Who Is Interviewed or
Visited
Courtesy visit with the
CEO and other
appropriate
administrators involved
with the pharmacy or
school of pharmacy
RPD
Purpose
 Bring greetings from ASHP, thanks for
voluntarily submitting to accreditation, and
explanation of the survey process
 Session can also be used to educate CEOs about
residency trends, employer hiring of residency
trained individuals, and benefits of accreditation
 To appraise the RPD’s involvement and
effectiveness in managing the training program
 To ascertain the design and the conduct of the
program
Possible Questions
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Do you have any questions about the survey
process before we begin?
What challenges is the health system facing?
What pharmacy-related initiatives are in
process?
What do you do to further develop the teaching
skills of your preceptors?
What is your process for interviewing and
ranking new residents? Who is involved in the
process of interviewing and ranking? Is a
procedure written to provide for a consistent
process? Are the current residents involved in
making the selection of incoming residents?
What is your process for developing and then
modifying the resident’s individual plan?
How do you assess and track the resident’s
progress?
Describe the residents’ projects over the past
two years.
How do you evaluate the entire program to
ensure residents meet the program’s outcomes?
If you identify that changes must occur in order
to improve preceptor performance, how is this
accomplished?
How do you facilitate the resident learning to
manage his or her projects?
What are your requirements for program
Pharmacy director and
other managers
 To gain additional perspective on the scope and
depth of services and care provided by the
pharmacy staff
 To determine what contributions the directors and
other managers make to the resident’s training
program
 To gain additional perspective on the pharmacy’s
performance improvement process, strategic
planning, workforce issues, and policies and
procedures
completion?
10. How do you develop each resident’s plan for the
year?
11. What is the role of the residency program in the
functioning of the department?
1. What are your minimum standards of
pharmacist care that all patients must receive?
What is your standard of care for specific
patients (e.g., high risk)?
2. What is your role within the pharmacy and your
primary responsibilities?
3. What are the current strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities of and/or threats to the pharmacy?
4. What are your expectations for the pharmacy's
future? What plans do you have for the further
development of your practice model?
5. How well integrated or coordinated are the
various sections of the pharmacy (e.g., Are lines
of communication well established between
inpatient, outpatient and clinical practitioners?
How effective is intradepartmental
communication? Do various sections have
defined boundaries?)?
6. How effectively does the pharmacy work with
other groups (such as the nursing service)?
7. How do you encourage professional
development of the pharmacy staff?
8. What is your involvement in the residency
program? Do you participate in the evaluation
of the resident(s)?
9. What contributions do you make to the
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Pharmacists
 To appraise the professional contributions made
by the pharmacist in his or her interactions with
the resident
 To appraise the professional contributions made
by the pharmacist to patient care
 To evaluate the staff’s perspective on the
strengths, weaknesses, opportunities of and/or
threats to the pharmacy
 To gain additional information about operational
and patient care aspects of individual pharmacy
services (e.g., drug distribution and control,
clinical services, outpatient services)
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resident(s) accomplishing projects, making
presentations, or completing written reports?
Into which areas would you like pharmacy
services to expand?
What is the pharmacy’s level of compliance
with current practice guidelines and regulations?
What are the weaknesses in your drug
distribution system?
Describe the pharmacy’s performance
improvement projects.
Describe current pharmacy vacancies and the
effect they are having on pharmacy services.
What is your process for keeping your policies
and procedures current?
How would you like to see the residency
program change or improve?
What are your minimum standards of
pharmacist care that all patients must receive?
What is your standard of care for specific
patients (e.g., high risk)?
What are your general duties and
responsibilities?
What is the mission of the pharmacy service?
What are your roles in accomplishing the
mission? Do you feel the pharmacy has a
patient-centered care vision?
How are you involved in ensuring optimal
patient outcomes?
How would you describe the pharmacy’s
culture?
What are the strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities of and/or threats to the pharmacy?
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Resident preceptors
 To appraise the preceptors’ involvement,
development and effectiveness in the training
1.
How is professional enrichment and growth
supported within the pharmacy service?
How effective is intradepartmental
communication? How might communication be
improved?
How well do pharmacy and nursing work
together? How might communication be
improved?
What are your expectations of the future of the
pharmacy?
How effective are you as a role model for the
resident(s)? What is your understanding of the
purpose and objectives of the residency? What
are your contributions to the residency? In what
projects involving the resident(s) do you
participate? What is your role in the evaluation
of the resident(s)?
What do you like best about working here?
How do you interface with the pharmacists and
technicians of the inpatient and outpatient
pharmacy? What direct patient care
responsibilities do the inpatient and/or
outpatient pharmacists have? Are pharmacy
technicians and technology adequately used to
enhance direct patient care?
Describe the pharmacy’s performance
improvement projects.
Describe current pharmacy vacancies and the
effect they are having on pharmacy services.
If you had unlimited resources, what would you
change within the pharmacy?
