Completion of a longitudinal teaching and learning certificate (TLC) is required for all PGY-1 residents. The TLC curriculum was specifically designed to train residents on the expectations, roles, and responsibilities associated with teaching learners in didactic and experiential settings. Completion of the certificate program prepares residents for a future role as preceptor, mentor, and/or faculty member. Each resident is assigned a TLC mentor and the curriculum consists of the following requirements:

TLC workshop

At the beginning of the academic year, PGY-1 residents attend an eight-hour workshop to learn the foundational principles of pedagogy, course creation, philosophies of learning, writing measureable objectives, and creating evaluation questions. The latter portion of the workshop includes case-based vignettes that focus on difficult or challenging scenarios that young preceptors may encounter.   

Formal presentations

Pharmacy residents are required to provide continuing education presentations at various venues throughout the academic year. One such venue is Mayo Clinic Pharmacy Grand Rounds, where residents showcase pharmacology expertise to an interdisciplinary audience comprised of pharmacists, physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, certified nurse specialists and nurses. Mayo Clinic Pharmacy Grand Rounds is accredited for ACPE, AMA, ANCC and AAPA continuing education credit and broadcast to all Mayo Clinic and Mayo Clinic Health System sites across the United States. Regardless of location, learners can actively participate in assessment questions using state-of-the-art polling software on mobile devices. Formal evaluations on presentation skills are provided to the resident for continued public speaking development.

Informal presentations

Given the role of pharmacists serving as a medication expert at the bedside, resident are required to deliver informal presentations to the interdisciplinary team that focus on succinct education pearls related to a patient the team is caring for. Residents may have additional presentation requests by the interdisciplinary team while on specific learning experiences.

Precepting and classroom teaching

As pharmacy residents transition to future preceptor, it is imperative that residency programs provide adequate training, opportunities and support to refine precepting skills. By learning and working alongside an experienced preceptor, residents are guided through a precepting experience of an Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience (APPE) student. Once foundational skills are developed, residents are afforded a unique interdisciplinary precepting opportunity in which they are paired with a Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine medical student as part of their selective rotation program. The resident, along with the experienced pharmacist preceptor, introduce medical students to the clinical pharmacy profession while also delivering didactic pharmacology lectures that better prepare them for the USMLE Step 1 Exam.    

Beginning early 2021, pharmacy residents will also have the opportunity to provide didactic clinical pharmacology lectures to students enrolled in the Mayo Clinic School of Health Sciences Physician Assistant Program.

Group facilitation and patient cases

During the spring of the academic year, PGY-1 pharmacy residents conduct group team-based learning using a patient case presentation. A pharmacy resident prepares and delivers a patient case while facilitating group discussion amongst pharmacy resident peers, Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine medical students and APPE students. Small interdisciplinary teams work together to develop a comprehensive pharmacotherapy plan, including selection of appropriate medications, dosing, monitoring parameters for safety/ efficacy and expected outcomes. 

Teaching philosophy, portfolio, and certificate

In order to best prepare graduates to serve as a preceptor and/or faculty member at a College of Pharmacy, each resident is required to develop a teaching philosophy statement that highlights their beliefs on teaching and learning in pharmacy education. Once the teaching philosophy and evidence (i.e. evaluations, presentation slides) of TLC requirements are reviewed and approved, the resident receives a Mayo Clinic Department of Pharmacy Teaching Certificate.