Memphis PGY1 Pharmacy Residency

Facilitators: Kelsey Krushinski, PharmD, BCPS, BCGP, CPE

This required rotation incorporates pharmacy residents in an interdisciplinary medical teaching team to deliver comprehensive, evidence-based pharmaceutical care. Residents manage diverse acute and chronic conditions while executing high-impact clinical services, including pharmacokinetic dosing, antimicrobial stewardship, and medication reconciliation. Commonly managed patient conditions include hypertension, heart failure, pneumonia, COPD and asthma, infectious diseases, diabetes mellitus, and stroke. Through direct collaboration with physicians, nurses, and case managers, residents enhance patient safety, facilitate smooth care transitions, and provide vital clinical education to patients, caregivers, and other health care providers.

Facilitators: Ginger Burton, PharmD, BCCP and Sarah Beth Moore, PharmD

During this required rotation, residents have the opportunity to develop clinical skills and concepts of application in cardiovascular patients. The rotation provides practical experience in managing the cardiac patient through high-impact services including anticoagulation management, post-operative glycemic control, core measure compliance tracking, and transitional care education. This rotation is heavily focused on optimal blood glucose management post operatively. Residents provide patient education on anticoagulants, insulins, and other medications as requested. This immersive experience expands the resident's advanced cardiology knowledge base, sharpens clinical decision-making, and refines professional communication with specialized health care providers. Residents can choose between managing patients on the AMI/ACS and CHF units with a focus on chronic disease state management or on the Cardiovascular ICU (30 beds) unit managing post cardiothoracic surgery patients. Additional educational opportunities during the month include topic discussions, precepting students and nursing/staff development education, as needed.

Facilitator: Kelsea Mabie, PharmD and Meghan Powell, PharmD, BCPS

This core, required rotation integrates pharmacy residents in a 38-bed medical/surgical ICU to master the pharmaceutical management of critically ill patients. Residents participate in physician-led, interprofessional rounds five days a week, taking direct responsibility for monitoring dynamically changing drug therapies. The experience emphasizes high-acuity clinical services (including nutrition support, pharmacokinetics, anticoagulation, and drug information consults) complemented by intensive topic discussions and a critical care journal club presentation.

Critical Care - Cardiology(CVICU)

Facilitator: Sarah Beth Moore, PharmD, BCCP

Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit (CVICU) is a required (Crit Care - selective) month-long learning experience designed to expose the resident to various acute and chronic cardiac disease states. Baptist Memorial Hospital-Memphis is home to the Baptist Heart Institute which houses a 30-bed CVICU. The PGY1 CVICU rotation focuses on developing patient care skills related to assessment and drug therapy management of adult patients with acute and chronic cardiovascular disease states. The resident will perform as the CVICU pharmacist under the supervision of the rotation preceptor. This experience will allow the resident to further optimize their clinical skills, knowledge base, and communication with various health care providers.

Critical Care - Neurology (NICU)

Facilitator: Kristie Newsom Mitchell, PharmD, BCPS, BCCCP

Residents will have the opportunity to develop skills in the pharmaceutical care of neurology patients in an ICU/critical care setting during this learning experience. Clinical patient care is provided for patients with acute ischemic stroke, hemorrhagic stroke, spinal cord injury, seizure disorders, neurosurgical interventions, and general neurological disorders. Residents also provide pharmaceutical care in the management of all general critical care issues and antimicrobial management. The resident will participate in daily multidisciplinary rounds and one-on-one table rounds with the neuro-intensivist. Other daily responsibilities include completing pharmacy consults for pharmacokinetics, anticoagulation, nutrition support, and stroke core measures, optimizing drug therapies, and researching drug information questions on neuro ICU and general neuro floor patients. The resident will participate in various topic discussions with the preceptor and has the opportunity to lead selected topic discussions as the rotation progresses.

Facilitators: Ashley Sidebottom, PharmD, MBA, MS

This learning experience provides pharmacy residents with comprehensive insights into health-system pharmacy administration within a 700+ bed flagship hospital inside a 25-hospital health system. This rotation emphasizes time management, organizational structure, and clinical leadership as well as exposing residents to administrative roles and opportunities in institutional pharmacy practice.

Residents function as an integrated part of the leadership team, driving high-impact administrative services including:

• Leadership of institutional projects focusing on medication usage evaluation, therapeutic appropriateness, and clinical quality measure compliance.
• Researching complex drug information and developing evidence-based materials for Pharmacy and Therapeutics (P&T) Committee and clinical service line presentations.
• Preceptoring APPE institutional pharmacy students by managing their learning experiences and overseeing student-led administrative projects.
• Collaborating directly with the pharmacy administrative staff on patient safety initiatives and continuous quality improvement activities.
• The Practice Improvement Investigation and Presentation Education Requirement will be completed on this rotational experience.

Facilitators: Sarah Harlan, PharmD, BCCCP

This elective rotation gives residents insight into the provision of pharmacy services in an emergency medicine (EM) setting. Residents will develop an understanding of the skills necessary to provide pharmacy support in a high-volume, fast-paced environment. During the course of this rotation experience the resident is expected to actively participate in the care of all EM patients including order processing and medication delivery, participation in medical emergencies at bedside, and follow-up care of patients discharged from the ED. In addition to direct patient care, the resident is expected to provide medication information to other health care professionals and participate in the education of pharmacy students. The resident will also support the further advancement and development of pharmacy services within the ED.

Facilitator: Amy Evans, PharmD

During this elective learning experience, residents will manage drug therapy necessary for the supportive care and treatment of complex hematology patients including those undergoing stem cell transplantation and CAR-T therapy. Specifically, residents will become familiar with chemotherapy regimens used in the treatment of acute leukemia, lymphoma, multiple myeloma and conditioning regimens utilized for stem cell transplants. Appropriate supportive care medications, monitoring parameters, and therapeutic endpoints for efficacious drug use as it relates to the oncology patient will be a focus of this experience. Residents will have the opportunity to participate in daily MD led, bedside rounds in addition to interacting with the multi-disciplinary patient care team in the myelosuppression unit. Topics discussions relating to a variety of oncologic disease states, chemotherapy agents and supportive care issues in this patient population are conducted throughout the rotation.

Facilitator: Kristie Mitchell, PharmD, BCPS, BCCCP

The neurology rotation is an elective experience designed to expose the resident to various disease states in the neuro-critically ill patient population. The resident will participate in multidisciplinary rounds in the 12-bed neuro ICU and additionally provide clinical coverage for the 47-bed neuro step-down floor and 4-bed epilepsy monitoring unit (EMU).

Facilitator: Mallory Taylor Baird, PharmD, BCCP

This elective rotation focuses on end stage heart failure patients requiring heart transplant and/or ventricular assist device (VAD) therapy. The cardiac transplant floor includes a 12-bed intensive care unit (ICU) and a 12-bed stepdown unit, and also includes patients receiving extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) and a variety of temporary mechanical circulatory support (MCS) devices. Residents are involved with patient care in the acute setting as well as the transplant/MCS outpatient clinic. Residents participate in multidisciplinary rounds, assess patients and develop medications treatment plans, monitor immunosuppression and other medication therapies, manage pharmacy consults, provide medication information to other health care professionals, assist in evaluating patients for transplant and VAD selection committee meetings, and participate in topic discussions. Patient interaction and medication counseling are also important aspects of this rotation. Additional required activities and assignments as indicated by the needs of the transplant team may be included.