South County Health's Post Graduate Year One Pharmacy Residency Program (PGY1) was established in 2012, accepting its first class in July 2013.  South County Hospital, located in the beachside community of Wakefield, RI, is a Joint Commission Accredited, 100-bed acute care community hospital.

The PGY1 residents work closely with a dedicated group of specialized pharmacy preceptors that mentor and train future pharmacist practitioners. The intense twelve-month program provides experiences in a variety of settings, focusing on the core areas of practice specified in the American Society Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) Accreditation Standards. Our program is a 12-month postgraduate curriculum that offers training opportunities in acute care, ambulatory care, drug information, drug use policy development, clinical services and practice leadership. Residents will gain the necessary experience and develop critical thinking skills needed to practice in a hospital, ambulatory care or teaching environment.

For more information about this program, email Marissa Palm, PGY1 Residency Program Director, mpalm@southcountyhealth.org or call 401 788-1823.

Teaching

Residents completing this program will be competent educators in pharmacy practice and obtain valuable teaching experience at the University of Rhode Island (URI) College of Pharmacy.

Residents will serve as co-preceptors for pharmacy student rotations, participate in pharmacy staff development programs and provide pharmacy presentations to the medical and nursing staff.  Academic rotations may be offered through the URI. Residents may also serve as teaching assistants to participate in patient counseling activities and will complete the URI’s Teaching Certificate program.

Research Activity

Residents are required to complete a research project. Selection of a project is based upon clinical interests and presentation of project ideas to residency preceptors. Residents will develop a formal research proposal and submit the proposal for IRB approval. Residents will present their research project at a poster session at the Eastern States Residency Conference. Additionally, residents will provide a final manuscript write up prior to residency graduation.

Staffing Responsibilities

Residents are trained to support both clinical and pharmacy practice service at South County Hospital.

The role and responsibilities of the resident is to support all pharmaceutical services for the patient care area assigned and may include but is not limited to the following:

• Verifying pharmacy orders
• Supporting clinical activities including dosing of medication therapy to include, but not limited to: enoxaparin, vancomycin, warfarin, and renal dosing of medications.
• Monitoring orders for TPN
• Supporting the medication reconciliation service
• Triaging and resolving medication problems
• Responding to codes
• Supervising and overseeing pharmacy technicians and students
• Provide Staffing as the sole pharmacist on assigned weekend shifts for a 100 bed

PGY1 residents work every other weekend, rotating between staffing on a weekend and performing medication reconciliation on the other weekend.

All residents work at least one major (Thanksgiving, Christmas, and/or New Years) and one minor (Labor Day and Memorial Day) holiday throughout the year.

Program Sites 

• Clinical rotations will be completed at South County Hospital.
• Academic teaching experiences may be conducted at the URI College of Pharmacy.
• Ambulatory care rotations are conducted at the Anticoagulation Management Service, the Cancer Center, The CHF Clinic and the Medication Management Service.

Concentrated Experiences

Core Rotations (12 Months)

• Orientation (6 weeks)
• Internal Medicine (1 month)
• Intensive Care (1 month)
• Drug Information(1 month)
• Cardiology/Medication Reconciliation and Discharge (1 month)
• Administration/Leadership (1 month)
• Antimicrobial Stewardship (1 month)
• Anticoagulation and Medication Management (2 months)
• Oncology/Infusion Therapy (2 months)
• Emergency Medicine (1 month)
• One 4-week electives (i.e. Informatics/Med Safety, Transitions of Care, ICU)

Longitudinal Rotations

• Pharmacy Practice
• Informatics
• Teaching
• Research

Requirements for application: Accredited School of Pharmacy Graduate, eligible for RI licensure, personal interview, submission of a letter of interest, curriculum vitae, application, pharmacy school transcript, three letters of recommendation.

Status: Accredited

Application Deadline; January 4, 2021

Beginning Date: June 28, 2021

Number of Residents: 2

NMS Code: 208413

Stipend: $40,000

Benefits: Medical, Dental, 403(b), 27 PTO days, PTO Cash Out