Residency Program Directors' View on the Value of Teaching.

Purpose: There is no standardization for teaching activities or a requirement for residency programs to offer specific teaching programs to pharmacy residents. This study will determine the perceived value of providing teaching opportunities to postgraduate year 1 (PGY-1) pharmacy residents in the perspective of the residency program director. The study will also identify the features, depth, and breadth of the teaching experiences afforded to PGY-1 pharmacy residents.

Methods: A 20-question survey was distributed electronically to 868 American Society of Health-System Pharmacists-accredited PGY-1 residency program directors.

Results: The survey was completed by 322 program directors. Developing pharmacy educators was found to be highly valued by 57% of the program directors. Advertisement of teaching opportunities was found to be statistically significant when comparing program directors with a high perceived value for providing teaching opportunities to program demographics. Statistically significant differences were identified associating development of a teaching portfolio, evaluation of Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experiences students, and delivery of didactic lectures with program directors who highly value developing pharmacy educators.

Conclusions: Future residency candidates interested in teaching or a career in academia may utilize these findings to identify programs that are more likely to value developing pharmacy educators. The implementation of a standardized teaching experience among all programs may be difficult.