Medication-Use Safety and Policy Residency

The St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital Medication-Use Safety and Policy Residency is a 12-month ASHP-accredited PGY2 residency program that provides advanced training in medication safety and medication-use policy. The complex and high-risk nature of treatment provided at St. Jude provides a unique learning environment for patient safety and medication policy that can be applied later to any health care setting.

The resident will investigate medication errors and lead improvement efforts to prevent future events. Emphasis is placed on leading and coordinating cause analyses (such as root cause analysis), managing a medication-use safety team/committee, participating in methods to improve event detection and event reporting, and contributing to other quality improvement initiatives. The resident will also participate in both administrative and patient care aspects of the St. Jude medication-use process, such as guideline and policy development and formulary management. Other activities include coordinating a pharmacy and therapeutics committee, regulatory readiness, and completing medication-use evaluations and audits.

Along with medication safety and policy experiences, the resident will acquire experience in teaching through lectures and precepting pharmacy students. The resident will be expected to lead a quality improvement initiative or complete a major project focused on medication safety or policy. Experiences during the residency will enable the resident to seek a career focused on medication safety or medication-use policy.

Eligibility

Applicants must have:

• A Doctor of Pharmacy degree
• Completed an ASHP-accredited PGY1 residency
• Eligibility for licensure to practice pharmacy in the state of Tennessee
• Completed an onsite or virtual interview

Candidates are strongly encouraged to interview with St. Jude staff at the Professional Placement Service (PPS/CareerPharm) at the ASHP Midyear Clinical Meeting.

Curriculum

Core rotations

• Orientation (4 weeks)
• Clinical Oncology (3 weeks)
• Elective (4 weeks)

Longitudinal experiences

• Education and Presentations
• Informatics and Precepting
• Major Project
• Medication-Use Policy
• Medication Safety
• Professionalism and Leadership
• Pharmacy Operations