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Curriculum

PGY-2 pharmacy residents in Ambulatory Care at Mayo Clinic sit together at a meeting at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.

PGY-2 ambulatory care residents devote much of their time to comprehensive training as a member of the interdisciplinary team. A breadth of learning experiences has been designed to increase and refine clinical competency, provide evidence-based pharmacotherapeutic care plans, and develop confidence as an independent ambulatory care practitioner.

Direct patient care services allow a resident to provide patient-specific pharmaceutical care services. Responsibilities include development of individualized care and monitoring plans for various patient populations. After coaching, instruction and modeling by a preceptor, residents are assessed and constructively critiqued on how to further refine the delivery of evidence-based recommendations.

Drug information is provided to patients, physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and other allied health professionals. Feedback is provided to enhance drug information-retrieval skills using a variety of resources and modalities.

Required learning experiences

The PGY-2 Pharmacy Residency in Ambulatory Care at Mayo Clinic is designed to provide a diverse experience for the future ambulatory care clinician. Required learning experiences include:

Area Length
Orientation 4 weeks
Anticoagulation 4 weeks
Cardiology 5 weeks
Family medicine 10 weeks
Internal medicine  5 weeks
Advanced internal medicine 5 weeks
Precepting 5 weeks
Medication use evaluation Longitudinal, 12 months (Average 4 hours per month*)
Leadership and management Longitudinal, 12 months (Average 2 hours per month*)
Research Longitudinal, 12 months (Average 14 hours per month*)
Pharmacy staffing Longitudinal, 12 months (24 hours per 4 weeks*, excludes July = 36 shifts of 8 hours each)
Teaching and education Longitudinal, 12 months (Average 4 hours per month*)

*This is an average and there may be more or fewer hours at different timeframes throughout the residency year. 

Elective learning experiences

Electives are available in a variety of settings that allow residents to tailor the program to their needs. The list below includes popular elective learning experiences that past PGY-2 ambulatory care residents completed.

  • Family medicine II
  • HIV
  • Infectious Diseases Outpatient Clinic
  • Inflammatory bowel disease
  • Pediatrics
  • Pharmacogenomics
  • Psychiatry
  • Solid organ transplantation

Additional elective learning experiences may be available upon request.

Medication use evaluation and quality improvement training

All residents are required to complete a medication use evaluation (MUE) and accompanying quality improvement (QI) project during the residency year. The goal of the MUE-QI project is to develop a systematic process designed to determine, improve, and maintain the appropriate and effective use of medications. As a resident, you will have a mentor and are required to complete QI education and training through the Mayo Clinic Quality Academy.

Staffing commitment

All PGY-2 residents provide 24 hours of staffing every four weeks. Staffing may include a combination of weekend and evening experiences to maintain operational and clinical pharmacy competency and knowledge. No formal on-call program exists.

Curriculum enhancements

The Department of Pharmacy and Mayo Clinic School of Health Sciences are committed to developing and maintaining the best education programs. The curriculum and other aspects of this program are assessed constantly and changed as necessary to ensure the highest quality training.