ASHP Rolls Out New Web Tool For Pharmacy Residency Programs

Main Category: Pharmacy / Pharmacist
Article Date: 04 May 2007 - 12:00 PDT

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Tracking the learning progress of pharmacy residents is now easier, thanks to ResiTrak, a free, Internet-based tool available from the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP).

In partnership with McCreadie Group, Inc., ASHP will release ResiTrak in May, offering ASHP-accredited residency programs the chance to do away with paper and instead use the Web to document residents' outcomes, goals and objectives.

"This is a product that our preceptors have been asking about for some time," said Janet Teeters, director of the Accreditation Services Division at ASHP. "We hope this will help sites focus on what is really important in residency training: improving the performance of residents and the training they receive."

ResiTrak supports a systems-based approach to training based on ASHP's Residency Learning System (RLS), which provides feedback to the residents in practice settings. Users are alerted to tasks via e-mail. Key features of the program include:

-- Online setup of residencies and learning experiences with outcomes, goals and objectives to be taught and evaluated in the program

-- Recording of summative, quarterly, preceptor, snapshot and other evaluations

-- Extensive reporting for residency directors that ensures preparation for accreditation surveys and completion of required evaluations.

The system arrives in time for the 2007-2008 residency year allowing residency programs a smooth transition to the new residency standards and new goals and objectives for each of the areas of training: postgraduate year 1 and year 2, community and managed care pharmacy. The programs must comply with the new standards this year.

Created by McCreadie Group for ASHP, ResiTrak will be available to users from the Internet. Participants do not need to download any software to use ResiTrak. "We are pleased to be working with ASHP on this project to help facilitate the use of the RLS for residency sites," said Scott R. McCreadie, president of McCreadie Group. "As a residency program director myself, I understand the challenges of managing the RLS process without automated tools. Our main goals with this new tool are to facilitate the use of the RLS for objective-based training of residents, assist preceptors with managing their learning experiences and help residency program directors and administrators ensure that outcomes for residency training are met."

Teeters noted that only ASHP-accredited programs can operate ResiTrak for free. "The release of ResiTrak reinforces ASHP's commitment to investing in residency programs into the future," she said. "We are delighted to offer ResiTrak to our ASHP-accredited pharmacy residency programs as a value-added service." ResiTrak is also available to residency programs that have applied for accreditation and pre-candidate sites in their first residency year.

ASHP has been accrediting pharmacy residency for more than 40 years, and pharmacy technician programs for over 20 years through its Commission on Credentialing (COC). The COC develops pharmacy accreditation standards, conducts accreditation surveys using the standards, and is the oversight body for the accreditation process for both pharmacy residency programs and pharmacy technician training programs. Its members are experts in pharmacy residency training programs. The Society has also partnered with the American College of Clinical Pharmacy, the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy and the American Pharmacists Association in accrediting residencies.

About ASHP

For more than 60 years, ASHP has helped pharmacists who practice in hospitals and health systems improve medication use and enhance patient safety. The Society's 30,000 members include pharmacists and pharmacy technicians who practice in inpatient, outpatient, home-care, and long-term-care settings, as well as pharmacy students. For more information about the wide array of ASHP activities and the many ways in which pharmacists help people make the best use of medicines, visit ASHP's Web site, http://www.ashp.org, or its consumer Web site, http://www.SafeMedication.com.

About McCreadie Group

The McCreadie Group is a software company specializing in healthcare pharmacy applications for large academic pharmacy departments. Located in Ann Arbor, Mich., the company was founded in 2004. The McCreadie Group specializes in software for managing and operating the Investigational Drug Service through the WebIDS product. The company also supports Clinical Pharmacy Services with the PharmDoc.Net product. For more information, visit the McCreadie Group's Web site at http://www.mccreadiegroup.com.

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