Postgraduate year two ambulatory care residency program evaluation with a tool for assessing ambulatory care pharmacist practice

Introduction A standardized set of required competency areas, goals, and objectives are used in accreditation to create consistency in learning experiences across programs. The individual postgraduate year two (PGY-2) ambulatory care residency program is subsequently tasked with designing activities to achieve the defined goals and objectives, which may lead to variability in the constructed activities across residency programs. Objectives The primary objective of this study was to describe (define, assess, and stratify) the current landscape of direct patient care activities provided within PGY-2 ambulatory care residency program training environments. Methods This was a national, descriptive, cross-sectional study using the Tool for Assessing Ambulatory Care Pharmacist Practice (TAAPP). The TAAPP questionnaire was disseminated via electronic mail to PGY-2 ambulatory care Residency Program Directors (RPDs) meeting inclusion criteria. RPDs were requested to complete the questionnaire and disseminate it further to two preceptors of required rotations and all 2017-2018 residents. Results In total, 108 responses were received out of a possible 595 and 10 were excluded due to the respondents not meeting inclusion criteria or the questionnaire was incomplete. Ninety-eight (16.5% response rate) underwent descriptive and statistical analysis. Fifty-two participants (53%) indicated they provide a comprehensive or broad delivery of direct patient care, 44 respondents (45%) provide activities within a moderate scope of practice, and 2 respondents (2%) engage in a narrow scope of practice. Forty-seven of the pharmacists (36%) stated they were functioning under a disease state specific collaborative practice agreement (CPA), 40 (31%) under a broad or comprehensive CPA, 24 (19%) under a protocol-driven, and 13 (10%) under a medication-specific agreement. Conclusion Variability in PGY-2 ambulatory care residency programs was found with just half of participants functioning under a broad scope of pharmacist practice. Opportunities exist for programs to further standardize and advance program training environments.