Health System Pharmacy Administration and Leadership Residency

The University of Kansas Health System offers a 25-month post-PharmD training program specializing in health system pharmacy administration and leadership (HSPAL). The first year, focusing on pharmacy practice, is an organized, directed, postgraduate training program that centers on development of the knowledge, attitudes and skills needed to pursue rational drug therapy. The second year will build on clinical and leadership skills developed in year 1, focusing on patient-centered specialty training in health system pharmacy administration.

This program is designed for first- and second-year postgraduates (PGY1 and PGY2).

The residency is designed to provide postgraduate training in the provision of direct patient care to multiple patient populations. Residents will develop effective written and verbal communication skills to provide education to, and interact with, patients, students and a multidisciplinary team of healthcare providers. To help develop leadership skills, in preparation for their own clinical pharmacy practices, the residents will demonstrate and continue to develop their leadership skills through professionalism and a focus on quality improvement.

A PGY2 health-system pharmacy administration and leadership residency builds upon PGY1 residency graduates’ competence in the delivery of patient-centered care and pharmacy operational services to prepare residents who can assume high-level managerial, supervisory and leadership responsibilities. Areas of competence emphasized during the program include safe and effective medication-use systems, quality assurance and improvement, the management of human resources, the management of financial resources, use of technology and advanced leadership. The residency lays the foundation for continued growth in management and leadership skills. Upon graduation, residents are prepared for a clinical or operational management/supervisory role in a variety of work settings.

• Length of program: 25 months (approximately June-July)
• Number of positions: 3

Residents will earn a Master of Science in pharmacy practice from the University of Kansas. A minimum of 30 hours of coursework is required to be completed during the 2-year residency. Classes are taught through the Health Policy and Management Department, College of Business, College of Pharmacy and by administrators in the pharmacy department. The majority of classes take place during the evenings to avoid interference with clinical rotations. Graduate student tuition is paid for by The University of Kansas Health System.

• Annual salary: $48,000
• Benefits include PTO, paid holidays, health/dental/life/liability insurance
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PGY1

• Orientation (1 week): Residents are required to complete 1 week of health system and pharmacy orientation to prepare them for all learning experiences throughout the residency program.
• Staffing (4 weeks): Residents are required to complete a central staffing learning experience to gain the skills and knowledge to staff independently for required weekend shifts.
• Acute care (5 weeks): Residents are required to complete an acute care learning experience during the program. Acute care options include family medicine and various internal medicine teams.
• Ambulatory care (5 weeks): Residents are required to complete an ambulatory care learning experience during the program. Ambulatory clinic options include those specializing in advanced heart failure, cystic fibrosis, gastroenterology (IBD), HIV, hepatology, multiple sclerosis, primary care, psychiatry, rheumatology, solid organ transplant and women’s health.
• Critical care (5 weeks): Residents are required to complete a critical care learning experience during the program. Critical care options include cardiovascular ICU, medical ICU, neonatal ICU, neurosurgical ICU, surgical ICU and transplant ICU teams.
• Clinical operations (5 weeks): Residents are required to complete a clinical operations experience during the program. Residents will experience functions of both inpatient central distribution as well as clinical monitoring in a unique healthcare setting (e.g., surgical hospital, psychiatric hospital, etc.).
• Clinical elective (5 weeks): Residents are required to select a clinical elective during the PGY1 year. Options include an acute care, critical care or ambulatory care learning experience not yet completed in cardiology, various internal medicine teams, various critical care teams or various ambulatory care clinics.
• Introduction to administration (4 weeks): Residents are required to complete the introduction to administration learning experience. This serves as an introductory experience to provide residents exposure to team management, departmental planning, lean principles, human resources/recruitment, and staffing/scheduling during the first residency year. Residents will build upon concepts and skills learned in this learning experience throughout the second year.
• Medication safety (4 weeks): Residents are required to complete the medication safety learning experience during the program. This learning experience provides the resident exposure to drug policy, the Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee and medication safety.
• Administrative elective (4 weeks): Residents are required to select an administration-focused elective during the PGY1 year with an operations manager. Options include acute care management, ambulatory care management, cancer care management and infusion management.
• Expansion learning experience (4 weeks): Residents will complete an expansion learning experience that is related to their longitudinal learning experience for the second year.

