Goals, Competencies and Learning Philosophy
Residency Program Goal
To provide an enriching and dynamic learning environment where residents can develop and refine their knowledge, skills and attitudes and behaviours in the provision of patient care with the goal of the resident being able to proficiently provide comprehensive patient care in diverse practice settings at the end of their residency program.
Educational Outcomes
The Program will develop the following ability-based outcomes in its residents:
- Provide evidence-based patient care as a member of interprofessional teams
- Manage and improve medication use systems
- Exercise leadership
- Exhibit ability to manage one’s own practice of pharmacy
- Provide medication and practice-related education
- Demonstrate project management skills
Our Learning Philosophy
Our Program employs the evidence-based principles of adult learning in all aspects of Program design and operation. The principles of adult learning include the following:
- Prior knowledge is key to learning
- Prior knowledge must be activated and in doing so, residents are able to identify what they already know
- Links need to be created between existing and new knowledge. This requires time.
- Discussion and reflection need to be promoted
- Relevant and variable contexts for learning need to be created
- Intrinsic motivation is associated with deep approaches to learning. The resident needs to see the value of learning to their practice and the patients they care for.
In our Program, we employ a learner (resident)-centered approach. We see our residents as partners in learning. We encourage active learning, whereby residents are actively involved in their own learning and spend the majority of the time learning by providing care or contributing to pharmacy practice. In keeping with this, residents will be involved in their own learning through completing self-assessments of their needs, developing personal learning objectives, identifying strategies to achieve objectives and self-assessing their learning and progress. Residents are responsible and accountable for acquiring all competencies of the Program and in doing so, will be supported in their learning by their preceptors, mentors, teachers and the Program Coordinator and Program Director.
In our Program, we recognize that having learners, in particular residents, in the practice area enhances the care that we provide. Our residents are valued members of our pharmacy department and our care teams. We value the work that our residents do as part of their direct patient care and non-direct patient care rotations. Residents in our Program learn while making a significant contribution to the patients that they care for and to the department.
Types of Learning Experiences
Residents will be exposed to a large variety of learning experiences throughout the residency program. A variety of instructional methods will be used throughout the Program, including experiential learning, case-based learning, didactic learning and resident-led teaching. The purpose is to activate prior knowledge, create links between new and previous knowledge, develop a deep understanding of key concepts and apply these concepts to practice.
Residency rotations and experiences will provide broad exposure to contemporary pharmacy services for the prescription, use and management of medications in the treatment of patients. Residents will have opportunities to develop interprofessional collaborative practice skills alongside other members of the health care team and opportunities to develop skills to work effectively with patients, other health care professionals, administrators, educators, students, researchers and change leaders.
Through these residency experiences, residents will have opportunities to develop critical thinking, ethical and scientific reasoning, problem-solving, decision-making, time management, practice management, self-directed learning, teaching, professionalism, change management and leadership skills.
Assessment of Learning
Residents will be assessed using a variety of formal and informal methods, including rotation assessments, self-assessments, procedure logs, Academic Half Day teaching, presentations and project skills. The resident will also receive regular feedback from preceptors throughout all rotations and residency activities. The purpose of these assessments, formal and informal, is to assess the residents’ progress towards meeting the above ability-based outcomes, identify accomplishments and areas of focus for further development towards the goal level of performance. These outcomes form the required resident competencies for the Program.
References:
- Pratt D. Five Perspectives on Teaching in Adult and Higher Education 1998.
- Kaufman DM. ABC of learning and teaching in medicine: Applying educational theory in practice. BMJ 2003;326:213-16.
- Spencer J. ABC of learning and teaching in medicine: Learning and teaching in the clinical environment. BMJ 2003;326:591-94.
- Richardson, D. Growth Mindset in Competency-Based Medical Education. Medical Teacher 2021;43(7):751-57.
-Last updated June 10, 2024