PGY1 Community Pharmacy San Diego, California

The Kaiser Permanente, San Diego PGY1 Community-Based Pharmacy Residency Program will prepare the residency graduates to develop and provide advanced pharmacy services and to become leaders in the community pharmacy setting. Following guidelines set by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, our residency program provides thorough training in a variety of specialties. This program is a 52-week postgraduate curriculum that offers training in community pharmacy, drug information, practice leadership, The program is designed and implemented around the resident’s professional and personal goals. The resident is offered a variety of core, elective, and longitudinal experiences. The resident will actively participate in community outreach events, as well as a variety of precepting opportunities. We are proud to deliver an excellent, practical, and flexible educational experience relevant to today’s clinical pharmacy practice. In addition, our program aims to balance rigorous education, service, and life balance, while living in and enjoying the spectacular beaches, beautiful parks and warm climates of San Diego.

Program Details

Kaiser Permanente, San Diego PGY1 Community-Based Pharmacy Residency Program is accredited by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) in conjunction with American Pharmacists Association. ASHP Residency Program Design and Content model is used to design and deliver training.

Statement of Purpose

To build upon Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) education and outcomes to develop pharmacist practitioners with knowledge, skills, and abilities as defined in the educational competency areas, goals, and objectives. Residents who successfully complete PGY1 residency programs will be skilled in diverse patient care, practice management, leadership, and education, and be prepared to provide patient care, seek board certification in pharmacotherapy (i.e., BCPS), and pursue advanced education and training opportunities including postgraduate year two (PGY2) residencies.

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Pharmacy Services

As the largest service area in Kaiser Permanente Southern California Region, Kaiser Permanente San Diego serves over 630,000 members and is comprised of three medical center campuses with three inpatient pharmacies. There are 17 outpatient pharmacies, 3 outpatient infusion sterile compounding pharmacies, and many ambulatory care pharmacy services. In 2017, we opened a new 617,000 square-foot state-of-the-art hospital, San Diego Medical Center (SDMC), designed with cutting-edge medical technologies and an interactive patient care system with a video-visit platform used with 75-inch monitors in each patient room. In 2024, we opened a third hospital, San Marcos Medical Center, that is equally impressive. Both SMMC and SDMC boast innovations in environmentally sustainable technology for cleaner and greener energy. Notably, SDMC has been recognized as a LEED Platinum health care facility.

Kaiser Permanente San Diego Pharmacy Service Area employs over 600 pharmacists and supportive personnel in Inpatient, Outpatient, Ambulatory Care, Home Infusion, Oncology, Drug Use Management, and Administration settings. Our teams are an integral part of the Kaiser Permanente care delivery system for our members.
Staying at the forefront of clinical pharmacy practice, we continue to innovate and respond to the changing needs in healthcare. In addition to providing clinical and dispensing services, we also take an active role in interdisciplinary committees, including Pharmacy & Therapeutics (P&T), Medication Safety Committee (MSC), Medication Treatment Appropriateness Committee (MedTAC), Diversion Prevention, Clinic Administered Medications, and Quality Management. Our pharmacists work closely with physicians and nurses on these committees and in practice.

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Area Information

San Diego is California’s second largest city and the United States’ eighth largest. San Diego County encompasses 18 incorporated cities and numerous neighborhoods and communities, including downtown’s historic Gaslamp Quarter, Little Italy, Hillcrest, Coronado, La Jolla, Del Mar and Carlsbad. Known for its 70 miles of pristine beaches, luxury resorts, and Torrey Pines Golf Course, San Diego is also popular for the world-famous San Diego Zoo, Zoo Safari Park, SeaWorld, and LEGOLAND California. For more information about the communities we serve please visit these websites:

• San Diego Tourism Authority: www.sandiego.org
• San Diego International Airport: www.san.org