PGY2

• Administrative longitudinal management track (4 weeks and longitudinal): Each second year HSPAL residents will participate in a longitudinal management track that includes the longitudinal learning experience at the start of the year. During the first residency year, residents will apply to available longitudinal tracks, and the residency program director with assistance from RAC will match the residents with a longitudinal management track. The longitudinal learning experience is designed for the resident to become oriented to that area to complete the learning objectives and goals associated with the longitudinal learning experience throughout the PGY2 year. Longitudinal learning experiences vary year to year based on interests of the resident and department needs. Examples of past longitudinal tracks include inpatient clinical, inpatient operations, ambulatory, cancer care and pharmacy informatics.
• Acute care pharmacy services (6 weeks): Acute care pharmacy services is a required learning experience during the PGY2 year. The senior director of pharmacy for acute care serves as the main preceptor.
• Pharmacy informatics (4 weeks): Pharmacy informatics is a required learning experience during the PGY2 year. The director for pharmacy informatics, medication safety, and pharmacy benefit management serves as the main preceptor.
• Health system executive leadership (4 weeks): Health system executive leadership is a required learning experience during the PGY2 year. A health system executive serves as the main preceptor. During this learning experience, residents will gain exposure to executive leadership within a health system and gain the skills necessary to communicate effectively with executive leadership as a pharmacy leader.
• Ambulatory care pharmacy services (6 weeks): Ambulatory pharmacy services is a required learning experience during the PGY2 year. The senior director of pharmacy for ambulatory and specialty services serves as the main preceptor.
• Supply chain and finance (4 weeks): Supply chain and finance is a required learning experience during the PGY2 year. The assistant director of pharmacy for supply chain serves as the main preceptor.
• Cancer care and infusion services (6 weeks): Infusion services is a required learning experience during the PGY2 year. The senior director of pharmacy for cancer care, infusion and investigational drug services serves as the main preceptor.
• Pharmacy system support (4 weeks): Pharmacy system support is a required learning experience during the PGY2 year. The senior director of pharmacy for automation and system support serves as the main preceptor.
• Regulatory and compliance (4 weeks): Regulatory and compliance is a required learning experience during the PGY2 year. The senior director of pharmacy for automation and system support serves as the main preceptor.
• Elective learning experience (5 weeks): Residents will have an opportunity to complete an elective learning experience in an area of their choice. Residents are encouraged to select a learning experience that affords them experience in the area in which they wish to pursue a career. Learning experience descriptions will be developed when the elective is determined.

Practice foundation skills

• June through mid-July: Hospital and pharmacy department orientation and training
• Mid-July through mid-August: Central staffing and transitions of care staffing training
• Mid-August: Beginning of clinical rotation on selected clinical team

Acute care

• Internal medicine
• Cardiology
• Pediatrics

Ambulatory care

• Heart failure
• HIV
• Hepatology
• Multiple sclerosis
• Cystic fibrosis
• Solid organ transplant
• Psychiatry
• Women's health

Critical care

• Surgical ICU (Level I Trauma Center)
• Medical ICU
• Cardiovascular ICU
• Neurosurgical ICU
• Neonatal ICU
• Transplant ICU

Expansion rotation

• An expansion of the resident's interests in a select area*
• Program leaders work with residents to design experience

Chief resident (longitudinal)

• Coordination of duties within the residency program
• Facilitation of projects in cooperation with the administrative team

*Rotations from other categories can be chosen as electives. The resident is responsible for initiating contact and setting up goals for any off-site rotations.

Resident staffing

• PGY1: Every other weekend
• PGY2: Every fourth weekend

Resident Research

PGY1 research: Residents are required to complete 2 projects directed at enhancing personal and professional growth while benefiting the pharmacy through innovative changes in pharmacy practice in the PGY1 year. Projects will include a quality-focused Drug use evaluation (DUE) to be completed in the fall of the PGY1 year and completion of a pharmacy practice project by spring of the PGY1 year. Project presentations will be in the form of a poster presentation and/or verbal presentation with results at a selected fall conference, a spring residency conference or other designated meeting. A final manuscript for the pharmacy practice project must be submitted prior to the end of the PGY1 year.

