Cardiovascular Pharmacotherapy
The Specialized Residency in Cardiovascular Pharmacotherapy is a one-year program designed to develop a highly qualified practitioner/researcher in this area of pharmacy practice. The residency is supported by the Department of Pharmacy Services at University Medical Center and the Department of Pharmacy Practice and Science at The University of Arizona College of Pharmacy. The program provides advanced training in the area of cardiovascular therapeutics in addition to research and teaching opportunities.
Program Objectives
Upon completion of the residency program in cardiovascular pharmacotherapy, the resident shall be able to:
- Demonstrate knowledge in the area of clinical cardiovascular therapeutics in the adult cardiology and cardiothoracic surgical patient care settings.
- Demonstrate knowledge in the area of clinical pharmacokinetics especially as it applies to the area of cardiovascular drugs and therapeutics.
- Demonstrate competence in the evaluation, critical selection and utilization of the cardiovascular therapeutic/pharmacokinetic literature
- Submit a proposal for a research project in the cardiovascular pharmacotherapeutic/pharmacokinetic/outcome area.
- Demonstrate verbal communication skills that permit effective dissemination of cardiovascularly-related drug information to other health care professionals and students via in-services and formal lectures.
- Demonstrate written communication skills that permit dissemination of cardiovascular- related drug information and research findings via peer-reviewed publications.
- Contribute directly and indirectly to patient care via the monitoring of patients within the adult cardiology and cardiothoracic patient care settings.
- Demonstrate competence in precepting general practice Pharm.D. residents and Pharm.D. students.
Training Site
The resident's principal training sites will be University Medical Center and the University of Arizona College of Pharmacy. The University of Arizona is nationally and internationally renowned for its research efforts in cardiology and cardiac transplantation.
Responsibilities
In general, the resident will be responsible in assisting the preceptor in providing clinical pharmacy services to the adult cardiology and cardiothoracic patient care settings at University Medical Center. Additional clinical responsibilities include participation in the clinical pharmacy consult and nutritional support services and serving as a consultant to the Arizona Poison and Drug Information Center. The resident also will be expected to participate in the weekly pharmacy conference and the on-call program for the clinical pharmacy consult and nutritional support services.
Teaching experience is provided to the resident through the preceptorship of PharmD students and general practice PharmD residents working through the cardiovascular rotation. The resident will be given the opportunity to present in-service lectures to the nursing staff and other health-care professionals. In addition, the resident will be expected to provide at least one didactic lecture in the therapeutics and/or pharmacokinetics courses within the College of Pharmacy.
The resident also will be expected to successfully complete a research project related to cardiovascular therapeutics, pharmacokinetics or outcomes. The primary research responsibility of the resident will be participation in ongoing clinical research projects. The resident will acquire experience in data collection, data analysis, protocol implementation, scientific writing and possibly protocol development. In addition, the resident may be given the opportunity to engage in laboratory work.
The research interests of the preceptor include (a) thrombosis and its prevention and treatment, particularly in patients implanted with mechanical circulatory assist devices; (b) the clinical pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics and pharmacogenomics of cardiovascular agents including immunosuppressive drugs and agents used in the treatment of diabetes mellitus; (c) the effects of disease, age, body composition, gender and other drugs on the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of cardiovascular agents, including immunosuppressive drug agents used in the treatment of diabetes mellitus; (d) the effects of cardiovascular agents including immunosuppressive drugs on patient outcomes (i.e., either an improvement in morbidity or mortality); and (e) the pharmacoeconomic effects of cardiovascular drug therapy.
Education
The opportunity may be provided for the resident to expand his/her academic knowledge by taking relevant course work in such areas as cardiovascular pharmacology, pharmacokinetics, statistics, immunology and analytical instrumentation and techniques. The resident will be expected to attend the weekly cardiology conference, cardiothoracic surgery conferences, heart transplant conferences and monthly/bimonthly artificial heart conference.
Preceptor
The preceptor for this residency is Paul E. Nolan, Jr., PharmD, FCCP, FASHP, cardiovascular pharmacist for University Medical Center, professor within the Department of Pharmacy Practice and Science, and senior clinical scientist at The University of Arizona Sarver Heart Center. The resident will interact with other clinical pharmacy faculty and staff at University Medical Center.
Fringe Benefits
Group health and life insurance, vacation and sick leave, and financial support to selected professional meetings
Number of positions: One
Applicant Qualifications
Highly motivated applicants should have either an MS or PharmD degree. Computer literacy, including word processing skills, is highly desirable. Preference will be given to candidates with prior general clinical residency training. Candidates must be eligible for licensure in Arizona.
Applicant Information
Inquiries and applications should be directed to:
Paul E. Nolan Jr., PharmD, FCCP, FASHP
Professor, Department of Pharmacy Practice & Science
College of Pharmacy
University of Arizona
Tucson, Arizona 85721
(520) 626-5730 (department office)
(520) 694-6000 (paging operator)
(520) 626-7355 (fax)
email: nolan@pharmacy.arizona.edu