What are your minimum standards of pharmacist
care that all patients must receive? What is your
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program
To appraise the professional contributions made
by the pharmacists to direct patient care
To evaluate the practitioners’ perspectives on the
strengths, weaknesses, opportunities of and/or
threats to the pharmacy
To evaluate relationships of all pharmacy staff in
terms of delivery of pharmacy services and the
residency program
To evaluate what opportunities are provided to
each preceptor for their own development
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standard of care for specific patients (e.g., high
risk)? What services do you provide that you
believe other health care professionals would
say add value to patient care and are essential
services? Are you able to prospectively be
involved with the establishment and
modification of treatment plans or are you
providing input after treatment plans have
already been identified and implemented?
What is your role in accomplishing the mission
of the pharmacy service? Do you feel the
pharmacy has a patient-centered care vision?
How do you directly ensure and measure
optimal patient outcomes? What efforts are
made to ensure continuity of care from inpatient
to outpatient treatment status?
What are the strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities of and/or threats to the pharmacy?
What are your expectations of the future of the
pharmacy?
How is professional enrichment and growth
supported within the pharmacy service?
How do you interface with the pharmacists and
technicians of the inpatient and outpatient
pharmacy? What direct patient care
responsibilities do the inpatient and/or
outpatient pharmacists have? Are pharmacy
technicians and technology adequately used to
enhance direct patient care?
How effective is intradepartmental
communication? How might communication be
improved?
What is the consistency with which pharmacists
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document their recommendations in the
patient’s chart?
Into which areas would you want the pharmacy
to expand in the future? How would you
propose making the changes needed for
expansion?
What is the process for interviewing and
ranking residency applicants? Who is involved
in the process of interviewing and ranking? Is a
procedure written to provide for a consistent
process? Are the current residents involved in
making the selection of incoming residents?
How are the resident’s educational goals and
objectives decided? What input did you have in
the development of the goals and objectives?
Do you have a residency steering committee?
Who is appointed to the committee and how?
What are the responsibilities of committee
members? How frequently does the committee
meet?
How is a resident supervised? What methods do
you use as a preceptor to move the resident from
being dependent to independent? How fast do
you move this progression? Discuss the
feedback process used in the training of
residents.
How do you differentiate your precepting style
when you are precepting residents rather than
students?
Describe the pharmacy’s performance
improvement projects.
Describe current pharmacy vacancies and the
effect they are having on pharmacy services.
Pharmacy technicians
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16. How would you improve or change the
residency program?
17. How does the RPD share the resident’s
customized plan and progress with you?
18. How are resident evaluations of you shared and
discussed?
19. What opportunities are provided for preceptor
development?
To assess how effectively technicians are utilized 1. What are the general responsibilities of
pharmacy technicians?
in the pharmacy
To assess how effectively technology is applied to 2. What is the mission of the pharmacy? How do
you contribute to the mission?
improve work efficiency
To assess the stability of the pharmacy technician 3. How did you receive training as a pharmacy
technician? How long have you been in your
workforce
current position?
To obtain the technicians’ perspectives on where
4. What tasks are being performed now by
the high-pressure spots are in the pharmacy
pharmacists that you feel you are trained and
competent to perform? Are you permitted to
perform any of these tasks?
5. How is your growth and enrichment as a
technician supported by the pharmacy
leadership? Is being a certified technician
mandated in the pharmacy? Are you certified?
What incentives does the pharmacy offer to
pursue formalized training or certification?
Does the department employ career ladders?
6. Where are the "high pressure" areas in the
pharmacy, from your point of view? Do you
have any suggestions to reduce the "pressure" in
these areas?
7. What is your understanding of the residency
program?
Medical staff members
 To determine from the perspective of practicing
physicians the overall assessment of the
pharmacy
 To evaluate pharmacy and medical staff
interrelationships
 To assess the medical perspective of the
pharmacy practice residency program
 To determine the role of the medical/nursing staff
and their relationship to the pharmacy staff in
improving the medication-use process
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What do you like best about working here?
What are the strengths, weaknesses, and/or
opportunities of the pharmacy?
What do you expect of pharmacists working
with your patients? What do you expect of a
pharmacy resident on your service? Are you
involved with the evaluation of the pharmacy
resident? Do you precept the pharmacy
resident?
Describe the types of projects the pharmacy and
medical staff work on together.
If you could change something in the pharmacy,
what would it be?
How adequate is pharmacy staffing for the
ability to provide direct patient care services?
Into which areas would you like to see
pharmacy expand?
How would you assess the impact of the
pharmacy resident(s) on daily patient care
activities? What is the level of visibility of the
pharmacy residency among medical staff
members?
Describe the adverse drug reaction (ADR)
program.
What is the purpose of the ADR reporting
program?
Do you know the number of ADR reports
submitted last year?
How is the medical staff involved in the ADR
reporting program?
In what way is the ADR reporting program used
to improve drug therapy outcomes?