San Diego At A Glance

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Learning Experiences

Required Learning Experiences

• Orientation (2 weeks)
  Orientation is a required 2 week learning experience that occurs primarily at the pharmacy administration offices and at Independence Park in Downey, in which KP SCAL Regional Pharmacy Operations resides. The Residency Pharmacy Director (RPD) will serve as the primary preceptor for this experience. The resident will interface with members of the KP San Diego pharmacy leadership team, KP Regional Pharmacy Management Team and trainers.
  The resident will become familiar with the expectations of the PGY1 CPRP, KPSD policies and procedures, receive training on electronic health record, information management systems, research design and get acquainted with their role in the KPSD pharmacy team. The resident will learn about ASHP’s PGY1 Residency Program Design and Conduct for CPRP and complete self-assessment to identify their strengths and weaknesses. The initial development plan will be finalized by the end of orientation and will be shared with preceptors.
• Medication Therapy Management (MTM)*
  The MTM Program is a medication management service for Medicare Part D members that is provided by pharmacists operating under approved drug therapy management protocols. The pharmacy resident will be responsible for managing the medication for patients with chronic disease states, disease state education, and completing comprehensive medication reviews (CMRs) and targeted medication reviews (TMRs).
• Transitions of Care (TOC)*
  The Transitions of Care Pharmacy Service works with a multi-disciplinary team comprised of physicians, nurses, social workers, and case managers to provide medication reconciliation to our patients. The goals of the service are to ensure the safety, accuracy and appropriateness of medications and identify and address medication adherence issues. The resident will have the opportunity to perform clinical review of hospital patient charts to ensure appropriate medications are ordered at the time discharge. The resident may also perform a medication reconciliation upon admission to our hospital and/or at the time of discharge. Collaboration with the entire patient care team, including physicians, nurses, discharge planners, and nutritionists, will be an essential part of the rotation.
• Drug Utilization Management (DUM)*
  This LE is designed to provide the resident with an overview of the working knowledge of our Kaiser Permanente Formulary System and its application in an HMO setting, with emphasis on quality and affordability. The goal of this program is to reduce overall drug therapy costs while maintaining and improving our quality of care achieved through active monitoring of drug utilization, drug costs, new treatments, as well as education programs to influence physician prescribing. The resident will be responsible for identifying and resolving medication therapy issues. In addition, the resident will evaluate new drugs for possible addition the formulary and present these evaluations to the Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee (along with PGY1 & PGY2 residents), and serve as a resource for information about drugs and drug therapy to healthcare professionals.
• Home Infusion Pharmacy (HIP)*
  The HIP in San Diego provides outpatient infusion medications, related IV supplies, consultation, and clinical monitoring services to patient in home setting, infusion center setting and skilled nursing facilities in San Diego area. HIP is licensed by California Board of Pharmacy and accredited by The Joint Commission. Through a multidisciplinary and integrated approach, we promote positive clinical outcomes, high quality and safety, outstanding service, and affordability.
  (5 weeks)*

