Ambulatory Care Residency

Overview

The PGY2 Ambulatory-Care Residency at ACPHS is a one-year postgraduate program designed to develop leadership skills and provide training and experience in various areas of ambulatory-care practice, research, teaching and service. This unique program provides exposure to primary care and public-health pharmacy, as well as specialty areas that include rheumatology, pain management and nephrology. Core learning experiences include outpatient primary care, rheumatology, nephrology and hypertension, public-health pharmacy, pain management, academia/teaching and research/scholarship. You may choose electives based on your needs and interests, including community pharmacy within a federally qualified health center, medication-therapy management, practice management, pharmacogenomics and/or subspecialty ambulatory-care pharmacy. The ACPHS Teaching and Learning Certificate Program is offered as an optional experience for residents who have not previously completed a teaching certificate. There are opportunities to participate in public-health outreach, transitions of care, and in local and national committees and foundations. Previous residents have gone on to jobs in academia, ambulatory care pharmacy, managed care and specialty pharmacy.

Program Structure

Signature experiences of the program include delivery of clinical services in public health, rheumatology, nephrology, pharmacogenomics and pain management. Required learning experiences include primary care, rheumatology, nephrology, community and public-health pharmacy, pain management, academia/teaching and research/scholarship. You may choose electives based on your needs and interests, including practice management and leadership, pharmacogenomics, and/or subspecialty ambulatory-care pharmacy. The ACPHS Teaching and Learning Certificate Program is offered as an optional experience. There are opportunities to participate in public- health outreach, transitions of care, advanced community pharmacy, and local and national committees and foundations.

Notes:

• Rotation blocks are generally six to 12 weeks in duration and align with the APPE student schedule.
• Electives are chosen based on residents’ needs and interests and may include inpatient pharmacy practice and/or subspecialty ambulatory-care pharmacy. There are also opportunities to participate in public-health outreach, transitions of care, academic committees, and in local and national committees and foundations.

Core Clinical Services

Signature experiences of the program include delivery of clinical services in family medicine, rheumatology, nephrology, community pharmacy and public health.

Family Medicine

Saratoga Hospital Medical Group (SHMG) comprises over 30 specialty providers with 20+ locations across Saratoga County and beyond. SHMG provides a care model mimicking the patient-centered medical home. Primary care, psychiatry, pain management, addiction and dental services are provided under one roof. Pharmacy residents work as part of the interdisciplinary team managing patients in collaboration with physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, nurses, credentialed alcoholism and substance abuse counselors (CASACs), social workers and community health workers. The residents provide pain-management consults focused on non-opioid interventions, risk-mitigation strategies, controlled-substance policies, as well as provider and patient education. The team can also offer pharmacogenomic testing to patients for various indications and has expanded that service to several neighboring practices. In addition, the pharmacy team assists in the daily activities of providing primary care, such as answering questions about medications, completing complex insurance prior authorizations, performing medication reconciliation at transitions of care, as well as medication teaching and education. There is a strong focus on the management of patients with overlapping rheumatic diseases.

The Collaboratory

The dynamic layout of the The Collaboratory, our “laboratory for collaboration,” includes adjustable, classroom-style space for community meetings and classes, as well as office space and private meeting space for patron consultation. Cubicle and office spaces currently support community health workers, pharmacy team members and students. Signature services at The Collaboratory are delivered by ACPHS’ Public Health Pharmacy Team (PHPT) and partner Trinity Alliance’s Wellness Advocates Linking Communities (WALC) team, which work together in the space. The programs address social justice and social determinants of health, with the goal to improve population health and reduce avoidable emergency-department visits and hospital admissions. Pharmacists have a long history of acting as public- health advocates and practitioners within their communities. This collaborative model, which bridges social support and health care, deploys pharmacy services into the community, allowing for a deeper understanding of the role that pharmacists can provide. The operations and student involvement at The Collaboratory are overseen by public health and pharmacy-practice faculty, and the day-to-day management is overseen by a site coordinator.

Specialty: Rheumatology & Nephrology

Albany Medical Center (AMC) is the only academic medical center in the Capital Region. AMC Division of Rheumatology offers a two-year medical fellowship program in rheumatology allowing for a layer-learning model for medical and pharmacy trainees. Pharmacy residents and medical rheumatology fellows, along with students and medical residents, spend time learning and caring for patients with rheumatic disease as part of the multidisciplinary team. The Division of Rheumatology at AMC encompasses both adult and pediatric outpatient rheumatology clinics and inpatient consult services caring for individuals with autoimmune and musculoskeletal diseases. The Pharmacy Team, including the pharmacy residents and students, works collaboratively with four adult rheumatologists, three pediatric rheumatologists and three medical rheumatology fellows daily, with some providers serving as co-preceptors and mentors for the pharmacy residents.

Nephrology rotations are a hybrid learning experience to expose the resident to the management of outpatient kidney disease and include experiences in an academic medical setting, in private practice and dialysis. The learning experience includes patient care activities at the Division of Hypertension & Nephrology located at Albany Medical Center South Clinical Campus, Capital District Renal Physicians/New York Nephrology and Fresenius Kidney Care. The practices are responsible for managing patients with stage one-five chronic kidney disease and patients with acute kidney injury, hypertension, nephrolithiasis, transplant and autoimmune kidney disease. Residents interact with attending nephrologists, physician nephrology fellows, nurses, dialysis staff, dietitians, social workers and advanced practitioners. Rotations in both nephrology and rheumatology at AMC allow for increased collaboration among mutual patients, especially those with kidney disease associated with systemic lupus erythematous and vasculitis, and also management of bone disease in patients with advanced kidney disease.

Responsibilities

You will be responsible for providing clinical pharmacy services in various settings. This will allow you to develop relationships with patients and practitioners and become adept at clinical evaluation and medication management in ambulatory practice.

A customized plan will be developed on the basis of your previous experience and interest areas. You will also be involved with teaching, research and service activities at ACPHS.

Program Requirements

Applicants must:

• Possess a Doctor of Pharmacy degree from an accredited school or college of pharmacy
• Be eligible for a license to practice pharmacy in the State of New York
• Have completed or expect to complete an ASHP-accredited PGY1 residency program

Teaching and Learning Certificate Program

The Ambulatory Care Residency is complemented by an optional Teaching and Learning Certificate program for residents who have not completed a TLP during PGY1. The program was developed by the College for residents seeking additional skills and experiences to help launch careers in academia.

Ambulatory-Care Residency Brochure

Residency at a Glance