What is the Sauce to Building the Palliative Care Pharmacist Pipeline

Outcomes 1. Utilizing evidence from this study, participants will self-report their ability to describe factors that impact pharmacy learners’ intention and success in specializing in hospice or palliative care.2. Utilizing evidence from this study, participants will self-reflect on their role and contributions in training pharmacists in the specialties of hospice and palliative care. Key Message This mixed-methods phenomenological study explores how palliative care and pain management (PCPM) residency-trained pharmacists’ specialty interest(s) evolved and explores their variable training experiences across PGY2 PCPM residency programs. Findings from this study may help teams 1) optimize training experiences for pharmacy students and residents and 2) align recruitment and retention goals when hiring PGY2 PCPM-trained pharmacists. Introduction In contrast to hospice and palliative care (HAPC) fellowships for physicians, postgraduate year 2 (PGY2) pharmacy residency training combines these specialties with pain management. Residency programs accredited by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists increased from 17 to 30 since 2018 and may offer vastly different experiences within current accreditation standards. Objectives Explore 1) how residents’ interest in HAPC evolved and 2) residents’ experiences across Palliative Care and Pain Management (PCPM) PGY2 residency programs. Methods This IRB-approved mixed methods study included pharmacists who completed a PCPM PGY2 residency between June 2018 to June 2022. Consented participants completed a pre-interview survey that assessed characteristics of their program followed by a 30-minute semi-structured virtual interview. Interview transcripts were coded by two researchers. Codes were reconciled and themes were identified in meetings with three researchers. Results Twenty-three pharmacists completed the pre-interview survey and eighteen pharmacists completed interviews. 43% of respondents completed residency training at an academic medical center while 30% completed residency within a Veterans Affairs healthcare system. 52% of participants spent ≤ 9 weeks on inpatient palliative care. 64% spent ≤ 7 weeks in outpatient palliative care. 57% spent ≤ 7 weeks in hospice care. Five themes were identified as crucial factors in shaping HAPC career pathways for residency-trained pharmacists: 1) exposure to specialties of HAPC, 3) scaffolding support for resident growth and development in HAPC, 2) influential experiences in professional identify formation, 4) culture of interprofessional education and training, and 5) practice model culture. Conclusion Exposure to HAPC before and during PGY2 PCPM residencies shapes residents’ career trajectories in these specialties. Within identified themes, resident experiences were variable across training programs. These findings may help HAPC teams align recruitment and retention goals when hiring PGY2 PCPM-trained pharmacists. Keywords Interdisciplinary Teamwork / Professionalism / Workforce / Career Development