Publications for Pharmacy Residents Are Challenging but Not “Nearly Unattainable”

Abstract

We would like to thank Eitzen and Jarrett 1 for their recent letter to the editor, "Contributing factors to perceptions of residents' statistical abilities," published in the June 2019 edition of Hospital Pharmacy. We appreciate the authors' commentary on the Newsome and colleagues 2 article published in April 2018 and we agree with most points. We do not, however, agree with the authors' opinion that resident publication rates of 50% or greater are "overzealous" or "nearly unattainable." Scholarship is important for the advancement of pharmacy practice, and preceptors, in our opinion, must encourage scholarship from pharmacy residents. In 2015, our Residency Advisory Committee made a conscious decision to emphasize and improve research quality and publication within our pharmacy residency programs. What started as a few impromptu lectures has evolved into a formal 10-month, 22.5-hour research certificate program. This program consists of several seminars focused on core research areas, including, but not limited to, research design, literature evaluation, statistical analysis, statistical software application, and manuscript writing. All seminars are led by pharmacists or clinicians with experience and expertise in the subject areas and faculty appointments at our medical school or nearby colleges of pharmacy. In addition, each resident is provided with a scholarship preceptor, who provides support and encouragement throughout the residency year. Interestingly, we have seen a drastic increase in our resident's scholarly output since 2015. Our postgraduate year 1 (PGY1) residents are expected to complete 1 medication use evaluation (MUE) and 1 research project during their residency. Our PGY2 residents are expected to complete 1 research project. These expectations have been consistent since 2010. Our 28 pharmacy residents published 2 manuscripts from 2010 to 2014, translating to a publication rate of 7.1%. Both publications were research reports. Conversely, our 28 pharmacy residents published 29 manuscripts from 2015 to 2018, translating to a publication rate of 103.6%. These manuscripts included 22 research reports, 6 case reports, and 1 review article. We, therefore, do believe targeting a resident publication rate of 50% or higher is a challenging and admirable goal.

Increasing Scholarship in Pharmacy Residency Programs

“…I wholeheartedly echo the comments of our colleagues who view scholarship among pharmacy residency programs to be both desirable and attainable, 2,4,5 and hope that my comments will further offer a useful perspective.…”

“…I would like to join the conversation surrounding the topic of pharmacy resident publications, with recent contributions from Eitzen and Jarrett, and also Seabury et al 1,2 The most recent commentary focused on the opinions of the latter that “targeting a resident publication rate of 50% or higher is a challenging and admirable goal” which they believe is achievable, and that “it is the role of a preceptor to encourage pharmacy residents to attempt to achieve ‘nearly unattainable’ goals.” 2…”

Best practices for supporting and improving pharmacy resident research and quality improvement projects

“…Require participation in the presentation and publication submission processes as part of the project experience because these are only fully understood once an individual has undergone the activities required Establish presentation and publication expectations among residents and mentors for the project early in the year, including expectations for what is necessary to be an author and a communication plan for post-residency follow-up. 5 A research "contract" agreement between residents and mentors to hold all accountable through project completion may be useful in this regard Encourage mentors to complete project submission when the graduated resident is unable or unwilling to do so Provide incentives for presentation and journal submissions to complement program requirements and serve as a positive alternative to mandatory submission Use team-based research, formal writing, and research development programs, projects with IRB approval, non-pharmacy coinvestigators, and results included at the time of abstract submission as methods to increase presentation and publication rates [52][53][54][55][56] Choose an appropriate journal for submission of the work…”