Awareness and implementation of recommendations made by the Strategic Planning Summit for Pain and Palliative Care Pharmacy in PGY1 pharmacy residency programs

• Published in: Currents in pharmacy teaching and learning Vol. 7; no. 5; pp. 614 - 620
• Main Authors: Herndon, Christopher M., Hammer, Matthew J., Schimmelpfennig, Julia K., Craig, David S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Inc 01-09-2015
• Subjects: End-of-life care; Pain education; Palliative care education; Pharmacy; Pharmacy residency; Pain education; Palliative care education; End-of-life care; Pharmacy residency; Pharmacy
• ISSN: 1877-1297; 1877-1300
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cptl.2015.06.016

Published surveys suggest that pain and other related symptoms continue to be undertreated. For this reason, all health care professionals, including pharmacists, need training in effectively assessing and managing pain and related symptoms. Recently, consensus recommendations have been published for pain and palliative care (PPC) competencies and experiences within post-graduate year 1 (PGY1) residency programs. This survey sought to assess agreement of PGY1 pharmacy Residency Program Directors (RPDs) with these recommendations, as well as barriers to their potential implementation and current learning experience availability.
Following institutional review board approval, 754 invitations to participate were sent to RPDs. Survey items included program demographics, availability of PPC learning experiences, RPD agreement with consensus recommendations, and perceived barriers to not offering these experiences when absent.
Of the 154 RPDs responding (response rate 20.4%), 93% were unaware of the consensus recommendations. On average, in responding programs, seven of the 21 recommendations were currently being moderately addressed within in responding programs. Only 43 (28%) offered a dedicated rotation in PPC, with common barriers identified being a lack of specialized preceptors (63%), inadequate rotation settings (29%), and lack of resident interest (18%).
Experiences in pain and/or palliative care are integral to the training of pharmacists regardless of anticipated practice setting. Unfortunately, a lack of specialized preceptors and training experiences precludes a greater percentage of PGY1 pharmacy residents from attaining minimum competencies in the care of patients with pain or requiring supportive care. Current pharmacy residency training programs must be resourceful in providing these opportunities to their trainees.