Residency Talk

For those that attended APhA2008 or have heard other talk of this, one of the hottest topics within pharmacy is the expectation that by 2020, all pharmacists who wish to enter into patient care will have completed a one-year residency. This is a controversial topic for many reasons, not the least of which is whether or not there are enough residencies (commentary on that topic here) There are numerous articles discussing this-and I suggest you keep your eyes open for further discussion on it. For background, try googling "JCPP Future Vision of Pharmacy." I think this will lead you to many easily accessible discussion of what the future will hopefully be. Here's a copy of the original statement as well.

What reminded me of all of this was an article discussing nurses pushing for a doctorate in nursing to act as primary-care practitioners. I won't delve too much into this article-but one line caught my attention: By 2015, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing aims to make the doctoral degree the standard for all new advanced practice nurses, including nurse practitioners. Seeing all of the discussion that pharmacy is having, I felt this was a bold statement and prediction for them to make. Think of the impact that this would have on nursing education, and how closely this likely mimics the discussions that pharmacy is having right now.

I won't belabor this too much more, and I don't know how I feel on either way of advocating for residencies or not. But when we discuss, as a profession, what we want our future to look like, I think we need to remember that we need to find the best way for us to be the best medication experts for patients available and decide how we are going to get there, or other professions will decide for us.