PGY2 research: Residents are required to complete a longitudinal project that suffices the master’s project/thesis requirement of their coursework. The project is selected from a list approved by HSPAL RAC and requires at least 1 preceptor be adjunct faculty at the University of Kansas School of Pharmacy. Residents will work with the MS liaison to ensure the project is structured in a way to comply with the master’s program.

The requirement for the MS degree program is that the project be presented in a formal setting either at an approved conference or by an ad hoc meeting of the research committee. Once the presentation has occurred, the MS degree requirements are complete. Following completion of the project, the resident will also prepare a final manuscript, which will be approved by the primary project preceptor and any other stakeholders.

Resident presentations

PGY1 year

• Residents are required to conduct a 60-minute presentation of CE quality in the second half of the residency year. The PGY1 residency advisory council will determine the learning topics of need for the pharmacy, and the resident will choose an approved topic from that list.
• Leadership Journal Club presentation: Each resident is responsible for picking a leadership-related article and leading a discussion about interesting points within the article. The residency program executive will either help you prepare for the journal club or assign an alternative preceptor.

PGY2 year

• The resident is required to conduct a 45-minute presentation during the PGY2 residency year for pharmacy leaders. The presentation will take place as scheduled by residency leadership. The resident will select their own topic, but it must be relevant to pharmacy leadership.

PGY1 and PGY2 year

• The resident is required to present a poster presentation at the Vizient Pharmacy Network Meeting in conjunction with ASHP Midyear Meeting in December or other designated meeting.
• The resident will give an oral presentation at either the Midwest Pharmacy Residency Conference or Kansas City Health System Pharmacy Residency Conference in the spring or other designated meeting.

Key preceptors

• Rick Couldry, vice president of pharmacy and health professions
• Samaneh Wilkinson, senior director of ambulatory pharmacy services
• Chris Bell, senior director of pharmacy system support and improvement
• Kat Miller, senior director of acute care pharmacy services
• Leigh Anne Scott, senior director of cancer care and infusion pharmacy services
• Korby Lathrop, director of pharmacy and lab informatics
• Chris Loucks, director of pharmacy supply chain

Additional pharmacy education and leadership opportunities

• Residents are encouraged to participate in local and national pharmacy organizations such as GKCSHP, KCHP, ASHP and ACCP.
• University of Kansas School of Pharmacy offers a teaching certificate for local residents.

Informational sessions

• The University of Kansas Health System 2022-2023 Recruitment
• October 13, October 27, November 2, November 17
  • See hyperlink above for meeting links
• Visit our social media pages
  • Instagram: @tukhspharmres
  • Twitter: @tukhspharmres
  • Facebook: @tukhspharmres
  • LinkedIn: Pharmacy Residency at The University of Kansas Health System

PhORCAS

Deadlines

• Application deadline: December 28
• Must have a valid pharmacy license in the state of Kansas prior to residency start date or July 1 at latest.

Checklist for application

• Letter of intent
  • Topics to consider: Why you want to pursue this particular residency, why you have chosen our program and personal goals that the program would help you accomplish
• Completion of the following essay questions:
  1. It is important to our program that residents discover and capitalize on their strengths throughout the year. Please purchase Buckingham's "Now Discover Your Strengths" or Rath's "Strengthsfinder 2.0" and determine your top 5 strengths. Upon completion, list your strengths, and comment on the results. Are they accurate? Are there any surprises?
  2. Tell us about a meaningful intervention you have made and how it impacted patient care.
  3. Define humility in your own words and describe how it impacts your leadership style.
• Example of a project completed on a rotation (PowerPoint, poster, document)
• Curriculum vitae
• Pharmacy school transcripts
• 3 letters of recommendation: At least 1 letter of recommendation must come from a clinical preceptor. A letter from someone who has witnessed your leadership ability (administrator, boss, advisor) is encouraged.
• PhORCAS residency program application
• ASHP resident-matching program registration

Important dates after completion of match process

• June: Annual resident's meet-and-greet event and orientation

National matching services (NMS) code: 180718

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