Excelling in ASHP Residency Accreditation Standard 1: Novel Residency Recruitment Selection Methods at a Community Teaching Hospital

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

3-6-2026

Publication Title

Am J Health Syst Pharm

Keywords

accreditation, best practice, conference abstract, ethnicity, gender identity, human, interview, pharmacist, pharmacy practice, postgraduate student, professionalism, sexual orientation, teaching hospital, time management

Abstract

Purpose: American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) residency standards were recently updated in 2023 and went into effect for the 2023-2024 residency year. In ASHP’s residency standard crosswalk document, changes were made to standard 1 to “focus solely on recruitment and selection procedures and processes.” Corresponding guidance contained within the ASHP Accreditation Standard for Postgraduate Pharmacy Residency Programs provides specific expectations for each element of standard 1, but anecdotal evidence suggests programs continue to struggle with alignment with this standard. The purpose of this poster is to highlight the residency recruitment and selection methods employed at one community teaching hospital. Methods: Over time our program has continually refined tools to aid in the objective evaluation of residency applicants. All applications are evaluated using a standardized residency application evaluation form. The point distribution for this form has been rebalanced to de-emphasize traditionally valued aspects of the application (e.g., GPA) and to increase opportunities to succeed in other professional experience domains (i.e., non-traditional leadership opportunities, non-traditional professional experience). In addition, a discrimination risk (DisRisk) assessment tool was developed and is routinely employed to identify applicants who may be at risk of discrimination during application review. This tool encompasses ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, native language, non-traditional candidacy, and other potential discriminatory factors. Score thresholds are used to prompt timeouts for interview and ranking decisions. Applicants selected for interviews are evaluated using three residency interview evaluation forms (RIEFs) and a clinical case evaluation component. Themes for the RIEF’s include (1) professionalism and career goals; (2) time management and professional pharmacy performance; and (3) communication and relationship building in healthcare and pharmacy practice. A fourth evaluation form assesses additional important candidate characteristics not captured elsewhere. Scores from all forms are combined to establish an initial score-based rank, and ranks may be changed during the rank meeting up to three ranks. After rank submission and before match results, an anonymous survey of candidates is conducted to identify opportunities for improvement. Results: The re-accreditation survey with ASHP was conducted in November 2024, and the surveyors involved emphasized these strategies as “best practices” to ensure a fair assessment of all applicants and interview candidates. No findings of partial or noncompliance related to ASHP Residency Accreditation Standard 1 were recognized during the survey process. Results obtained from the anonymous survey of residency candidates interviewed indicated that candidates found the assessment methods used to be fair; the components of the interview were of appropriate duration; and overall satisfaction with the interview experience. Future directions for our program are to further assess the use of the DisRisk tool scores in our assessment of ranked candidates and in our outcome of which candidates were matched to our programs. Conclusion: The pharmacy residency recruitment and selection methods outlined for our programs provide an objective and consistent process to evaluate applicants and interview candidates. Ongoing feedback on our methods from program representatives involved and interviewed candidates has facilitated refinement and improvement of existing processes. All processes reviewed by our ASHP surveyors were deemed to meet the corresponding standard.

Volume

83

First Page

S51

Last Page

S52

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