The Society of Hospital Pharmacists has announced that from next week it will open applications for sites wanting to be accredited in the first phase of an SHPA Residency Program in 2017.
The move follows yesterday's formal launch of the scheme at a symposium in Sydney which was attended by directors of pharmacy and clinical educators from more than 50 hospitals across Australia.
The symposium featured a range of speakers presenting on other residency and experiential training programs around the world including the USA, Canada, the UK and Singapore - including Janet Silvester, vice president of Accreditation at the American Society of Hospital Pharmacists.
"We are very encouraged by the number of people who are planning to implement residencies in 2017, and look forward to working with the profession on this," said SHPA president Michael Dooley.
As well as looking at international programs, delegates at the event heard from SHPA Steering Committee members about key principles of the SHPA Residency Program and results from the Society's baseline survey of experiential training in Australian hospital pharmacies.
The SHPA also released its Accreditation Standards for pharmacy residency programs, which establish formal criteria for the training schemes.
The SHPA Residency Program aims to create a national program with a consistent set of competencies for residents to attain, while at the same time retaining flexibility and a 'local flavour' for each site.
Residency Program Steering Committee Chair, Peter Fowler, said following the symposium "whilst we have a lot to learn, SHPA knows it's on the right track to make a genuine difference to the lives of pharmacists and their patients with our residency program".
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