Benefits of a concentrated teaching rotation: Perspectives of pharmacy residents and faculty.

The postgraduate pharmacy residency experience requires residents to develop the proper skillset to not only provide optimal therapeutic management to patients, but to effectively deliver their knowledge to trainees and other health care providers. Without specific recommendations for how to achieve these skills, residents may hone their communication, organizational, and teaching skills through a number of different venues currently offered by residency programs nationwide. Residency programs commonly offer a longitudinal experience in order for residents to obtain didactic teaching skills; less often do programs offer a concentrated rotation dedicated to academia. Residents can acquire a number of skills from a focused academic rotation including curriculum development, career growth, and preceptorship by following a schedule that more closely mimics that of a clinical faculty member. These skills are typically more difficult to develop with a longitudinal experience due to time constraints and other resident and faculty member commitments. Prior to implementing this experience, the impact on both the resident and faculty member should be taken into consideration.

Implementing a Method for Evaluating Patient-Reported Outcomes Associated With Oral Oncolytic Therapy.

INTRODUCTION: The paradigm shift in health care toward value-based reimbursement has brought emphasis to providing better quality of care to patients with chronic diseases, including patients with cancer. In accordance with providing better quality of care to patients, there has been a growing interest in evaluating quality of life through patient-reported outcomes (PROs). The revised Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale (ESAS-r) is a tool that can be used to assess PROs and has been validated for use in patients with cancer. This initiative sought to use this standard assessment tool to acquire PROs concerning symptom burden from patients prescribed oral oncolytics. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Eight oncology practices in the state of Michigan used a modified ESAS-r to evaluate symptom burden of patients prescribed oral oncolytics before each outpatient visit. Thirteen symptoms were categorized as mild (0 to 3), moderate (4 to 6), or severe (7 to 10). RESULTS: A total of 1,235 modified ESAS-r surveys were collected and analyzed; 82.5% of symptoms were categorized as mild, 11.9% of symptoms were categorized as moderate, and 5.6% of symptoms were categorized as severe. CONCLUSION: PROs can be evaluated through the use of a standardized tool, such as the ESAS-r, in oncology patients receiving oral oncolytic therapy. Implementing such a tool in both community and academic practices is feasible and may facilitate improvements in the quality of care.