Survey-Based Assessment Of Shifting Trends In First Solid Organ Transplant Pharmacist Jobs

Introduction Tremendous growth in post-graduate year 2 (PGY2) and fellowship training opportunities in Solid Organ Transplantation has been seen throughout the 2010s, and efforts to assess the impact and ongoing needs for training are needed.Objectives The American College of Clinical Pharmacy Immunology/Transplantation Practice and Research Network (ACCP IMTR PRN) conducted a survey of its membership in 2018 to assess the initial positions held by its members within the solid organ transplant space in order to evaluate the job market to optimize trainee competitiveness upon graduation.Methods The ACCP IMTR PRN Workforce Committee developed a survey through an iterative process assessing pharmacists' first job related to solid organ transplant. Survey content was divided into questions regarding formal training, first job structure, and first job responsibilities. The final survey included 59 questions utilizing branch logic questioning, thus respondents did not answer questions that were not relevant based upon previous responses.Results There were 206 analyzable responses representing pharmacists starting between 1986 and 2017, with the majority starting between 2013 and 2017. Before 2013, 52% of respondents had completed a PGY2 residency specializing in solid organ transplant, compared with 68% of respondents between 2013 and 2017. When comparing responses with first jobs between 2013 and 2017 as compared with the earlier era, more jobs were purely inpatient (32 vs 24%) more were purely dedicated to the transplant population (87 vs 79%), and more had medication order entry as a job responsibility (65 vs 47%).Conclusions The results of this survey should be used to help guide the development of post-graduate specialty training in solid organ transplant to prepare residency and fellowship graduates for first job responsibilities.