The James H. Quillen VA Medical Center (JHQVAMC) is a level 1B teaching facility located in the Appalachian Mountain range of northeastern Tennessee. This 117-bed VA medical center serves more than 170,000 veterans annually throughout a 41-county area of Tennessee, Virginia, Kentucky, and North Carolina. JHQVAMC offers four positions in its postgraduate year one (PGY1) general pharmacy practice residency. This PGY1 program lasts 12 months and is accredited by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists. Six of these months are spent in required core rotations in practice areas that are considered necessary for any pharmacy practitioner. In addition to the required core rotations, residents are given the opportunity to participate in a wide variety of elective rotations as well as longitudinal learning experiences.

At JHQVAMC, the core rotations include orientation (4 weeks), ambulatory care (6 weeks), acute care (4 weeks), critical care (4 weeks), and anticoagulation (4 weeks). Several elective opportunities are also available for residents to choose from, all of which last 4 weeks: academic detailing, administration, palliative care, emergency medicine, geriatrics, home-based primary care, infectious disease, outpatient mental health, pain management, substance use disorders, and specialty medicine (cardiology and nephrology). In addition, any of the core rotations can be repeated as an advanced elective (e.g., ambulatory care II, critical care II, acute care II). Other rotations can be created according to resident interest and preceptor availability.

This PGY1 program also offers many longitudinal experiences designed to expose pharmacy residents to different areas of pharmacy and improve their educational and research skills. The required longitudinal experiences include performing a medication use evaluation, completing a yearlong residency project, and providing education to preceptors with journal clubs and case presentations. Residents are also required to design and deliver a continuing education presentation to preceptors at JHQVAMC and professors at the nearby East Tennessee State University. Another required longitudinal assignment is pharmacy practice in the form of inpatient staffing. Residents begin the year by staffing the inpatient pharmacy for 2 half-days every other weekend. Then, after 3 months, residents only staff every fourth weekend with an evening shift each week. If desired, residents can also moonlight on campus under a “dual appointment” agreement in which residents are paid at the hourly rate of other staffing pharmacists. Finally, residents are also eligible to pursue a teaching and learning certificate from the University of North Carolina and the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Personally, I very much enjoyed my residency year at JHQVAMC and would like to highlight the flexibility and support provided to residents there. Upon starting my residency year, I was informed that VA residents would now be able to early commit to PGY2 programs at any VA center nationwide. My RPD and preceptors then worked with me to redesign my entire schedule to ensure that I could take my preferred electives (psychiatry, pain management) before early commitment occurred. Once my PGY2 position was secured, my preceptors tailored their learning experiences to best prepare me for my second year and future career. Please reach out to me, Jonathan Chappell ([email protected]), or the program director, Ketrin Mount ([email protected]), for any questions about the program.

Written by: Jonathan Chappell