Residents as preceptors and educators: What we can learn from a national survey to improve our residency programs

Introduction: Developing pharmacy residents into effective preceptors is essential to meet the demands of pharmacy education. A survey was created to assess the availability of resident precepting educational opportunities, identify common barriers associated with developing preceptors' skills, and discover strategies to optimize programming. Methods: An online survey focused on the development of residents as preceptors was e-mailed to all residency program directors (RPD) for American Society of Health-System Pharmacists accredited residencies in the United States. Information was collected on program demographics, level of support and precepting activities offered and resident employment outcomes. Results: Five hundred thirty-eight responses were received. The majority were postgraduate year one RPDs and had less than six residents. Sixty-one percent of programs were affiliated with a college of pharmacy. Seventy-eight percent devoted 10 hours or less per month in developing residents as preceptors with 33% providing less than five hours. Seventy-one percent of the residency programs did not offer a formal precepting rotation. However, 59% of respondents indicated that their residency graduates frequently accepted positions, which required teaching/precepting. The most common barriers to developing residents as preceptors included: lack of time for residents to precept within the residency structure (41%), availability of preceptors to mentor residents throughout experience (33%) and lack of preceptors' availability to mentor residents' precepting abilities over time (30%). Discussion and conclusions: RPDs should prioritize training of residents as preceptors. Requiring residents to serve as primary preceptors in rotations dedicated to teaching is important to prepare for future job responsibilities.