SOP and UMMC Announce Partnership for Pharmacy Residencies and Fellowships
Combined residency training program will bring together resources of both organizations to enhance the training of pharmacists
By Steve Berberich
November 3, 2008
The University of Maryland School of Pharmacy and the University of Maryland Medical Center’s Department of Pharmacy have joined forces to create a combined residency training program that will enhance the training of pharmacists.
The new University of Maryland Pharmacy Residency and Fellowship Program will bring together resources of both organizations to broaden the residents’ patient care training in many specialty areas, including intensive care, trauma, cardiology, transplant, and others. The program also will offer expanded training opportunities in research and pharmacy management.
School of Pharmacy Dean Natalie D. Eddington, PhD, says the agreement is “a unique and innovative relationship between the School of Pharmacy and its affiliated hospital. This will provide a strong foundation for residency experiences at the School.”
The School of Pharmacy is one of seven professional schools at the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB), which also has a graduate school. The University of Maryland Medical Center is a 705-bed, private, not-for-profit teaching hospital located on the UMB campus. Many of the Medical Center’s health care professionals have faculty appointments with the UMB professional schools, including the School of Medicine and the School of Nursing.
Upon graduation from the School of Pharmacy, graduates can choose to practice and work in a variety of settings such as community and independent stores, academia, hospitals, long-term care settings, and industry. Many, however, choose to do additional training through a pharmacy residency program.
Postgraduate residency programs traditionally take one year to complete, preparing residents to practice pharmacy in expanded roles. Then, many of the residents chose to complete a second year of specialty residency in ambulatory care, geriatric pharmacotherapy, oncology pharmacy practice, palliative care/pain management, pediatrics, psychiatry, or other areas.
Marc Summerfield, MS, director of the Department of Pharmacy at the University of Maryland Medical Center, says, “We are excited about the opportunities that the partnership provides our residents. Together, the Medical Center and the School of Pharmacy can offer a high-quality clinical practice site within a broader scholarly framework, which includes teaching and research.”
Agnes-Ann Feemster, PharmD, BCPS, assistant director of the Medical Center’s Department of Pharmacy, says, “The joint program allows us to combine our resources for a more comprehensive and varied experience for our pharmacy residents. Our residents will be taught and coached by not only the hospital’s pharmacy department-based clinical pharmacy specialists, but also by esteemed faculty members from a top ranked School of Pharmacy.”
James Trovato, PharmD, MBA, BCOP, associate professor of pharmacy practice and science at the School, is the School of Pharmacy program coordinator. Trovato says, “Baltimore has become a mecca for pharmacy students. Many of the pharmacy residency programs in the Baltimore area have developed relationships with the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy to provide reciprocal elective learning experiences for all pharmacy students. We often take the lead on organizing educational seminars for area pharmacy residents, and these are very beneficial to the hospitals.”
Under the agreement, residents will also be involved in teaching, usually in each resident’s area of expertise or interest.
“We are very excited about the increased opportunities to have residents participate in the School’s teaching activities,” says Magaly Rodriguez de Bittner, PharmD, BCPS, professor and chair of the Department of Pharmacy Practice and Science. “This partnership provides an opportunity for our student pharmacists to learn about residencies and for the residents themselves to explore the career options in academia.”
All residents will be required to attend pharmacotherapy rounds and management seminars during their residencies.
Each resident will be responsible for designing, completing, and presenting a research project and presenting findings at the Eastern States Conference and the School of Pharmacy Research Day. They also will be encouraged to present their projects at a national meeting.
“Our goal with this extended partnership with the Medical Center is to be a national model of collaboration between schools of pharmacy and university-based health centers,” says Eddington.