Longitudinal experiences include those that occur over the majority of the residency year and include hospital practice, pharmacotherapy management, and major project. The patient care and drug information rotations will occur over four to six weeks. Each learning experience has written goals, objectives, and learning activities.

Orientation

During the first month (forty hours per week, Monday through Friday), the resident will undergo orientation and training for the University of Texas College of Pharmacy, University Health System, the Pharmacy Practice Residency, and the Pharmacy Department. Departmental and residency training will include orientation to policies and procedures, UHS computers, the inpatient pharmacy, IV Lab, and decentralized areas. All items on the Inpatient Training List should be covered during this training period. The resident will also be oriented to the ASHP Residency Learning System (RLS). Residents who are not previously certified will also be scheduled for training in Basic and Advanced Cardiac Life Support (BLS/ACLS) early in the residency.

Hospital Pharmacy Practice

The resident must become licensed in the State of Texas as a Registered Pharmacist by August 1, or the 1st day of the second month of residency. After orientation and training are completed, the resident is required to provide inpatient pharmacy staffing as an independent registered pharmacist for one month. In the event that the resident does not become licensed by the assigned staffing month, deficient hours for inpatient staffing will be distributed throughout the residency year as assigned by the Residency Program Director and as approved by the Residency Committee. The resident will also be required to staff the inpatient pharmacy during rotations, with specific scheduling to be determined annually based on the number of residents and staffing needs, not to exceed an average of sixteen hours per two-week pay period over nine months.

For the last month of the residency, each resident will choose a patient care area from the resident’s previous patient care rotations to provide clinical pharmacy services.  The pharmacist in charge of the selected patient care area must approve of the resident’s choice, and the resident will assume all routine responsibilities of the pharmacist in charge of the selected patient care area during the rotation.

The resident may also be required to staff when extenuating circumstances demand, but not more than three days per residency year.  While there are no specific criteria defining extenuating circumstances, the individual situation is evaluated and efforts are made to minimize pulling residents from their assigned rotation.  Approval to require a resident to staff must be obtained from the Residency Program Director.

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Pharmacotherapy Management

Various management topics will be covered throughout the year. Some of these experiences include but are not limited to:

1. Informatics and pharmacotherapy computer applications
2. Formulary management
3. Attendance and participation at monthly meetings of the Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee, and organization and presentation as assigned
4. Attendance and participation at quarterly meetings of the Drug Use Evaluation Committee, and organization and presentation as assigned
5. Adverse Drug Reaction reporting, trending, and interpretation
6. Medication Safety and Medication Error reporting, trending, and prevention
7. Pharmacist Intervention reporting and trending

The resident is also required to participate in the University of Texas College of Pharmacy residents' weekly Pharmacotherapy Discussion Group every Friday afternoon. The resident will be required to lead discussion on several topics throughout the year, as assigned by the group coordinator.

In addition, the resident is required to attend weekly Pharmacotherapy Conference with fellow University of Texas College of Pharmacy residents each Friday afternoon. Each UHS pharmacy practice resident will be required to present one formal Pharmacotherapy Conference ("Resident Rounds") during the year.

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Major Project

Successful completion of a major research project is required to fulfill the requirements and to obtain a certificate of graduation from the residency program. Major projects will focus on the evaluation of a pharmacotherapy-related issue that relates to the fiscal interests of UHS. The resident must adhere to the established timeline for the project to assure successful completion during the one-year residency. The major project topic may be an idea of the resident, from a suggested list, or individually assigned. The project will be directly supervised by the preceptors who have expertise in the selected pharmacotherapy discipline. The major project proposal must be approved by the Residency Committee, and if applicable, must also be approved by the UTHSCSA Investigational Review Board and the UHS Research Committee. The major project will be presented as an abstract and as a platform presentation at the regional Alcalde Residency Leadership Conference in the spring. The resident is strongly encouraged to submit an abstract of the major project at a regional or national pharmacy meeting. The major project must also be submitted in manuscript form to the Residency Committee and the resident is strongly encouraged to publish the results of the major project in a peer-reviewed journal.

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Patient Care Rotations

The length of each patient care rotation is four weeks, but may be extended to five or six weeks, depending on the needs and interests of the individual resident. The following rotations are required:

1. Ambulatory Care (Family Medicine, Diabetes Management, Cardiology, etc.)
2. Critical Care (may choose from any ICUs listed in electives)
3. Drug Information (if approved DI rotation not completed during student clinical clerkships)
4. Internal Medicine
5. Pediatrics (if approved Pediatrics rotation not completed during student clinical clerkships)
6. Surgery (either General Surgery or Surgical ICU)

Other rotations available on an elective basis include but are not limited to the following:

1. Diabetes Management (UHC-SW)
2. Family Practice Medicine (UHS-D)
3. General Surgery (UHS)
4. Hematology/Oncology/BMT (VA)
5. HIV (UHS/UHC-D)
6. Infectious Diseases (UHS)
7. Medical/Cardiac ICU (UHS)
8. Neonatology (includes ICU) (UHS)
9. Pharmacoeconomics / Managed Care (UHC-D)
10. Solid Organ Transplant Medicine (includes ICU) (UHS)
11. Surgical/Trauma ICU (UHS)

A resident may choose to participate in no more than one off-site (i.e., outside UHS facilities) elective rotation per residency year.

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Drug Information Rotation

The resident will be required to complete a four-week Drug Information rotation at the Drug Information Service of the UTHSCSA. The resident may request to be exempt from this rotation if they have previously completed a formal drug information rotation during their student clinical clerkships and the exemption is approved by the Residency Program Director and the Residency Committee.

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Annual Program Structure

Download the Annual Program Structure (.PDF)

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