Community Pharmacy Residency

The PGY-1 Community Pharmacy Residency at South Dakota State University began as a joint partnership with Liebe Drug in Milbank, SD in 2012. Since then, Liebe Drug was purchased by Lewis Drug and the residency continued in Milbank.  In 2019, the program transitioned to a Lewis Drug location in Sioux Falls, SD.  Past graduates have gone on to faculty positions, PGY-2 ambulatory care residencies, positions with Lewis Drug and other community pharmacies, and ambulatory care positions with health systems.   

ASHP and APhA have applied a systematic process based on sound principles of educational theory and curricular design, the APhA Systematic Curriculum Design and Implementation (SCDI) for Community-Based Pharmacy Residency Education and Training, to the development of four competency areas and their associated goals and objectives for PGY-1 Community-Based Pharmacy Residency Programs. The SDSU College of Pharmacy and Allied Health Professions has adopted this model for our residency program. 

The following is a list of the Competency Areas required by ASHP and APhA for Postgraduate Year One Community-Based Pharmacy Residencies:

1. Patient care
2. Leadership and management
3. Advancement of community-based practice and improving patient care
4. Teaching, education and dissemination of knowledge

Orientation

Orientation is a concentrated three week experience at the beginning of the residency year. This experience provides opportunity for the pharmacy resident to gain general pharmacy practice experience and orientation to the practice setting. The orientation is the same as any other pharmacist employee with modification as necessary due to resident status of employment. The resident will also complete any training/orientation requirements for Lewis pharmacists within the clinic setting. The RPD will be available to the resident during this time to provide orientation to the curriculum design, competency areas, goals and objectives, policies of the residency and residency manual. 

Focused Service Commitment

This two-week experience is completed at Lewis Drug with a focus on preparing the resident for the longitudinal service learning experience. This experience will occur after orientation.

Patient Care

The resident will participate in providing direct patient care to clients of the Lewis Drug and an ambulatory care clinic. The resident is responsible for identifying and resolving medication therapy issues for patients and will work towards independently running patient care activities in the experience. The resident is responsible for, but not limited to, conducting patient interviews, identifying, preventing and resolving medication therapy issues, participating in “grand rounds,” interpreting laboratory results, utilizing JCPP PPCP in daily workflow and documenting direct patient care activities. An appropriate level of communication and interpersonal skills are of paramount importance in this setting.

The resident will be expected to perform the full sequence of steps involved in the pharmacists’ patient care process in all patient-centered care activities as appropriate including: medication management, counseling, physical assessment and patient education (on medication, goals of therapy, lifestyle, prevention of complications). Residents will see clients for a variety of issues including, but not limited to, pain management, diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia, hypertension, hypothyroidism, osteoporosis, asthma, COPD, depression or anxiety, tobacco cessation and polypharmacy. Patient care activities will occur at Lewis Drug and at an ambulatory care clinic in Sioux Falls.  Days of the week are subject to change but the resident will be expected to be at the clinic one day a week and an additional day every other week (alternating with Lewis Drug). The resident will be at Lewis Drug one day per week and an additional day every other week (alternating with the clinic).

Service commitment

This experience provides opportunity for the pharmacy resident to gain general pharmacy practice experience. This includes prescription order entry, prescription verification, profile maintenance, drug interaction screening, drug utilization review, dispensing medications, administering medications, patient assessment and patient counseling. Residents will perform these functions as assigned throughout the learning experience. The resident will staff every fourth weekend.  

Leadership and management 

The resident will experience administrative aspects of the pharmacy as they relate to the duties of the clinical supervisors, pharmacists in charge, and corporate level pharmacy managers. Residents will participate in management level meetings at their practice site and at the corporate office. They will also be present for the annual store visit review (SVR) and the pharmacist in charge annual competency meeting with the vice president of store operations. The resident will participate in meeting licensing standards required by the board of pharmacy and ideally be present for the board of pharmacy inspection. Residents may listen to conference calls regarding various management issues when available and gain an understanding of the hierarchical structuring of pharmacy management in Lewis Corporation. Residents will be assigned activities that assist with managing, such as policy and procedure development, staff development, service development, facilities management and medication error reporting.  

Research project

The purpose of the residency project is for the resident to attain the necessary skills to investigate a clinically relevant problem in a scientific manner. This project may be in the form of original research, a problem-solving exercise, or the development, enhancement, or evaluation of some aspect a practice-related project of significance for community pharmacy. The project should be of a scope which can be completed within the residency year using available resources. The finished project manuscript will be of publishable quality and may be submitted to an appropriate journal for publication at the completion of the residency. Additional preceptors will be determined based upon interest and expertise related to the project where possible. The preceptor will provide guidance to the resident in designing, performing, and evaluating the outcomes of the project. Additionally, the preceptor will approve the proposal, oversee the development of the proposal, provide technical advice and review the final report. Other preceptors will also provide support to the project as needed based on the specific project needs.

Teaching

The resident will gain experience in preparation to become an educator. The resident will be required to participate in the South Dakota State University College of Pharmacy and Allied Health Professions “Teaching Certificate Program” and will be given an adjunct faculty appointment at the college. The skills that will be developed during this program will help the resident precept pharmacy students in a practice setting as an adjunct faculty member. The experience will also enhance the formal didactic lecturing abilities and small group facilitation abilities of the resident. The resident will participate in discussions on a variety of topics related to the educational process as part of the teaching certificate program. The resident will work with the preceptors and relevant faculty members responsible for content to complete didactic instruction in both lecture and laboratory formats. The resident can expect to spend about 12 days each semester teaching at the College in Brookings and/or Sioux Falls. The resident will also participate in grading and evaluation of students in the didactic curriculum.  The resident will also be involved with precepting students in the experiential education setting through pharmacy practice experiences. This includes serving as the main preceptor for at least one P4 student completing a Community Pharmacy APPE.