How is the medical staff involved in medication
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Chair of the Pharmacy
and Therapeutics
Committee
 To determine the major objectives of the P&T
Committee
 To evaluate the role of pharmacy staff in meeting
the objectives
 To assess the role of the resident in drug policy
issues from the perspective of the P&T
Committee
 To determine the role of the medical/nursing staff
and their relationship to the pharmacy staff in
improving the medication-use process
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error reporting and evaluation?
In what way does the medication error reporting
program improve patient care?
Are medication errors tracked and feedback
provided to prescribers regarding errors?
How does the pharmacy convey new
medication-related information to the medical
staff?
What do you see as the central purpose or
mission of the P&T Committee?
What is your evaluation of the drug information
and drug policy support the P&T Committee
receives from the pharmacy department?
How credible are the pharmacists as
authoritative sources of drug information?
What is your overall assessment of the
pharmacy from the perspective of a practicing
physician (what are the strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities, and threats)?
What kind of visibility does the residency have
with the medical staff?
What is your understanding and involvement in
the drug use evaluation program?
How are drugs selected for evaluation?
What improvements have resulted from the drug
use evaluation program?
How is the pharmacy involved in drug use
evaluation?
Describe the adverse drug reaction (ADR)
program.
What is the purpose of the ADR reporting
program?
How many ADR reports were submitted last
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Director of Nursing
 To determine from the perspective of practicing
Service or other nursing
nurses and administrators the overall assessment
managers and nurses in
of pharmacy services
practice
 To evaluate pharmacy and nursing staff
interrelationships
 To determine the role of the medical/nursing staff
and their relationship to the pharmacy staff in
improving the medication-use process
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year?
How is the P&T Committee involved in the
ADR reporting program?
In what way is the ADR reporting program used
to improve drug therapy outcomes?
How is the P&T Committee involved in
medication error reporting and evaluation?
In what way does the medication error reporting
program improve patient care?
Are medication errors tracked and feedback
provided to prescribers regarding errors?
What is the biggest challenge facing the P&T
Committee?
Describe the role of the resident with the P&T
Committee.
How are P&T Committee decisions
communicated to the greater medical staff?
What are the strengths, weaknesses, and/or
opportunities of the pharmacy?
How well do the pharmacy and nursing
departments work together? Are any official
methods in place to aid communication (liaison
committee)?
In what areas have the pharmacy and nursing
departments collaborated (e.g., discharge
planning, patient education, IV teams, etc.)?
Into which areas would you like to see
pharmacy expand?
What is the purpose of the ADR reporting
program?
How is the nursing service involved in the ADR
reporting program?
In what way is the ADR reporting program used
Resident
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to improve patient care?
8. How is the nursing staff involved in the
medication error reporting program?
9. In your opinion, has the medication error
reporting program improved patient care in any
way?
10. Do you have optimal automation for drug
delivery?
11. What forum is used between pharmacy and
nursing to review common concerns? (e.g., floor
stock lists, education needs)
1. Why did you decide to pursue residency
To assess from the resident’s perspective the
training? Why did you elect this program?
degree to which the program provides opportunity
2. How has the program customized a training plan
to achieve the program’s desired outcomes
to suit your individual needs? How often is that
To assess if precepting and evaluation are actually
plan reviewed and updated? Have you written a
occurring
periodic self-assessment that compares what
Opportunity to review residency information such
you wanted to accomplish with what you are
as projects, presentations, etc.
accomplishing?
To obtain input on the strengths of the program
3.
Do you have educational goals and objectives
and areas for improvement
for each area of training? Do your preceptors
review these with you at the beginning of each
learning experience?
4. What is your vision of pharmacy practice? Has
it changed since you began the residency and, if
so, how?
5. How are you learning the philosophy of the
pharmacy’s leaders?
6. Is your progress discussed on a regular basis?
7. Who has had the greatest influence on your
growth and development during the residency?
8. What was the nature of the training you received
regarding the residency program? Have you
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adhered to the schedule of training during the
year? Do you have opportunities to elect
specific experiences during the year?
How do you aid in accomplishing the mission of
the pharmacy during the residency?
How would you describe the supervision you
receive as a resident by your preceptors?
How would you describe the feedback you
receive from your preceptor(s)? Do you ask
your preceptor(s) to provide feedback? When do
you ask your preceptor(s) questions? How do
you know when to seek the preceptor to ask a
question?
How are you evaluated by the preceptor(s)?
What is the relationship between the evaluations
you receive and the predetermined educational
objectives of the residency program?
How do you assure continuity of care for your
own patients?
What approach have you developed to
improving your knowledge, skills, and abilities?
Describe briefly your learning experiences.
What have you done in regard to the P&T
Committee since starting the residency? Discuss
your experiences with giving presentations and
writing since beginning the residency.
What project(s) have you begun and/or
completed during the residency? How was
(were) your project(s) selected? Discuss how
you accomplished your project(s).
How effective have your preceptors been in
moving from direct instruction to modeling to
coaching to facilitating when you needed them
to change?
18. Describe what financial support you have
received to attend educational programs.
19. Describe the program’s process for evaluating
your preceptors.