Residency pathways to ambulatory care practice: Essential insights for students, residents, and educators.

OBJECTIVE: To provide a guiding document describing residency training opportunities in ambulatory care for students, postgraduate year 1 (PGY1) residents, practicing pharmacists, and pharmacy educators.

SUMMARY: Student pharmacists, residents, practitioners, and educators can benefit from a guiding document describing the various pathways to develop as an ambulatory care practitioner through residency training. The benefits and differences of PGY1 and postgraduate year 2 (PGY2) ambulatory care residency programs are included.

CONCLUSION: There are many possible training options for pharmacists interested in pursuing a career in ambulatory care pharmacy practice. In addition to the required ambulatory and community experience required for all Doctorate of Pharmacy students, postgraduate training in an ambulatory environment can allow for specialization. Candidates for residency training can complete a PGY1 pharmacy residency or a PGY1 community-based pharmacy residency, possibly followed by a PGY2 ambulatory care residency. Career paths for ambulatory care pharmacists vary regionally across the country according to competition for positions, local availability of training programs, and the experience of regional leaders. A comprehensive description of these available training pathways and advantages of each are beneficial for students, residents, practicing pharmacists, and educators.