The purpose of the Post-Graduate Year 1 Residency in Community Pharmacy Practice through the University of Southern California School of Pharmacy is to train pharmacists to be skilled patient care providers and advocates for patient-care services in the community.

The residency provides a broad range of exposures to various areas of pharmacy practice and disease states. Past residents are currently employed in community pharmacy, academia, ambulatory care, management, clinical coordinating and ownership. The evolving health-care environment has generated a great demand for community-based direct patient-care providers.

The residency provides the opportunity for residents to:

• Provide direct patient care in both traditional ambulatory care and community-pharmacy settings.
• Design, implement or enhance clinical services within a community pharmacy.
• Promote professional, political and public awareness of the importance of the community pharmacist and clinical-pharmacy services in health care.
• Conduct a research project related to community pharmacy including design, data collection and analysis, presentation and a final manuscript preparation.
• Develop teaching skills through lecturing, leading case conferences and precepting pharmacy students of all levels.

There are two main sites in the USC Program:

• Ralphs Pharmacy (a division of The Kroger Company)
• USC Campus Pharmacies

* Note: Candidates may rank one or both of these sites.

Clinical Practice

The resident rotates through a variety of community/ambulatory care practices. Direct patient care is emphasized at both the Ralphs Pharmacies and the University of Southern California campus pharmacies and associated clinics. At the Edward R. Roybal Comprehensive Health Center, the focus is on general adult primary care with pharmacist management of chronic disease conditions.

Clinical practice activities at the above sites include counseling, educating and evaluating patients; ordering new medication, adjusting medication doses, refilling of medications; ordering laboratory tests, performing physical assessment, etc. In addition, the resident has ample opportunity to provide direct patient care in a community pharmacy practice environment, to implement patient-care programs, participate in training and education related to community pharmacy-based patient-care techniques, to provide drug information to participating community pharmacy sites, to communicate with physicians and other health-care providers regarding patient-care services and to manage a clinical practice in a community pharmacy.

Teaching

Teaching activities and responsibilities are available for residents throughout the USC School of Pharmacy curriculum. This includes precepting Year 4 community-pharmacy clerkship students, leading pharmacotherapeutic group discussions with Year 2 and 3 students, facilitating in a Year 2 self-care course and facilitating Year 1 pharmacy practice labs. Other opportunities include giving classroom lectures and medical and nursing inservices.

Research/Project Management

Research classes and seminars are provided to the resident. During the year the resident is required to complete a residency project and to present findings at the Western States Conference for Pharmacy Residents, Fellows and Preceptors. The resident is required to submit a manuscript for publication prior to the end of the residency.

Contact Us

If you have questions or need additional information, please contact:

Jeffery A. Goad, Pharm.D., MPH, FCPhA, FCSHP
Associate Professor of Clinical Pharmacy
Director, Community Pharmacy Residency Program
University of Southern California
School of Pharmacy
1985 Zonal Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90089-9121
Telephone: (323) 442-1907
Email: goad@usc.edu