experience with ample opportunities for personal and professional development. Residents who successfully complete the program are prepared for academia, ambulatory care pharmacy administration, advanced patient care in the outpatient setting, and other specialized positions, along with board certification.

This program is a 52-week, full-time intensive learning program focused on training residents to become independent clinicians, leaders in ambulatory care management, and effective teachers in a layered learning environment. Developing well-rounded clinicians rooted in evidence-informed decision making is the foundation and focus of our training. A fundamental feature of the residency program is commitment to regular and extensive interaction between the resident and preceptors.

Rotations are primarily located within Atrium Health’s Carolinas Medical Center (CMC) Community Care Clinic system, centrally located in Charlotte, NC. CMC is the flagship hospital of Atrium Health, and the Community Care Clinics embedded within a safety-net family medicine residency serve as a primary care network for patient care. The clinic locations provide ample patient care opportunities across multiple disease states including, but not limited to endocrine/diabetes, anticoagulation, cardiometabolic syndrome, cardiology, pulmonary, women’s health, oncology, behavioral health, and HIV/AIDS. Atrium Health features a robust network of ambulatory clinical pharmacy services focusing on value-based care, population health, transitions of care, and traditional embedded practice. Some experiences may involve travel to other locations in the Charlotte-Metro area. For example, the managed care population health rotation is primarily housed out of the airport center. The clinical learning experiences will emphasize core disease and practice management concepts in an interdisciplinary environment as identified in the ASHP Accreditation Standard. Elective opportunities exist to customize to each residents’ individual interests and specific career goals. The resident will gain experience dealing with a vast array of ambulatory conditions.

Residents will meet regularly with the residency program director to discuss the resident’s individual goals for success. There is room to tailor the schedule to meet such goals by maximizing opportunities for learning experiences. The resident’s training is intense and rigorous, providing many opportunities for growth of clinical and leadership skills, baseline knowledge, teaching and precepting abilities, and job management skills.

In addition to developing clinical skills, residents gain experience in clinical research by completing a longitudinal research project with the opportunity to submit the project results for publication. Project ideas are decided by marrying the resident’s interest with the overarching goals for the hospital system. Upon completion of the program, trainees are awarded a completion of residency certificate.

Program Structure

Estimated start date: Early July

Estimated stipend: $64,480

National Matching Service Program Code: 605565

There are six core components of the curriculum that occur longitudinally throughout the year plus orientation, immersion months and electives. The residency year is divided into four quarters, during which the resident will establish and grow their clinical services while honing their clinical and pedagogical skills. The experience is tailored to the resident’s interests, career goals, and prior experience. Emphasis is placed on providing the resident with direct patient care responsibilities in various primary care and specialty clinic settings, with a goal of developing exemplary clinical skills, knowledge, and competencies.

• Chronic Care Clinic (Immersion and Longitudinal)
• Pharmacy resident will partake in Chronic Care Clinic at Biddle Point (BP) and Myers Park (MP) Clinics
• These clinics are high volume and fully established with pharmacist presence and strong interdisciplinary relationships
• Disease states managed include, but are not limited to:
• Diabetes
• Obesity
• Hypertension
• Dyslipidemia
• Asthma
• COPD
• HIV
• Venous thromboembolism and systemic embolism
• Residents will also manage visits for medication access, polypharmacy, patient education, and comprehensive medication review

• Managed Care Population Health (Immersion and Longitudinal)
• Residents will learn about managed care and population health principles
• Residents will engage in longitudinal management of insured, at-risk populations within the accountable care organization
• Residents will be responsible for tracking and working towards pharmacy quality metric goals through targeted/individual interventions, global strategies, and pilot programs
• Resident will become proficient in pharmacoeconomic principals and different health plan types
• Resident will be responsible for addressing medication access barriers and make recommendations to providers as needed to enhance therapeutic outcomes  

• Resident Service
• Residents will develop clinical pharmacy services within a medical practice with or without existing pharmacy services
• A new clinical service area is identified each year for establishment during the residency year
• Residents will work as Clinical Pharmacist Practitioners (CPPs) with collaborative practice agreements with their physicians
• The goal is for the resident to create a sustainable new service

• Pharmacy Administration
  • Residents will apply leadership theory and skills to their practice and professional life 
  • Residents will participate as leaders and team members in a variety of longitudinal leadership activities to strengthen leadership skills in practice, teaching, and advocacy 
  • Personal leadership development will be facilitated through longitudinal leadership coaching with a leadership coach assigned each year and leadership didactics/cases and reflection 
• Academia 
  • Pharmacy residents will have a strong clinical and teaching presence in the Elizabeth Family Medicine Clinic
  • Pharmacy residents will teach and assist medical residents with medication related problems and guideline directed therapy during scheduled clinics
  • Teaching responsibilities include:
    • A continuing education program
    • Family Nurse Practitioner Pharmacotherapy didactic lectures at UNC-Charlotte
    • Didactic lectures for the Department of Family Medicine
    • In-services for physician residents
    • Precepting of P4 pharmacy students and PGY1 pharmacy residents
    • Mentoring opportunities 
    • Residents will obtain the ASHP Teaching Certificate if a teaching certificate has not previously been completed
• Professional Practice
  • Residents will get exposure to areas of pharmacy practice including both direct patient care and non-direct patient care roles in ambulatory and retail pharmacy settings 
  Experience includes staffing at our CMC Main Discharge Pharmacy during evening and weekends and independent work on population health reports focused on statin initiatives  

• Electives
  • Non-malignant Hematology 
  • Antimicrobial Support Network 
  • Behavioral Health 
  • Cystic Fibrosis and Pulmonary 
  • Heart Failure
  • Oncology
  • Specialty Pharmacy 
  • Transitions of Care  

Benefits

In addition to the full benefits of an Atrium Health employee, residents will be able to enroll in competitive medical, dental and vision coverage plans. Ten paid days off, five sick days, five days for professional interviews, five bereavement days if needed and five holidays (based on annual Atrium Health Holiday Schedule) are available. A travel allowance may be provided to attend the ASHP Midyear Clinical Meeting and either a regional residency research symposium or other national conference (ACCP Annual Meeting, APhA Annual Meeting, AMCP Nexus, etc.). The resident is provided with office space containing an individual double-monitor desktop computer, phone, storage/filing space and a shared printer. In addition, the resident receives remote access to the hospital network, comprehensive drug information resources, and a laptop. The Department of Pharmacy also has an active continuing education program with opportunities offered on a routine basis.