Pharmacy PGY2 Ambulatory Care Program

Accredited by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists 

Program Description and Objective

The TVHS ambulatory care pharmacy residency is a second-year specialty residency designed to develop the PGY2 pharmacy resident as a clinical specialist with expertise in ambulatory care. The residency program includes training on providing comprehensive medication management for patients in a variety of pharmacist-managed and interdisciplinary clinic settings within VA Tennessee Valley Healthcare System. 

Core clinic experiences include month-long rotations in Primary Care Pharmacotherapy Clinic (PACT), Outpatient Anticoagulation, Outpatient Chronic Pain Management, Outpatient Mental Health, Women's Health, Home Based Primary Care, and Ambulatory Care Pharmacy Administration. Elective experiences include, but are not limited to, Outpatient Cardiology, Preventive Medicine, Stem Cell Transplant, Oncology, Substance Use Disorder, Outpatient Geriatrics, Emergency Medicine, Headache/Neurology, and numerous other potential electives opportunities.

Longitudinally, residents will gain clinic management experience by overseeing/managing a weekly primary care clinic for 8 months of the year and rotating through 4 specialty clinics each week on the remaining 4 months of the year. These specialty clinics include Preventive Medicine/Weight Loss, Substance Use Disorder, Headache/Neurology, and Outpatient Cardiology.  Each resident will also gain longitudinal experience with developing, implementing, and managing a new clinic based on an identified need of our facility/pharmacy service and area of resident’s professional interest. The goal for the second clinic is to focus on creation and development in the first quarter of the PGY2 residency year and then progress to management of this clinic over the remaining months.  Other longitudinal requirements include Academia – Teaching & Learning which provides residents with experience in teaching and training pharmacy trainees (students and PGY1 residents, pharmacy staff, and interdisciplinary team members.  

Residents can elect to complete the VA TVHS Teaching and Learning Certificate Program, unless already obtained during PGY-1 residency. Management and administration skills are developed through completion of a resident research project, contributing to development of new clinics or programs, and completion of longitudinal ambulatory care pharmacy administration tasks assigned throughout the PGY2 year. By completing this comprehensive advanced training program, the resident is equipped with excellent leadership and practice skills and prepared to practice as a proficient, well-rounded clinical pharmacy specialist in an ambulatory care setting.

Benefits

• A competitive stipend of $51,000.
• 11 federal holidays per year.
• Vacation days and sick leave are both accrued at a rate of 4 hours every two weeks.
• Health insurance.
• Dental/Vision insurance.
• Residents will be permitted to attend at least one clinical meeting during the academic year. This may include ASHP Midyear or the ACCP fall/spring meetings. Attendance to the ACCP annual meeting is highly encouraged. Residents are required to present PGY2 research to regional or national group as approved by PGY2 Residency Advisory Committee. Travel funds are available to offset some of the expenses for these educational meetings.
• No night/holiday staffing.
• Dual appointment opportunity: Residents may be offered, but not required, to participate in dual appointment which allows for the pharmacy resident to work 4-hour shifts as a clinical pharmacist in the central pharmacy for GS-12 pharmacist pay. Typical duty hours include evening shifts during the week and weekends but are subject to change based on the needs of the service. During this time, the resident works as a clinical pharmacist and income earned is outside of the salaried residency stipend. As this work is compensated outside of the residency stipend, the resident is expected to complete the duties of a clinical pharmacist working in the central pharmacy and not utilize this time for work related to other residency responsibilities. Residents are typically approved for dual appointment and begin having the ability to acquire shifts in September, but actual date may vary. As a reminder, residents must remain within the requirements of ASHP duty hours.

Rotations and Experiences

How to Apply

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Statement

Culturally and socially responsive practice is integral to the mission of our residency program at TVHS. We recognize the importance of acknowledging and supporting individual differences in our residents, and within relationships between our residents, staff, and patients. We work to identify, implement, and respect the diverse personal attributes that an individual brings to this program. ,We believe that fostering a culturally rich and diverse training environment is foundational to a strong residency program. In addition we strive to nurturepharmacists that are culturally sensitive and socially responsiveTo that end, we promote awareness and sensitivity to individual cultural diversity identities across multiple settings during the residency through discussions during supervision, practice, seminars, and workshops.

Application requirements

Applicants must be a U.S. citizen who has completed a Doctor of Pharmacy curriculum from an accredited school of pharmacy and has completed, or in the process of completing, an ASHP-accredited or pending accreditation PGY1 pharmacy residency program.

All applicants must participate in the ASHP Residency Matching Process.

Application Materials Required

• Letter of intent
• Curriculum Vitae
• Official college of pharmacy transcript
• Three (3) letters of recommendation using standard template in PhORCAS 

Application Deadline

All application materials are due no later than January 10. Qualified applicants will be notified of a formal interview date no later than February 15th. Please use Pharmacy Online Residency Centralized Application Service, PhORCAS, to apply at http://www.ashp.org/phorcas.

Program Number: 648465

Contact

PGY2 Residency Program Director: Rebecca J. Cripps, Pharm.D., BCPS, BCACP at Rebecca.Cripps@va.gov

Current PGY2 Residents: Sara Corum at Sara.Corum@va.gov; Hillary Little at  Hillary.Little@va.gov; Elizabeth Gallagher at Elizabeth.Gallagher1@va.gov