The Medical University of South Carolina offers an ASHP-accredited residency in Psychiatric Pharmacy Practice at the Institute of Psychiatry in Charleston, South Carolina.  This 12-month specialty residency program is designed to provide experience and training in the area of neuropsychiatry and to develop the professional practice skills essential to a psychopharmacologist.  A Pharmacy Practice residency is required to enter this specialty residency. For interested candidates, the potential exists to combine the Psychiatric Pharmacy Practice Residency with a Pharmacy Practice Residency - Emphasis in Psychiatry for a two-year residency program.

This program emphasizes rational drug therapy through contact with mental health practitioners and patients.  The resident will develop effective communication and problem solving skills.  Psychopharmacology research is a major emphasis at our institution with active studies in the area of schizophrenia, affective disorders, dementia, anxiety and substance abuse disorders.  

The Residency Program Director is responsible for organizing and supervising the program.  The rotation site preceptors are responsible for supervising the residents daily activities. 

The resident will serve as a novice practitioner with opportunities to provide clinical services under the mentorship of a rotation preceptor. It is expected that by the end of the residency program the resident will be able to function as an independent psychopharmacologist.

Each resident will be involved in various activities supported by the Department of Pharmacy and Clinical Sciences.  These activities are designed to complement clinical activities as well as broaden the resident’s skills and to prepare the resident for opportunities they may have as practitioners.  The specific responsibilities for all residents include:  participation in an independent research or service project, medication use evaluation, seminar, residency interactive training experience (RITE) and presentation at the Southeastern Residency Conference (SERC). Residents are required to have submitted a manuscript for publication prior to the end of the residency program.  A staffing component is required for all residents in the program involving working approximately 16 hours or one weekend per month.

Opportunities for residents to provide educational activities include involvement in the teaching activities of both the Department of Pharmacy and Clinical Sciences and the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.  Clinical and didactic teaching will be provided by the resident to pharmacy students, medical students, psychiatric residents, psychology interns and departmental staff.

The Resident will follow learning objectives from the “Residency Training in Psychiatric Pharmacy Practice” as established by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP).  Clinical rotations are designed to further develop the resident’s clinical expertise by providing significant responsibilities for the provision of clinical pharmacy services.  The areas of experience will primarily emphasize training in Psychiatry.  Each resident will spend one to three months in each of the core service areas. Any remaining months may be used as electives.

Core Rotations
Adult General Psychiatry – Schizophrenia and Affective Disorders (3N)
Emergency/Acute Adult Psychiatry (1N)
Geriatric Psychiatry (BICU)
Center for Drug and Alcohol Programs (4N)
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (2N)
Consult Liaison Psychiatry

Amy VandenBerg, Pharm.D., BCPP Clinical Assistant Professor Clinical Pharmacy Specialist, Psychiatry Clinical Pharmacy Coordinator, Psychiatry

Shannon J. Drayton, Pharm.D. Assistant Professor of Clinical Pharmacy and Outcome Sciences Clinical Pharmacy Specialist, Psychiatry

For further information contact:

Residency Program Director
Amy VandenBerg, Pharm.D., BCPP
Telephone: (843) 792-0179
Fax: (843) 792-5954
E-mail: vandena@musc.edu

Last updated on 11/14/07 by Kathy Chessman