Pharmacy Residency Program

The Internal Medication residency learning experience is a 6 week required learning experience at Onvida Health. This rotation allows the resident to be involved in the care of patients in the general medicine setting (medical/surgical), which includes a wide variety of disease states. Emphasis is made to enhance the resident’s knowledge of the pathophysiology, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of disease states and complications encountered in general medicine patients. The resident’s primary responsibility is evaluation of medication therapy for patients. This includes identifying and resolving drug therapy problems, communication of the recommendations to appropriate healthcare providers, implementation of the follow-up plan and appropriate documentation in the patient chart and/or clinical pharmacy consult records. Residents will expand their pharmacotherapy knowledge through participation in topic discussions, literature searches, review of evidence-based guidelines and review of patient cases. Residents may be assigned additional projects during the rotation that will supplement their knowledge and improve medication use in the hospital.

The Critical Care I Learning Experience is a 6 week required learning experience at Onvida Health. This Learning Experience allows the resident to be directly involved in the care of patients in the 42-bed Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

The pharmacy resident is responsible for the evaluation of all medication therapies associated with the care of patients in the ICU. The resident will be responsible for keeping their own monitoring book of all patients in the ICU during their Learning Experience. This will allow the resident to monitor and follow as well as track the identification and resolution of drug therapy problems within their patient population, including, but not limited to, providing and documenting therapeutic drug monitoring services in patients receiving drugs requiring monitoring, including, but not limited to, aminoglycosides, vancomycin and TPN. As the resident gains experience, not only will they be expected to participate in multidisciplinary rounds each morning, but also to communicate recommendations to the health care team as appropriate. Being that the residents are ACLS certified, it will be expected that they attend all codes throughout hospital while on ICU service. Residents will expand their pharmacotherapy knowledge through participation in topic discussions, literature, review of evidence-based guidelines and review of patient cases with the preceptor and ICU intensivist physician. Residents may be assigned additional projects/presentations during the Learning Experience that will improve their knowledge base and improve care to critical care patients.

During this 6 week Learning Experience, the resident will be assigned to staff different pharmacists’ shifts throughout the experience and it will be upon the resident to complete all assigned tasks for that shift. The main difference between this Learning Experience and Internal Medicine, Critical Care and the longitudinal staffing will be that the resident will not be assigned to cover, or handle solely, the clinical support for a single unit, but rather the resident will take on the exact workload that would have been assigned to the pharmacist for that shift.

The Student Preceptor Learning Experience is a 6 week required learning experience that is focused on the resident acting as a preceptor to an Introductory Pharmacy Practices Experiences (IPPE)/Advanced Pharmacy Practices Experiences (APPE) student assigned to Onvida Health for Learning Experience. The length of this Learning Experience will vary by student, as schools may have different lengths of Learning Experiences. This Learning Experience will take place in the spring portion of the resident’s year, generally, after the resident has completed after the resident has completed the AHSP Teaching Certificate. During this Learning Experience, the resident will be able to use skills attained from the ASHP Certificate Program, including, but not limited to, the creation of learning objectives, the four preceptor roles employed in practice-based teaching (direct instruction, modeling, coaching and facilitation), evaluation and feedback.

During this learning experience, the resident will also ensure the completion of one ASHP Leadership Certificate program. The resident can choose ASHP Pharmacy Leadership Management Basics or ASHP Pharmacy Leadership Certificate Beyond the Basics for Advancing Managers. The Pharmacy Resident will also attend an Onvida A3 Leadership training live workshop to develop their leadership and innovation skills.

The PGY1 Ambulatory Orientation is a 3-week Learning Experience for the resident to begin to learn the workflow and role of the resident and pharmacists in the following Onvida Ambulatory Care settings: The Anticoagulation Pharmacy Clinic, Family Medicine GME Clinic, and Transitions of Care Nursing Clinic.

The Infectious Disease (ID) learning experience is a 6-week required learning experience at Onvida Health: Yuma Medical Center. Residents will review and build upon their antimicrobial and disease-state knowledge. Resident responsibilities include: (1) identifying, evaluating, and resolving drug therapy problems; (2) communicating recommendations to the appropriate healthcare provider; (3) recommending or implementing a follow-up/monitoring plan; (4) and when necessary, appropriately documenting in the patient’s chart and/or clinical pharmacy consult records.

Residents will expand their pharmacotherapy knowledge through participation in topic discussions, literature search, review of evidence-based guidelines, and review of patient cases. Residents may be assigned additional projects during the learning experience that will supplement their knowledge and improve medication use in the hospital.

This is a year long longitudinal experience that will be completed during the course of the residency and will include the conduction of a Medication Use Evaluation (MUE) and research project. Appropriate processes will be followed (i.e., seeking Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval) when necessary. The MUE will be presented in poster format at the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) Midyear Clinical Meeting. The research project will be presented as a platform presentation at the Western States Conference. Prior to completion of the residency, a manuscript suitable for publication will be written explaining the resident’s research.

The Transitional Care team focuses on providing chronic care management, care coordination and educational resources for chronic illnesses and conditions. This Practice area is staffed by Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants for patients suffering from anemia, COPD, CHF, Diabetes, Heart attack, Liver disease, Pneumonia and care after Open-Heart Surgery. Pharmacists and Pharmacy residents will assist the clinical team by completing a Comprehensive Medication Review for each patient.  Pharmacists and Residents will review each medication list for any over-the-counter medications, vitamins, supplements and prescription medications and provide education to the patient the purpose and benefit of the use of the products. This is a year long rotation.

The Family Medicine is a yearlong longitudinal learning experience that will occur every third Wednesday. This learning experience allows the resident to be directly involved in the care of patients in the Onvida Health Family Medicine Clinic. As part of this learning experience, the resident will be asked to evaluate patients for medication adherence, drug-drug interactions (DDI), duplication of therapy, efficacy of drug therapy as well as other aspects of the patient as a whole. The resident will be expected to apply and make recommendations supported by nationally recognized guidelines and be able to individualize treatment for patients.

The anticoagulation learning experience is a yearlong longitudinal required experience for all PGY1 residents at Onvida Health. Each resident is required to staff the Onvida Health Anticoagulation Kachina Medical Plaza (ACC) once every three weeks on a Wednesday. This rotation teaches direct patient care in an ambulatory setting that is managed entirely by pharmacists. Residents will gain experience with medication therapy management for patients taking warfarin as well as in performing monitoring activities to assess efficacy and potential toxicity of warfarin therapy. Residents will learn how to effectively communicate with patients and refine their interviewing/counseling skills. Residents will be able to apply their pharmaceutical expertise by responding appropriately to drug information questions from patients and other providers. Residents will also become proficient at documenting patient care activities in EPIC according to the Onvida Health anticoagulation guidelines and protocol. Residents will always have an anticoagulation pharmacist staff member in the adjacent office who will be available for consultation and feedback as needed.