Contact:
Jennifer Faulkner, Pharm.D., BCPP
PGY-1 Pharmacy Residency Program Director
Clinical Pharmacy Specialist
Central Texas Veterans Health Care System
1901 Veterans Memorial Drive
Temple, TX 76504
(254) 743-2865 or 743-2867
(254) 743-0020 - Fax
jennifer.faulkner1@med.va.gov

LOCATION:
Temple-Waco-Austin, Texas

LENGTH OF RESIDENCY:
1 year

START DATE:
July 1

REQUIREMENTS:
Graduate of an ACPE-accredited college of pharmacy
U.S. citizen
Licensure in any state
Submission of CV, letter of interest, transcripts, and at least 3 letters of recommendations by January 15, 2010

STIPEND:
Competitive salary plus benefits (paid federal holidays, plus 13 paid work days each of annual and sick leave; health insurance; ; paid expenses to midyear and regional residency conference)

The ASHP-accredited PGY-1 Pharmacy Residency at the Central Texas Veterans Health Care System (CTVHCS) provides experiences in a broad array of clinical inpatient and outpatient pharmacy practice areas.  Four positions are currently offered each year. Core training experiences include block and longitudinal training in primary care, internal medicine, and practice management. Elective rotations are also available in hematology/oncology, psychiatry, geriatrics, critical care, infectious disease, and cardiology. Residents present formal lectures, patient cases, participate in journal club, teach pharmacy students, and serve as the principal investigator on a residency project.  Additionally, the residents manage the electronic drug information service for the pharmacy department.

The Central Texas Veterans Health Care System (CTVHCS) consists of two hospitals located in Temple and Waco; one stand-alone clinic in Austin; four community based outpatient clinics in Brownwood, Cedar Park, College Station and Palestine; two nursing homes in Temple and Waco; one domiciliary in Temple, a Blind Rehabilitation Unit in Waco and two patient, rehabilitation units for post-traumatic stress disorder and severely mentally ill life enhancement in Waco.  With one of the largest inpatient psychiatric facilities in the country, CTVHCS was officially named a Mental Health Center of Excellence in 2006.

In FY 2008, CTVHCS had 73,000 veterans enrolled, 872,000 outpatient visits, 8604 inpatients treated and 10,000 OEF/OIF Veterans enrolled. CTVHCS has 115 academic faculty appointments and is affiliated with the University of Texas, College of Pharmacy, Texas A&M University, Colleges of Pharmacy & Medicine; and the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston.

The Olin E. Teague hospital in Temple is a tertiary care facility.  It is a teaching hospital, providing a full range of patient care services, with state-of-the-art technology as well as education and research.  Within Temple are 177 medical/surgical beds, 272 Nursing Home Care Unit beds, 24 palliative care beds, a 408-bed Domiciliary, a 160-bed State Veterans Home, and a new $11.5 million dollar VA Research Institute.  Waco's psychiatric mission consists of 64 intermediate and acute psychiatric beds.  In addition, the Waco facility has 140 beds to provide long term care to geropsych patients.  In addition to inpatient services, the Waco facility provides outpatient services for primary care, mental health and some outpatient specialty care services.  The Austin VA Outpatient Clinic is a 60,000 square foot facility serving a rapidly growing population of veterans surrounding the State Capitol.

The Department of Pharmacy at the CTVHCS offers a wide range of clinical pharmacy services provided by clinical pharmacists and clinical specialists. Several clinical pharmacists, who work under an approved scope of practice, provide medication management clinics. The residents are eligible for a scope of practice in anticoagulation and lipid management once they are licensed. Other medication management clinics at CTVHCS include primary care, psychiatry, CHF, and hematology. The resident continuously interacts with staff throughout the hospital and additionally through participation in journal club, case discussion sessions, and our continuing education programs. Through our collaboration with the Colleges of Pharmacy at The University of Texas, Texas A&M, and The University of Houston, the residents will have many opportunities to interact with pharmacy students throughout the year. Completion of a residency project is required.

The resident is an employee of The Department of Veterans Affairs, directly responsible to the Chief, Pharmacy Service. Daily guidance and supervision will be provided by the Residency Program Director. Residents will be supported in pursuing further post-graduate training or employment opportunities. A national database has been created to assist residents who may be interested in available VA PGY-2 residencies or pharmacy positions.  Our 2008-2009 residents were hired into positions with Texas A&M (2 residents), Darnall Army Medical Center, and The Cleveland Clinic.  Past residents have completed PGY2 residency programs and accepted a variety of clinical positions.  We have hired several residents onto our staff into primary care medication management positions and inpatient clinical positions.