Required Longitudinal Learning Experiences

• Community-Based Pharmacy
  KPSD has 17 outpatient pharmacies that serve over 630,000 members and fills over 3 million prescriptions per year. The Community-Based Pharmacy Learning Experience is based primarily out of the SDMC Pharmacy location and the Zion Outpatient Pharmacy both which are a hospital discharge pharmacy as well as serve Kaiser members within the community. Through this advanced learning experience in the community setting the resident will be analyzing community pharmacy workflow from a more strategic perspective. The resident will evaluate productivity, staffing levels, and identify opportunities for increased efficiency. The resident will need to incorporate continuous quality improvement (CQI) and use performance improvement tools (i.e. process mapping, spaghetti diagrams, etc.) to optimize safe patient care.
• Complete Care Management (CCM)
  The CCM program is a proactive, interdisciplinary team-based model of care that touches the patient before, during, after, and between visits. The CCM team approaches every patient encounter as an opportunity to provide necessary preventative risk-related care and chronic disease state management (i.e., Diabetes, Hyperlipidemia, Hypertension). The purpose of this longitudinal experience is to provide the resident with the opportunity to use evidence-based, patient centric approach to provide care and focus on an individual’s healthcare needs. The resident will provide disease state management for their panel of patient’s chronic conditions. Areas of focus includes selecting, initiating, modifying therapy where clinically appropriate, and establishing extended patient care relationships.
• Community Outreach
  The aim of this LE is to provide opportunity for the resident to demonstrate their commitment to improving the health and wellness of the community, as well as to strengthen clinical didactic skills needed to become an effective pharmacist. Through the participation and design of community outreach experiences in collaboration with the health care team, the resident will become proficient in delivering patient care services to a diverse range of patients.
• Medication Safety
  The goal of the Medication Safety LE is for the resident to develop proficient skills in identifying, developing, and implementing safe medication use practices as part of our CQI efforts to minimize the risk of adverse drug events. Areas of focus for improving our medication use processes include:
• Identifying the need and analyzing data through completion of a Medication Use Evaluations (MUE)
• Evaluating established best practices (i.e., ISMP, FDA Med Watch, National Guidelines).
• Educating healthcare professionals and the community through presentations, patient safety fairs, and publications on relevant medication safety topics
• Participating in the medication event review process in collaboration with the Medication Safety & Medication Error Reduction (MER) committees.
• Administration
  During this LE, the resident will get an overview of the administrative responsibilities of the pharmacy department. The resident will attend meetings with the Area Pharmacy Director and the Outpatient Pharmacy Director. Areas of focus may include creating a business plan, financial management, regulatory compliance, business practice, quality and service management, health care environment and leadership skills development.
• Residency Research Project
  Throughout the residency year, the resident will complete one major primary research project relating to a specific aspect of pharmacy practice. The primary research project may involve the development, enhancement, or evaluation of a current practice, may be a problem- solving exercise, or may involve original research. The resident will be involved in each step of the primary research project from the point of formulating a question to be answered, creating a study design, conducting literature searches, performing a pre-study if necessary, to determine the achievability and usefulness of the actual project, conducting the actual study, and interpreting the data collected. The resident will present results of the study upon completion at the Western States Pharmacy Conference. Additionally, the resident will write a manuscript detailing the project upon its completion and create a poster suitable for presentation at a pharmacy conference.
• Education
  The aim of this learning experience is to provide opportunity for the resident to strengthen clinical didactic skills needed to become an effective pharmacist and preceptor. The education program will provide opportunities for the resident to be involved in teaching activities (i.e., presentations to medical residents, intern workshops, journal clubs, UCSD therapeutics conferences) that will foster the development and refinement of the resident’s communication skills, confidence, and effectiveness as a preceptor. The resident upon completion of this learning experience will earn an ASHP teaching certificate.

Elective Learning Experiences

The resident will have the opportunity to customize their residency schedule by selecting two elective learning experiences offered through our Kaiser Permanente ambulatory clinics. Each elective lasts 5 weeks.

• Anticoagulation/Direct Oral Anticoagulants
• HIV/Infectious Diseases
• Inflammatory Diseases
• Oral Chemotherapy
• Renal

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Requirements for Acceptance

• Must be licensed as an Intern Pharmacist in the state of California by the first day of residency program.
• Certifications (If applicable): BLS, ACLS
• Resident must be a licensed California pharmacist within 120 days from the program start date. Residents who are not licensed as a pharmacist within 120 days from the program start date will have their term of appointment extended by the number of days the resident is without licensure past the 120-day deadline up to a maximum of 45 days. Failure to obtain a California state pharmacist license within 165 days from the program start date will result in the resident being dismissed from the program and employment will be terminated.
• To be eligible for pharmacist licensure, candidates must be graduates or candidates for graduation from an ACPE accredited degree program (or one in the process of pursuing accreditation) or have a Foreign Pharmacy Graduate Examination Committee (FPGEC) certificate from the NABP.
• For more information regarding licensing in California, please visit www.pharmacy.ca.gov
• Candidates must be registered in the National Matching Services, Inc. (NMS).
• Candidates must participate in the ASHP Matching Program.
• Program NMS Code: 250315 and ASHP Program Code: 92157

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Application Requirements

• Statement of Interest/Letter of Intent
• Curriculum Vitae
• Official Pharmacy School transcripts, sent directly from the applicant’s college or school of pharmacy
• 3 letters of references/recommendations utilizing the form in PhORCAS
• Application Deadline: January 2, 2025

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Interview Details

• Personal Interview Required: By Invitation
• Interview Dates: TBD
• Click here to link to the Virtual Information Sessions: 
  • October 23rd, 2024 – 12p.m. – 1p.m. PST
  • November 13th, 2024 – 1p.m. – 2p.m. PST

**This residency agrees that no person at this residency will solicit, accept, or use any ranking-related information from any residency applicant**

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