PGY1 Program Specifics

The Carolinas Medical Center PGY1 Pharmacy residency program in the setting of Ambulatory Specialty Clinics & Specialty Pharmacy is a 12-month program designed to build upon the Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) education to develop the resident to fulfill the major functions of an Ambulatory Care and Specialty Pharmacist.

The emphasis of the residency is to train the pharmacist to support and manage specialty pharmacy clinical care and operations across the continuum of care. Residents will graduate with well-rounded skills in the specialty pharmacy, ambulatory, and inpatient settings, and will have the opportunity to pursue early commit to Atrium Health’s southeast regional PGY2 programs.

Application deadline: 1/2/2027

Program Start Date: 6/21/2027

Interview Set-up: Applicants selected for an interview will be offered a virtual interview which will be held on the Microsoft TEAMS platform.  Interviewees are expected to have operational cameras for these interviews.

Estimated stipend: $63,320.00

Positions available: 1 

Mentorship: The resident will have a longitudinal mentor throughout the year that will attend their monthly rotation handoff meetings between incoming and outgoing preceptors.  The mentor also meets with the resident outside of the monthly meeting to provide support with professional development, career advice, time and stress management and whatever else might be needed.

Learning Experiences

Learning experiences are completed in 2- to 4-week blocks within ambulatory specialty/ primary care clinics, inpatient services, and along specialty pharmacy service lines.

Required experiences are identified below. Those rotations not selected as meet program requirements can be selected as elective experiences. Additional elective experiences including (not limited to) critical care, women’s health, sickle cell disease, home infusion, and advanced experiences, can be considered depending on the interests and goals of the resident.

• Inpatient Internal Medicine
• Ambulatory Primary Care
• Infectious Diseases & Immunology (one required among):
  • Inflammatory – Rheumatology
  • Inflammatory – Gastrointestinal
  • Human immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)
  • Neurology
• Rare & Chronic Diseases (one required among):
  • Pulmonary/ Cystic Fibrosis
  • Oncology
  • Cardiology
• Transitions of Care, with inpatient/outpatient engagement (one required among):
  • Thrombosis/Hemostasis
  • Solid Organ Transplant
  • Pediatric Oncology
• Non-Clinical
  • Orientation
  • Specialty Pharmacy Administration
  • Research (December)

In coordination with learning experiences, the resident will gain experience working along at least 4 of the following SPS clinical service lines: autoimmune/ inflammatory, oncology, pediatric oncology, bleeding disorders, neurology, pulmonary/ cystic fibrosis, hepatitis, HIV, and hematology/ cardiology.

Residents will complete four additional elective rotations that can be selected from those listed and not selected from the required options list. Additional elective options (such as critical care, women’s health, behavioral health, and others) may be available within the system for the resident to consider based on resident interest

Operational Core (staffing)

Resident will staff one weekend every 3-week block, which will include covering 1:1 Rx medication management service 8am – 12pm on Saturday (depending on scheduled appointments), and the specialty pharmacy clinical queue 12:30-5pm Saturday, and 8:30-5pm Sunday (2 8-hour shifts) 

• Minimum 16 weekends/ 32 weekend shifts 

Additional staffing includes:

• Once weekday on the Specialty Pharmacy (SP) clinical queue (one 8-hour shift) 
  • Minimum 30 weekday shifts (one 3-hour shift, 4-7pm) 
• Minimum 3 concentrated weeks Carolina Care dispensing (40-hour week) 
  • Starting in January of the residency year, the PGY1 will staff in the CarolinaCare retail/ dispensing setting once weekly every other week, handling specialty medications, in lieu of their SP clinical queue day shift
• Holiday shifts: 
  • No major holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years) 
  • All minor holidays (3): Memorial Day, Labor Day, Good Friday (covering specialty pharmacy service queue) 
• On-Call (resident will staff the Specialty Pharmacy Service after hours On-Call service, every 6th week starting in October
  • Scheduling will generally align with weekends before coverage weeks to avoid workload overlap

Required Longitudinal Learning Experiences

• Research (12 months): The resident will complete an IRB-approved research project results presented at the REPS regional residency research conference in the spring of the residency year.  The resident will write the protocol and IRB submission documents.  Research practice presentations will be presented to the Specialty Pharmacy Clinical team and RAC Research Subcommittee.  A written manuscript suitable for publication must be completed and submitted by the end of the residency year.  
  • The Specialty Pharmacy Clinical team and RAC Research Subcommittee provides oversight for research projects and coordinates an annual Research Education Series with the Atrium Health Pharmacy Department inclusive of lectures on study design, biostatistics, drug information, data management with REDCap, data analysis using Excel and medical writing lectures.
• Medication Use Evaluation (6 months):The resident will complete an IRB-approved MUE with the results presented via a poster at the ASHP Midyear Clinical Meeting or another equivalent conference in the PGY1 calendar year. MUE results and recommendations are required to be written up and presented to the appropriate subject matter expert committees and may include a P&T (or relevant subcommittee) meeting presentation or the Specialty Pharmacy Service staff. The Specialty Pharmacy Clinical team and RAC Research Subcommittee provides oversight for MUEs.
• Teaching Certificate (12 months):Designed to effectively develop teaching and precepting skills most essential to clinical pharmacy practitioners and preceptors of students and residents. The program is supported by the University of South Carolina Clinical Teaching Certificate (CTC) program (https://sc.edu/study/colleges_schools/pharmacy/pharmacy_education/certificates/ctc/). Residents will work with a USC school faculty mentor and CMC residency program teaching certificate mentor to meet program requirements. Residents may select between the CTC’s Clinical Preceptor or Clinical Academician tracks depending on their professional goals and interests. In addition to the requirements of the CTC program, residents will also participate in the following:
  • Layered learning precepting of pharmacy students on clinical rotations
  • CMC Pharmacy Noon Conferences (with other CMC residents and students)
  • One ACPE-Accredited Seminar Presentation (coordinated through the Advocate Health Department of Pharmacy)
  • One lecture to the UNC Charlotte Nurse Practitioner program
• Medication Policy Management (3 months): The purpose is to develop general knowledge of formulary processes through preparation or revision of a drug class review, monograph, treatment guideline, treatment protocol, utilization management criteria, and/or order set. Residents will be required to present the completed product to institutional stakeholders with clear evidence-based recommendations for the health system formulary; subsequently, the resident should assist with implementation of any clinical and operational steps if implementation timeline occurs within the residency year.

Vacation and Leave

All residents will be allowed a maximum of 30 days away from the residency program to include: 

• 10 paid time off days 
• 5 sick days 
• 5 professional business days for interviews 
• 5 bereavement days (maximum of 3 days per event in accordance with Atrium Health policy) 
• 5 holidays (based on Atrium Health Holiday schedule for the year) 
• For holiday schedule, see staffing/operational core above