Family medicine pharmacy residency programs

Abstract

Family medicine practices have employed clinical pharmacists for over 20 years.1 The early incorporation of clinical pharmacists in these positions has allowed for the training of pharmacy students, residents, and fellows in family medicine. The interaction between clinical pharmacists and family medicine providers started because of a movement to emphasize the provision of health care by a team comprising multilevel providers to bring comprehensive medical care to patients.2 A universal definition has not been established. Programs that focus on family medicine may be accredited by the American Society of Health- System Pharmacists (ASHP) under the categories of primary care pharmacy practice or pharmacotherapy, or they may create their own goals and objectives as a new specialized area under development. Currently, most ASHP-accredited pharmacy residency programs that focus on family medicine are accredited under the category of primary care pharmacy practice. Assuming that family medicine pharmacy residencies are similar to primary care pharmacy residencies, family medicine pharmacy residencies should “develop the pharmacist’s competence to practice in a wide variety of primary care practice settings.”3 Originally, family medicine pharmacy residencies fit well into the primary care pharmacy residency model secondary to the ambulatory patient care focus. However, over the past several years, most family medicine pharmacy residency programs have incorporated training in both inpatient and outpatient pharmacotherapy. The majority of primary care pharmacy practice residencies accredited by ASHP focus on outpatient pharmacotherapy. The purist definition of a family medicine pharmacy residency is a program that allows the resident to experience both inpatient and outpatient clinical pharmacy training, participate in the activities of training with family medicine physicians in a residency program, and develop skills in evidencebased medicine, clinical education, and scholarly work. Therefore, the question arises, should a new ASHP-accredited specialty in family medicine be developed to truly define the family medicine pharmacy residency experience?